Cambodia – January 18th, 2016
On our last day in Siem Reap our guide Sarung offered us an option to visit “the river of 1000 Lingas” basically pornographic Cambodia 1000 penises carved into the river bed high on the Kulen Hills about a 2-hour drive 45 minutes on a single lane partially paved, with potholes that can swallow a small child mountain road where traffic flows in only one direction based on time of day.
Kbal Spean is an Angkorian era archaeological site of a series of stone rock relief carvings in sandstone formations of the river bed and banks. It is commonly known as the “Valley of a 1000 Lingas” or “The River of a Thousand Lingas”. The motifs for stone carvings are mainly myriads of lingams (phallic symbol of Hindu god Shiva), depicted as neatly arranged bumps that cover the surface of sandstone bedrock, and lingam-yoni designs. There are also various Hindu mythological motifs, including depictions of the god’s Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Lakshmi, Rama, and Hanuman, as well as animals.
The waters are regarded as holy, given that Jayavarman II chose to bathe in the river, and had the river diverted so that the stone bed could be carved. The river then ends with a waterfall and a pool. We skipped the waterfall David is still slightly under the weather – but I took a chance to waddle into the river, rubbed a Linga, and baptized myself on its holy water.
Next, we visited Preah Ang Thom, a 16th-century Buddhist monastery notable for the giant reclining Buddha, the countries largest is an 8-meter tall statue of the reclining Buddha reaching nirvana. The statue is carved into a huge sandstone boulder, that you reach by climbing 3 floors, since the Buddha is carved on top of the boulder a sanctuary was built around it – can you say treehouse Buddha.
Next stop Beng Mealea or Bung Mealea its name means “lotus pond” is a temple in the Angkor Wat period located 30 miles east of the main group of temples at Angkor. it was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting Buddhist motifs. Its primary material is sandstone and it is largely unrestored, with trees and thick brush thriving amidst its towers and courtyards and many of its stones lying in great heaps. The history of the temple is unknown and it can be dated only by its architectural style, identical to Angkor Wat, so scholars assumed it was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century.
My favorite temple in its raw natural complexity state – also we encountered very few tourists I guess visitors don’t want to take the time to explore the surrounding area – which was OK by me.
We said goodbye to our guide over the last few days we felt that we explored this part of the world with a friend. His historical and architectural knowledge of the area was extensive.
Pub bar and night market area for dinner and pick up last-minute items, found two lovely shops on David’s list – this place has a Mardi Gras atmosphere bars and restaurant and very loud and drunken people a good Mojito $5 and it seems happy hour runs all night dinner al fresco, but dessert banana Nutella crepe from street vendor yummy. Street vendors sell all kinds of deep-fried bugs and people trying them but first, don’t forget that selfie.
Tomorrow we leave chaotic Siem Reap for civilized and orderly Singapore.
