TRAVEL | Phnom Bakheng

Another Hindu temple at the site of Angkor, Phnom Bakheng was one of the first temple mountains to be built in Angkor, two centuries before its neighbour the Angkor Wat. Situated atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the Angkor region, offering a view of the Tonle Sap Lake and a distant Angkor Wat in the jungle.

The temple is usually overcrowded at sunset, sometimes even completely overrun by tourists, making Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor

Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng hill at sunset.

TRAVEL | Preah Khan

This will be the last of the temples I will be introducing in the Angkor archeological park. Preah Khan (Sacred sword) is a Khmer temple built by the king Jayavarman VII in honour of his father, and is architecturally in harmony with Ta Prohm. Like Ta Prohm, the temple itself has been left largely unrestored, allowing nature to mix with man made structures. The temple was originally used as a Buddhist monastery and school, engaging over 1000 monks.

Today, the Buddha carvings/images in the temple have been vandalised or destroyed in the anti-Buddhist reaction under the proceeding King Jayavarman VIII.

TRAVEL | Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm (Ancestor Brahma) is a Khmer temple approximately 1km east of the old Angkorian capitol Angkor Thom. Founded by the King Javaraman VII in the late 12th century, the temple was built as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university dedicated to the mother of King. The beauty of this temple lies in the fact that it has been left in the same condition as it was found, showing the dynamic interaction between nature and man made art.

Because of its natural state, visitors are able to experience the wonders of discovering a real ruin like early explorers did in the nineteenth century. The photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors.

This was the site where the first Tomb Raider movie was filmed.

TRAVEL | Angkor Wat

Situated in Angkor, the Angkor Wat is a grand temple complex built for the king Suryavarman II as his state temple, in the early years of 12th century. The Angkor Wat is unusual in Khmer temples in that it faces the west, instead of the east, leading many to speculate that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple. Based on the decorations and structures found there, scholars believe that the temple is dedicated to the worship of Lord Vishnu, a supreme god in Hindu religion.


Angkor Wat, which means city temple in Khmer, demonstrates the epitome of high classical style of Khmer architecture. The temple itself was designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology. The quincux of towers in Angkor Wat represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, while the surrounding walls and moat represent the surrounding mountain ranges and seas. This style of temple design was the dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period, and was known as temple mountain.

View Larger Map

TRAVEL | Angkor - The Bayon Temple

From today, I'll be introducing a series of sites located in the Angkor Archaeological Park, one of the most important archaeological site in South-East Asia. It contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th - 15th century. The ruins of Angkor are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The structures one sees at Angkor today, more than 100 stone temples in all, are the surviving remains of a grand religious, social and administrative metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and houses - were built of wood and are long since decayed and gone.

The Bayon temple is a Khmer Temple situated at the absolute centre of the ancient city Angkor Thom. Built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon temple is one of the most distinct temples in Siam Reap because of the many serene and massive stone faces that are decorated on the towers of the temple. There are a total of 54 towers each with 4 stone faces, making a total of 216 faces. The person depicted on the towers remain a mystery. Some say it's the King himself, some say it's the Buddha.

The Bayon was the last state temple to be built at Angkor, and the only Angkorian state temple to be built primarily as a Mahayana Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Buddha.






View Larger Map