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CHINA 上海 (Shanghai) Small Town 广州 (Guangzhou) 香港 (Hong Kong) VIETNAM Hanoi Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island Hue DMZ Hoi An My Son Temple Nha Trang Nha Trang Boat Trip Ca Na Saigon CAMBODIA Phnom Penh Siem Reap Angkor, Day1 Angkor, Day2 Angkor, Day3
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Kbal Spean, Banteay Srei, Srah Srang, and Ta Phrom October 31, 2003 Getting around for the day...
Kbal Spean
50 km from Siem Reap, and 1.7k up into the jungle is a river where the ancient Khmer carved directly into the stone of the river bed in the headwaters of the Siem Reap river. They carved thousands of lingas directly into the stone. The linga is a phallic symbol, and water poured over a linga is holy water. The lingas in the river make the entire river become holy and fertile to all below. They are such cunning lingas. Banteay Srei
Conveniently located next to the River of 1,000 Lingas is Banteay Srei, or the Citadel of Women, or in local English "The Temple of the Womans" (which is even more interesting because the center shrine was reputed to contain Shiva's Linga). Built by King Rajendravarman II of pink sandstone in 967, this relatively small temple makes up for size in the intricacy and beauty of its prolific carvings. Srah Srang
Srah Srang, also known as the "Royal Bath", is a man made lake 2,297 by 984 feet built by King Jayavaraman VII at the end of the 12th century. It is still quite swim-able, though there are many plants growing in the water, and I'm pretty sure the fish wouldn't appreciate the royal bath bubbles... Ta Phrom
This was our last stop for the day, and we were pretty wiped out
from our journeys and were not quite ready for the site that greeted us on
arrival. We ended up staying for a couple of hours wandering around in this
relic of the jungle. At the end of the day as the light was changing the
trees started singing with cicada (so loud as to sound like a siren or an
alarm), and the remaining light pulled the
shadows long and beautifully. It was one of the more magical experiences of
our time here.
l
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