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Angkor Wat site représente the major attraction.
Tonlé Sap lac , first fresh water fish reserve in the world,
floating villages, Khmer countryside, cultural village, bike
rides, the exotic butterfly garden, ... are also very
interesting.
We can advice you about all possibilities.
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Visitors can travel
to Siem Reap either on regular domestic
flights, overland or by speedboat along
the magnificent Tonlé Sap to explore new
cultures, meeting local fisherman in their
floating villages and tasting ethnic food
fares.
Angkor Temples are spread throughout the
forest. Heading north from Siem Reap , you
first came to Angkor Wat, then the walled
city of Angkor Thom . Further east are temples
including Ta Prohm North of Angkor Thom
is Preah Kahn and way beyond in the north-east,
Banteay Srey and Phnom Külen. To the east
of Siem Reap is the Roluos group of early
Angkor temples.
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The
Angkor Wat Temple, the mysterious Hindu
Temple built by King Suryavarman II at the
height of the Khmer Empire in the 12th century
is the world's largest temple complex. Consists
of many sandstone temples, chapels, causeways,
terraces and reservoirs, it is believed
that the gods assisted the architect whose
identity remains a mystery until today.
The walls of the temple are covered with
thousands of carving depicting scenes of
confrontations between the gods and the
demons of classical Hindu mythology. Yet
on some are genial-dancing ladies known
as "Apsara" and on others depicting
royal processions with the king and other
royalties riding on elephants. Whatever
it is, the carvings are clearly masterpieces |
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In
the true sense. There is much about Angkor Wat
that is unique among the temples of Angkor. The
most significant point is its westward
orientation. West is symbolically the direction
of death, which once led many scholars to
conclude that Angkor Wat was primary a tomb.
This was supported by the fact that the
magnificent bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat were
designed to be viewed in an anticlockwise
direction, a practice which has antecedents in
Hindu funerary rites. Vishnu, however, is often
associated with the west , and it is commonly
accepted nowadays that Angkor Wat was probably
both a temple and a mausoleum for Suryavarman
II.
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The
fortified city of Angkor Thom, some 10sq
km in extent, was built by Angkor's greatest
King, Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181-1201). Centered
on Baphuon, Angkor Thom is enclosed by a
square wall 8m high and 12km in length and
encircled by moat 100m wide, said to have
been inhabited by fierce crocodiles. The
city has five monumental gates, one each
in the north, west and south walls and two
in the east wall. In front of each gate
stand giant statues of 54 gods (to the left
of the causeway) and 54 demons (to the right
of the causeway), a motif taken from the
story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk
illustrated in the famous bas-relief at
Angkor |
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Wat.
In the center of the walled enclosure are the
city's most important monuments, including the
Bayon, the Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas
and the Terrace of Elephants. |
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The
Bayon takes an easy second places after
Angkor Wat .The smile of the four-faced
Bayon has become a world-recognized symbol
of Cambodia.
The towering faces, reaching up to four
meters in height, adorn the Bayon Temple
at the exact center of Angkor Thom in Siem
Reap. As many as 216 faces on the 54 remaining
towers, each represented one province of
Khmer empire in the ancient time. The Bayon
is now known to have been built by Jayavarman
VII . There is still much mystery associated
with the Bayon - its exact function and
symbolism - and this seems only appropriate
for a monument whose signature is an enigmatically
smiling face. |
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The
350m-long Terrace of Elephants was used
as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies
as well as a base for the king's grand audience
hall. The Terrace of Elephants has five
extending towards the Center Square, three
in the center and one at each end. The middle
section of the retaining wall is decorated
with life-size garudas and lions; towards
either end are the two parts of the famous
parade of elephants. |
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The
Baphuon, a pyramidal representation of mythical
Mt Meru, is 200m north - west of the Bayon.
It was constructed by Udayadityavarman II
(reigned 1049-65) and marked the center
of the city that existed before the construction
of Angkor Thom. The Baphuon is in pretty
poor shape and at the time of writing, it
was being restored by a French team, with
much of the temple marked off-limits. It
is approached by a 200m elevated walkway
made of sandstone. The central structure
is 43m high, but unfortunately its submit
has collapsed (it may be restored). On the
west side of the temple, the remaining wall
of the second level was fashioned -apparently
in the 15th century into a reclining Buddha
40m in length. |
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Banteay Srey was built in the late 10th century
and is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva.
The temple is square with entrances at the
east and west. Of chief inter-east are the
three central towers, which are decorated
with male and female divinities and beautiful
filigree relief work. Banteay Srey is 21km
north-east of the Bayon and 8km west of
Phnom Külen. You can combine a visit here
with a trip to the sacred mountain of Phnom
Kulen. |
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The
temple of Ta Prohm rates with Angkor Wat
and the Bayon as one of the most popular
attractions of Angkor . Ta Prohm is a unique
other-world experience. The temple is cloaked
in dappled shadow, its crumbling towers
and walls locked in the slow muscular embrace
of vast root systems. If Angkor Wat , the
Bayon and other temples are testimony to
the genius of the Angkor-period Khmers,
Ta Prohm reminds us equally of the awesome
fecundity and power of the jungle. Built
in approximately 1186, Ta Prohm was a Buddhist
temple dedicated to the mother of jayavarman
VII. Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, close
courtyards and narrow corridors. Many of
the corridors are impassable, clogged with
jumbled piles of delicately carved stone
blocks dislodged by the roots of long-decayed
trees.
Bas-reliefs on bulging walls are carpeted
by lichen, moss and creeping plants, and
shrubs sprout from the roofs of monumental
porches. Trees, hundreds of years old -
some supported by flying buttresses - tower
overhead, their leaves filtering the sunlight
and casting a greenish pall over the whole
scene. |
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The
temple of Preah Khan (Sacred Sword) is a
good counterpoint to Ta Prohm, though it
gets far fewer visitors. Preah Khan was
built by Jayavarman VII (it may have served
as his temporary residence while Angkor
Thom was being built), and like Ta Prohm
it is a place of towered enclosures and
shoulder-hugging corridors. The central
sanctuary of the temple was dedicated in
1191, Preah Khan's role as a center for
worship and learning. Preah Khan cover a
very large area, but the temple itself is
within a rectangular enclosing wall of around
700m by 800m. Four processional walkways
approach the gates of the temple, and these
are bordered by gods carrying a serpent,
as in the approach to Angkor Thom. From
the central sanctuary, four long vaulted
galleries extend in the cardinal directions.
Many of the interior walls of Preah Khan
were once coated with plaster held in place
by holes in the stone. |
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Sras
Srang (Pool of Ablution) is a basin of earlier
construction, measuring 800m by 400m. A
tiny island in the middle once bore a wooden
temple, of which only the stone base remains.
There is a mass grave of hundreds of victims
of the Khmer Rouge further north of Sras
Srang on the other side of the road . It
is marked by a wooden memorial. |
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The
late 12th century Buddhist temple of Preah
Neak Pean (Intertwined Naga), which was
built by Jayavarman VII, consists of a square
pool with four smaller square pools arranged
on each axis. In the center of the large
central pool is a circular "island"
encircled by the two Naga whose intertwined
tails give the temple its name. Water once
flowed from the central pool into the four
peripheral pools via ornamental spouts,
which can still be seen in the pavilions
at each axis of the pool. The spout are
in the |
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form of an elephant's head, a horse's head,
a lion's head and a human's head. The pool
was used for ritual purification rites and
the complex was originally in the center
of a huge 3km by 900m lake, now dried up
and overgrown. |
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Around
400m south of Angkor Thom, the main attraction
of Phnom Bakheng is the sunset view of Angkor
Wat. Still, the sunset over the Tonlé Sap
lake is very impressive from the hill. It
is also now possible to arrange an elephant
ride up the hill and the location certainly
makes for one of the more memorable journeys
you will make. Phnom Bakheng is also home
to the first of the temple mountains built
in the near vicinity of Angkor . Yasovarman
I (rule 889 - 910) chose Phnom Bakheng over
the Roluos area , where previous temples
have been built. |
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Phnom
Bakheng is a five-tiered temple mountain with
seven levels. All of these numbers are of symbolic
significance. The seven levels, for example, represent
the seven Hindu heavens, while the total number
of towers, excluding the Central Sanctuary, is
108, a particularly auspicious number and one
which co-relates to the lunar calendar. |
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Angkor
Wat does not mark the start of the Angkorean
Empire begun by Jayavarman II in the 9th
century. At just about 42km north of Siem
Reap Town, many visitors combine a visit
to Phnom Külen with a trip to the pink sandstone
temple of Banteay Srey. But Phnom Külen
is also a change of scenery for those who
have spent days looking at the impressive
lowland temples and wish to see a different,
rural Cambodia, waterfalls and forest. In
802 AD, the mysterious King Jayavarman II
proclaimed this place and its surroundings
as his empire and declared it free of the
rule of Java, and Phnom Külen was born as
the new dynasty's first capital. The peak
of Phnom Külen opens out to a large flat
plain. |
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On
either side, tall waterfalls crash down the mountain;
clean, clear and cool water provide a wonderful
place for tourists. Carvings of Brahmin yonis
and lingas can be seen etched into the riverbed.
A mountain peak temple houses a huge reclining
Buddha, gazing serenely out from his peaceful
mountain home. This is the largest reclining Buddha
in the Kingdom. It is an unforgettable memory
of this stunning and exotic Kingdom. |
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This
has become a popular excursion for visitors
wanting a break from the temples and is
easy enough to arrange yourself, get a preview
as the floating village is near Phnom Krom
where the boat docks. It is very scenic
in the warm light of early morning or late
afternoon.
On the Tonlé Sap lake, there are 3 biospheres
and an establishment of the bird sanctuary
there makes it the most worthwhile and straightforward
location to visit. If you are able to visit
during the dry season (December to May),
the concentration of birds is like something
out of a Hitchcock film as water starts
to dry up elsewhere. |
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