Lesser Known Ruins of Angkor
October 26, 2006
Angkor Wat from the Helicopter
A few destinations include;
- Phnom Krom (near the Tonle Sap Lake)
- Phnom Bok (sister mountain with Phnom Krom and Phnom Bakheng)
- Beng Melea
- Ancient Angkor Highway (between Beng Melea and half way to Preah Kahn in Preah Vihear province) - Angkor's ancient highways were constructed by King Jayavarman VII, leading to many of Angkor's outposts in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Along the ancient highway were also hospitals and rest houses, for the locals to stay the night and freshen up for the long journey.
On the 27th of October, I was lucky enough to jump on a Helicopter and do a quick 20 min tour of Angkor from above.
Kid near Wat Atvea
The helicopter ride cost me $125US dollars and not $160 (i think thats the normal price, it might be $180), because I booked a flight for a different date and it was confirmed for the 14min at $125 price, but there was a change in plans and the company offered me the 20 minute flight at a discounted rate.
During my first 2 days in Siemreap, I spent the time visiting some lesser known ruins near Siemreap International Airport, and Phnom Krom (located near the Tonle Sap Lake).
Jayavarman's mysterious smile
The list of ruins that I visited during my time in Siemreap include;
- Prasat Phatry
- Prasat To
- Prasat Veak
- Prasat Komnap
- Prasat Chau Srei Vibol
- Spean Thmor
- Prasat Lung
- Prasat Wat Chedei
- Prasat Atvea
- Prasat Phnom Bok
- Prasat Phnom Krom
- Prasat Banteay Srei
- Prasat Banteay Samre
- Prasat Leak Nean (had to hike through about 1km of rice paddy fields... hehehe)
- And Numerous other small ruins located within Siemreap (my Journal was stolen in VietSCAM, sigh so I will need to try and remember which other ruins I visited)
The majority of the ruins that I visited in the first 2 days were just minor ruins that had little left to see and pretty much no tourists at all.
Flooded planes near Wat Prasat Wat
Prasat Phatry was a very small ruin situated within the city, the ruin has little left remaining and nothing of much interest in terms of an actual structure. Archaelogists and researchers were working here doing some excavation work.
Unfortunately I do not have many photos for any of these smaller ruins due to the fact that my memory card became corrupt and I was unable to retrieve/save any of the photos onto my external HD. I was going to try and do some data recovery on the memory card but the memory card was stolen along with my camera and day pack in VietSCAM.
I had dinner at one of the restaurants in town and witnessed Cambodian Classical Dance in person for the first time in my life. Prior to this I had only seen the dance on film, it was an amazing performance by young students keeping the art alive! The food was a tad bit more expensive compared to other restaurants but the performance and the service was immaculate.
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Angkor Wat from the Helicopter
Kid near Wat Atvea
Jayavarman's mysterious smile
Flooded planes near Wat Prasat Wat
Khmer classical dance - the Peac…
Prasat Bayon
