Unlike Angkor Wat, no one was there except for another tuk-tuk driver sitting by the roadside, which mean presence of another tourist at hilltop besides us. Not knowing what was ahead, we were given a head light by Sokphal to climb the mountain in pitch dark. It was so dark, quiet and creepy I sure was glad reminding akka to bring our torchlight. We didn’t know what was ahead of us nor on our right or left or even on the path we were walking. We just simply climbed. I was pretty sure deep down all of us specially Mok and Ramnah, there were little fear clinging in their heart thinking if we have taken the right move to climb the mountain at that hour without a guide. But neither any of us showed our fear nor said anything. We all climbed up bravely as if it wasn’t our first time up. What no one knew was that I was holding my Swiss knife in my pocket all the way up.
The Mystical Phnom Bahkeng
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It took us approximately 15 minutes to reach Phnom Bahkeng, which was built at the end of the 9th century (889-910 A.D.), during the reign of King Yasovarman. A huge Nandi (bull) sat all alone at the entrance of the temple facing the huge narrow stairs with two lion on either side. Each stairs was so high and narrow; we practically crawled up like toddler. It was a 7-tier temple and each tier had about 12 gopuras at all corners of the stairs, except for the summit that had one big gopura at the center and four little one at each corner with the figurine of Linga. All the gopuras’ door was position at sunrise. The structure of the temple, the sculpture and the carvings was extremely beautiful and in detailed. The Nandi, the Linga and the structure and position of the temple show it was once the sacred place for the Hindus. Nevertheless, what lies within the main gopura or at the bottom of the temples was the statute of Buddha.
The temple even though ruined, no longer active and had absolutely no statue of god or goddesses, it gave a peculiar felling. A feeling of presence of god on very stone, very leaf and even in the air that we breathe. The feeling that was so light and so soothing and was felt only by akka and me or may be by any Hindus that had stepped on the temple ground.
We enjoyed the strange feeling sitting on the temple top waiting for the sunrise in quiet with two other tourists. We waited and waited but the sun never showed up. By then, more and more people were crowding the place till it beginning to look and sound like night market. So we agreed view small gopuras scattered at the ground.
All gopuras had the statute of Buddha inside and the Linga’s scattered outside. It sure indicates that changes occurs in Khmer believe in god. About 200 meters ahead of the temple, a huge footstep was found on the ground and was believed to belong to Buddha. However, I personally feel that it belong to the mighty hanuman fro the epic of Ramayana.
The huge Nandi sitting at the entrance of the temple
The angels of Hannover Re 
The only glimpse of sun rise at Phnom Bahkeng! Sigh!
The still standing Linga
The tough stairs. The sign board at bottom says "climb at your own risk!"
A huge footstep to be claimed as Buddhas'!
The Legendary Temples.
From there we headed to our next destination, the legendary Angkor Thom, which was just a couple of minutes way form the Bahkeng Hill in the deep jungle of Siem Reap. A huge mysterious smiley four faced god (or may be the King) arch stood as the magical entrance of Angkor Thom with several huge statutes of god on the right and demon on the left pulling a huge 5 head serpent welcoming people into the kingdom of Angkor Thom. I felt like princes walking through the grandeur Victory Gate.
Sokphal took us to the nearest stall for breakfast. Since the food there was extremely expensive we just ordered hot drinks and ate the blue pumpkin bread. I opt for my faithful buddy, musli. Sigh! Poor little princess indeed!
There are several temples built in Angkor Thom but the most famous one is the magnificent Bayon, one of my very own favorite temples. The temple is not as huge as Phnom Bakheng temple but had similar structure and similar shades of gray. It had 3 tires with doorways at every entrance and huge lion at each corner of the stairs. Only on the third tier stood the similar four mysterious smiley face gopura. To me it looked more like Buddha. There were about 12 four faced gopura all around the summit. Each with perfect carving, perfect smiles and perfect eye contact. My eyes never left the sight of the beautifully engraved face where else my fingers never stop touching and feeling the beautiful carving of apsara and devatas on the wall. The place looked like god’s playground and I felt like a little child running and climbing all around temple playing hide and seek with god. Similar to Phnom Bahkeng, the peculiar feeling was lingering in my heart. Hence, we sat at the temple top enjoying the breeze and the calmness till it was bustling with tourist once again.
We then proceed to our second temple, the famous Bahpoun. After walking for about ten minutes, did I realized I have left behind akka’s lonely planet book. I ran inside the Bayon temples going in circles but failed to locate it. Sigh! So careless of me!
The Victory Gate Entrance at Angkor Thom
The Gods...
...The Demons!
Me Cheek to Cheek with the Lovely God.
The beautiful Four Smiley Face Arch
The Mystical Bayon
The entrance of the Mystical Bayon
One of the Mysterious Four Smiley Face Arch at temple top
ME Sitting at one of the Window Frame
ME with the Still Standing Carvings of Apsara
The Secret Door to the Shopping Paradise.
We then headed to Bahpoun. Since we took the wrong path, we skipped the linked Elephant Terrace walkway and headed straight to Bhapoun. However, the temple was closed for restoration. Thus, we continued our journey following very blurry signage, to a narrow allay that leads towards a secret door of every woman’s happiness, shopping ground!
The moment we stepped in to the door, kids and adults rushed toward us, selling various things from guidebooks, to shawls, beaded bracelets and so on in US dollar. The magic mantra was once again heard and was clinging to our ears for sometime. Everything is rated in US dollar. Small item are about US5, medium about US10 or US15 and huge one goes for US20-25. Spellbound by beautiful painting of Buddha, Apsara (the dancing figure) and the Angkor Wat, we managed spend a little fortune on painting. The longer we stood there, the more we bought and more annoying kids approached trying really hard to sell their things. After a long harassment by a boy, I managed to get Cambodia guidebook for US 3.
Tired of bargaining and harassment from kids, we decided to continue our journey taking more short cuts and were once again lost till we reached Phimenakas, a not so huge but tall mountain temple building in shades of orange. Nothing exciting about the temple except for its narrow scary stairs that eventually tempted me to climb up all by myself.
The Legendary Bhapoun is closed under Restoration by the Japanese Government
The grand long walkway that links the Bhapoun to Elephant Terrace
Not so sure which temple it is!
The Secret Door to Every Women's dream - Shopping Paradise!
US Shopping for Beautiful Paintings!
The Scary Stairs of Phimenekas
The Terrace is Which Way?
Taking more short cuts, we got lost again and ended up at the Terrace of Elephants. Just like its name, the wall was carved with elephants all along its 350m walkway till it ends at the entrance pathway where 3 huge elephant, standing side by side plucking lotus on the ground at each corner of the stairs. Climbing above the stairs, there were similar statues of nagas and lions. The rustic orange hue gave a beautiful touch to the structure. The terrace despite being 700 year old stood strongly for many years. It was used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king's grand audience hall. Grand indeed!
Beside the Terrace of Elephants, was the Terrace of Leper King, in a lighter rustic orange hue. Though they are built side by side, it was built in different period of time. The structure looked like a maze. Despite being old, it still had clear carving of Vishnu’s avatar. But the place was so muddy and crowded with tourist; we opt not to proceed inside.
We came to end of our visit at Angkor Thom and headed back to the rest area to find Sokphal. The moment we step into the rest area, once again we heard the sacred mantras form the locals. Thank god, Sokphal was already out waiting for us. We drove out of Angkor using similar four mysterious smiley face gopura arch. However, the gods and demon’s statue here were all ruined.
The grand Elephant Terrace
ME hugging the 3 elephants
The beautiful carving of Vishu Avtar at Terrace of Lepar King
Small ruin temples at Angkor Thom
The Tree Temple.
Our next destination was Ta Prohm, located 10 minutes away from Angkor Thom. King Jayavarman VII built Ta Prom in 1186. This temple is famous for it ruins and is one of kind, where the trees have grasped almost every part of the temple wall. Huge piles of blocks collapsed and scattered all around the temple ground. However one would not see beauty of the temple unless you step into that magnificent silver shaded ruin temple to view the huge signature tree growing in the middle of the stonework. One will be amazed with the way the tree has intertwine into the temple rather then to admire the beautiful structure of the temple nor the still standing carvings of apsara or devata on the wall. The beautiful combination of wood and stones make it the most popular photographed temple in Siem Reap.
As we walked out, we noticed that the huge signature tree was growing in the middle of the temple structure looking like gopura. It reminded me of a story that I once read as a little girl. The story is about a little naughty boy that has accidentally eaten the rambutan seed and was afraid a tree might grow on top of his head. That’s what the temple looked like. It has accidentally ate the seed and a huge tree grew on top of its gopura. Hmmm…yummy
The entrance to the Ta Prohm
The outside of temple structure
The tree is bending down the building
Dont you thinkit looks like cave entrance? The roots has covered part of the building
More roots
3 Trying to squeeze into the window frame
Omm.. me meditating! Cool window frame picture
The Invader of Killer Tree Root - Picture Perfect:
Burp....! .The tree is Yummy
Nightmare in Ta Prohm!
We headed out of the temple form different exit as explained by Sokphal. What he didn’t explain was the massive harassment of the locals from young to old persuading, begging and even crying to sell their product. The awful mantra was heard once again, over and over as if we were being hypnotized. We tried our best to avoid eye contacted but to no vail as everything sold was cheap. The temptation to linger and buy the product was so high but the harassment was far beyond it. Mok was extremely afraid and was rather annoyed when a little boy started to hold her hand and cried. He, along with his friends followed her till the tuk-tuk. The longer we stood there the more approached us. Even at the very last moment the bargaining continued and Ramanh managed grab her birdie just as Sokphal drove away. Sigh!
Finally Angkor Wat!
So tired with the kids harassment, we decided to eat before proceeding to Angkor Wat. Sokphal suggested a place just around the corner but unfortunately, it turned out to be damn expensive. Instead we requested him to take us to Angkor Wat. The food served here was extremely cheap but the toilets price was rather costly. It cost us US1 dollar for four people (RM0.90 per person) for unflushable toilet with no light. Thank god they at least had water inside.
We then went straight to the temple walking on the pathway. Every part of the temple has been crafted with beautiful 3D figurine of apsara and devatas, each with its own layout and with its own meaning. Along the main wall was the exquisite bas-relief carving of historical event of the famous Mahabaratha and Ramayana.
The Memorable Climb
We then climbed a small stairs to the second level to the main gopura, which was surrounded, by four basins. A narrow, tall step was located at all 6 or 8 corners of the wall. Despite being only 11 meter high, it stood steep at about 50 degree, compare to other stairs. Below, there was the sign, “climbing up at the own risk”.
Wanting to experience the true way of climbing the stairs, we avoided the newly built stairs. Akka and me raised up and I won the race, while Ramnah and Mok took their own sweet time and were practically crawling upwards as it was indeed a difficult task.
There are all together 3 gopuras rising high, connected to one another, making it possible to walk around it. Similar to the entrance, every corner of the wall was engraved with exquisite carving of devatas and apsara. The walkway is so huge we have pass by at least 2 door to reach the middle portion which was then linked with 4 huge dried basins. Between the doors, in the middle of the walkways, stood either the statue of broken Buddha, by parts of the body, sometimes the body, and sometimes the legs or at times the symbol of Lingas, all ruined. The temple structure, layout and Lingas once again indicate that it was indeed a Hindu temple but unfortunately it was the mighty Buddha that once again conquered the gopura.
Similar to Bayon and Bakheng the sense of sitting at the top of the temple ground was very nice. Some even took the opportunity to sleep, read book, simple relax or even dating! We sat there simply admiring people.
The entrance
The Gopuras
The steep tough climb!New stairs are built by the side!
Ramnah and MOk taking the challange to use the traditional way!
The view from the top. Damn Scary!
One of the dried basins (pond)
The Different Carvings of Apsara and Devatas :
The walkway linking one door to another
The Return of the Monsoon and the Climb Down!
Suddenly at about 3.30 p.m., the wind was blowing really hard and followed by heavy rain. Sitting inside a ruin temple, high above the ground listening to the loud shattering sound of rain against the wall of the temple, feeling the cold wet wind against our skin was most amazing experience we had. We just simply refuse to get down till it was about five. Everyone was rushing down using the modified stairs while akka and me took the risk and headed the traditional way. We competed again and I won again. Finally after waiting for along time both Mok and Ramnah managed to come down safely.
Due to heavy rain, the clouds have once again blocked the sun and we were unable to see the sun set. Feeling disappointed once again, we headed back to our guesthouse to dump our bag and headed for dinner. Our very first stop was the usual Blue Pumpkin bakery. We then walked around the market finding best place to eat and ended up in Angkor Famous, which not only served cheap delicious food but also served free water, fruits and nuts and friendly staffs. Feeling so stuffed, we walked around the market finding out rooms from other guests house. It all turned out to be costly. So we decided to stick to Shadow of Angkor. Save money for shopping!
The pouring rain filling up the basin.
The Angkor Famous Restaurant, the interior was good, food was cheap, served fruits, water and nuts for free and friendly staff!
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