SIEM REAP CAMBODIA

November 2018

I was involved in a Habitat for Humanity Global Village build in Battambang Cambodia. The Habitat Team spent most of the 10 day habitat build working on two houses (Habitat Build). Prior to the start of the Build my wife and I spent a few days in Laos and a few days in Siem Reap exploring a few of the many temple ruins and other interesting sights and locations in the area.

We stayed at the Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa which is located in central Siem Reap opposite the Royal Park. It is a nice hotel with a design inspired by the 1930’s French colonial architecture.

Siem Reap is a resort town in north-western Cambodia. It is primarily a tourist town and serves as the base for visiting the ruins of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th–15th centuries. There are lots of hotels, bars, restaurants and a large market all catering to tourists. The people are generally friendly and prices are reasonable. Check out Siem Reap for a few photos.

A few kilometers south of Siem Reap is Tonle Sap Lake which is the largest fresh water lake in South East Asia. The lake supports a large fishing and agricultural industry. I visited Chong Khneas which is a floating village on the edge of the lake.

Angkor Wat is the best preserved and best known of the Angkor monuments and is the main attraction for visitors coming to Siem Reap but it is only a small part of what remains of the Khmer civilization.

Angkor Thom is a walled city which dates back to the late 12^th century and it contains many temples and other historic ruins. The usual way into Angkor Thom is through the South Gate which is a large ornate monumental entrance tower at the end of a causeway crossing a moat.

Inside Angkor Thom I visited several monuments including Bayon Temple, Baphuon Temple, the Royal Palace & Phimeanakas Temple and the Elephant & Leper King Terraces.

Bayon Temple is in the center of Angkor Thom and its most distinctive feature is the many giant stone faces on the towers. Baphuon Temple is a multi-tiered pyramid representing the mythical Hindu Mount Meru. The Royal Palace was built by King Jayavarman VII in the late 12^th century - early 13^th century and outside the eastern wall of the Palace Compound are the Royal Terraces of the Elephant and Leper King.

I also visited a few historical monuments outside of Angkor Thom, including Ta Prohm,

Banteay Srei Temple and Banteay Samre Temple.

Ta Prohm is located to the east of Angkor Thom. The temple has been left largely in its natural state since its’ re-discovery' by French explorers. It was featured in the 2001 movie “The Tomb Raider”. Banteay Srei a small temple built of red sandstone and contains the finest, most intricate carvings to be found in Angkor. It is located 25 km north-east of the main group of temples. Banteay Samre is a Hindu temple built in the early 12th century and restored during the 1930’s. It is several kilometers east of Angkor Thom.

After the Habitat Build I spent another couple of nights in Siem Reap and spent a day visiting Koh Ker and Beng Mealea. Koh Ker is an archaeological site located about 100km north east of Siem Reap so visiting it was an all day excursion. It covers 81 square kilometers and has more than 180 known monuments, the largest of which is actually two temples - Prasat Thom and Prasat Prang. Beng Mealea is a large, unrestored temple surrounded and partly overgrown by jungle near Phnom Kulen National Park and is about 70km from Siem Reap. There has been no restoration to the buildings so there are trees and brush growing everywhere in the towers and courtyards and many of its stones are lying in great heaps.