From Neak Pean to Preah Khan took 5-10 minutes as they’re not far apart. Just as I finished eating one small packet of biscuit, we have reached the outer entrance of Preah Khan. Quickly we got down from the van and walked towards the majestic gate of Preah Khan.

As we walked on the bridge towards the gate archway, two ladies were seen cycling towards our direction. Siya stopped them and asked us if we want to try balut!

One of the lady began preparing balut for Siya while the other looked curiously. The lady probably felt pressured while preparing the balut as 7 DSLRs were aimed at her. Haha!

Siya then took a bite of the balut. We then bombarded him with thousands of questions like “what’s it taste like?” – like chicken egg, he said; “got feather onot?“, “the balut got bone?” and many more. We even asked him what’s that yellow and white thingy in the plate. Siya said, that’s the pillow for the duck to sleep. We  gave the !!!!!! look and he laughed at our expression.

Humorous indeed, our tour guide is.

The other lady just smiled politely while waiting for her friend. Probably she’s smiling at our ohhh and ahhh! Lol!

After Siya done with his food, he asked if anyone of us wanna try it? He encouraged us to take a bite, as it’s a local delicacy!

William decided to try first, and he told us that it was nothing peculiar. Just like an egg. Hearing that, out of sudden LeeMay and Ailing have the guts to try too. But they decided to share.

…and we laughed cause their expressions are totally priceless.

Sat recorded the whole ordeal. Lol.

Then we continued walking to the temple. Halfway walking, another lady in bicycle stopped cycling and asked in Khmer language to buy some food. Siya translated and then just out of curiosity, Sat and I bought one to try.

It tasted like our pulut udang, but the filling obviously isn’t prawn. Can’t recall what’s it called nor the filling. But I know it tastes nice!

By the time Sat and I finished our Cambodian pulut, we reached the inner entrance of Preah Khan.

The temple is so secluded that there was nobody else there but us. It was kinda scary yet adventurous!

Preah Khan may look grand and well-preserved while walking to way to the temple, but once stepped into the inner compound, the perception of grand, well-preserved temple vanished immediately.

The temple is in very poor state of repair. There are bricks slab everywhere. I had to mind my steps while walking through the temple. There are lots of ‘no entry’ sign. Some of the windows are closed with ‘bricks’. Some of the doorway are blocked with large brick slabs, signaling unsafe to enter.

Today, Preah Khan is surrounded and habituated by greenery. The roots of the parasite trees penetrated through the bricks and caused them to fell. However, the green managed to work its way; blending with the temple creating another type of beauty which will make you go wahhh.

The cravings are eroded by the harsh weather of Cambodia.

History has that the thieves of the temples ruined the beautiful cravings by slashing them and took away all the diamonds, precious stones that once long, long time ago decorated the walls of Preah Khan.

Siya mentioned that in the past, when the sun shone from the top to the walls adorned with the precious stones and diamonds, that air-well would be very brightened. I quickly imagined how it looks like centuries ago, with all the stones on its place and ‘created’ the brightened air-well in my mind.

Ah, it was indeed beautiful.

Though the temple is a Buddhist temple, we found a big linga statue there.

I then laughed at myself for thinking that only lingga can be found in Hindu temple as there are lots similarities between the Buddhism and Hinduism, especially in Angkor.

We found ourselves walking to this high raised enclosed corridor. Despite the blazing sun outside, the temperature in the corridor was lower by lots. It was so cool that I told Sat that I wanna stay there. And he said, okay. I’ll go first, bye!

Cis. Evil boyfie I have.

To be frank, I can’t recall what route we took in the temple, but I know after going through few cooling corridors, we came to this entrance again.

No, it’s not the same as the one we entered. We exited through another gate. Which was nearer to Angkor Wat.

It was shame to see the very nicely craved temple be in such bad condition. I believed many people are pouring in help to restore the temple back to its glory, but I guess it maybe too late as the plants have already intervened with the temple. But who knows, maybe it can be restored!!!

Our van picked us up and then brought us to our lunch place in Angkor.

to be continued…

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2010/01/cambodia-ep-15-balut-at-preah-khan/feed/ 3 http://phingelicious.com/2009/12/cambodian-ep-14-ta-som-and-neak-pean/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/12/cambodian-ep-14-ta-som-and-neak-pean/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:00:28 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1067 Exactly a MONTH to go! *yoohoo* Eh, means a month for me to finish up the Cambodian Hour series. *gasp*

Mr. Kunn arranged us to visit 5 temples on the 4th day of our Cambodian trip (which was alot!)… and Ta Som was the 2nd one in line.

First look at the entrance of Ta Som, it does resembles the South gate of Angkor Thom but in smaller scale. Those 4 beautiful faces won’t fail to put a smile on my face.

Ta Som maybe one of the small temples in Angkor, but it has 3 gates for us to pass through! @.@

Now that I’ve came back and looked through pictures taken there, I seriously can’t recall exactly where the shots were taken. All I remembered was me walking hurriedly to catch up with the rest as they quickened their pace on this temple due to lack of time. As much as I want to stop, look around and remember the surrounding of the temple, I can’t. So, I let the pictures do the remembrance. Lol!

I was surprised when the ‘fast batch’ stopped in front of me. I thought they suddenly being thoughtful, decided to wait for the rest to catch up. Manatau, Siya was actually telling story about the stone with the feet. Can’t recall the story he told – but I remembered seeing both Aaron and Ailing standing on top of the feet and feeling ‘enlightened’. Lol.

We then reached the final one. The front look.

The look from the other side. Which made me think this is the entrance too. @.@

Confusing it is – but the last gate stands out more. Probably because of the fig tree again. Lol!

Since it was the outstanding one, we took a family photo here too. But I never get to see the family photo because the person who snapped this never send the picture to us. Tsk tsk.

At there too there were few stalls selling goods – from books on Cambodia/Lonely Planet for bargain price, T-shirts, batik clothes to small souvenir gifts. The children were found running and flocking the tourists, begging them to buy something from them. Some of the kids are pretty good salespersons as well. But becareful, you might end up paying more than it supposed to be when you thought you’re paying less for more. (We almost got conned – not here but at another temple.)

Some begged you for money too – “one dollar” they would say. 1 dollar maybe a small amount to those earning in USD, BUT not to me who earn in Ringgits. I can’t afford to give a dollar away, therefore I wish I had brought sweets or small toys along. That way, I could as least offer them something rather than turning them away.

Emily got herself a very nice batik printed cloth here. I remembered this because I wanted to get one too, manatau she went and bought one d. My bad, cause I never inform her earlier.

We then left Ta Som for Neak Pean – a small Buddhist temple built on a small island in a pool.

Bah, the picture was dark, as it was photographed with sun shone slightly behind the temple. And boy, the sun expanded its rays on us! It was so hot that I had to take out my trusty umbrella to keep me from melting. T.T

Thanks to abundance of trees, Leemay, Emily and Siya were protected from mighty sun’s rays.

Siya told many stories about Neak Pean. Among the many stories he told, one of it was the origin of the name. It derives from the tale of 2 nagas (snakes) on the base of the small island. These two nagas are said to be the representation of the 2 nagarajas of lake Anavatapta in Himalayas. IF you see the picture closely, you can see 2 snake heads on the base. Their tails twisted at the end.

Purpose of this built : for medical healing purposes, just like the one in Himalayas where it’s said to have mystical healing power. So anyone wanna take a dip in the pool?

The picture below shows the Balaha statue. It’s a horse statue. Don’t really know much about the story though. Was busy enjoying the serenity of the temple there.

A man was seen walking down the stairs towards the Balaha statue and the small island. Out of the blue, Siya asked us “who want to go to the island?“

With most of us wearing sport shoes and seeing the ‘condition’ of the water, we said, “nooooooo!” and then laughed. Lol!

We then went to see the 4 chambers where the water from the big pool would flow out to 4 smaller pools in North, South, East and West during wet season.

Big discovery : my white short shoes has been coloured with red brownish shades by the time we left Neak Pean. Conclusion, never wear white sport shoes to Angkor even though white shoes looks nice! Lol!

Slippers maybe a good choice but you’ll end up having 2 shades on your skin! Like Sat’s.

We managed to squeeze in another temple before our late lunch. I was hungry, gastric threatened to attack me – therefore quickly opened up biscuit packs in my bag and munched them. Which temple was next in line before lunch? – that I’ll feature in next post.

Woke up super duper early at 4.45. Washed up and then gathered downstairs. Siya greeted us and off we go to Angkor Wat for sunrise viewing at 5.20am. As much as I wanna show the picture of the sunrise, I couldn’t as I forgot to slot in battery after charging it overnight. Sigh!!!

The sunrise was magnificent. It was nice seeing the  orange sun coming out from the back of Angkor Wat, the birds chipping, the serenity in the morning; including helping the man setting up the tripod and watching him snapping pictures of the sunrise with green-y eyes. *wuwu*

Then went back to lodge for breakfast at 7.30am. Took bath, then went out for the famous Ta Prohm. The temple where Angelina Jolie fought with bad guys in the movie Tombraider.

It is scary seeing the roots penetrating the building.The roots are super duper big somemore. If you’re wondering what tree roots is that, it belongs to silk cotton tree.

However, no all trees in dominating Ta Prohm are silk cotton trees. Another type of tree, strangler fig can be found there too. If not mistaken, the tree in the picture below is the strangler fig.

Temples are always donned with beautiful cravings. Like the one below. Though it’s badly preserved, but we can still see the bas-relief. I’m always amazed by how the bas relief could withstand the harsh weather and the damages made by the robbers/soldiers.

And I couldn’t stop wonder how the temples in Angkor would look like if they’re all well-preserved since the glorious days till now?

One astonishing discovery! The roots found its way down the earth, carefully avoiding the apsara’s beautiful face. Coincidentally, the aprasa in the picture below was smiling beautifully!

It’s said that Ta Prohm was abandoned after the fall of Khmer empire. It was until in the 20th century that people began to do something to this temple. But I think they need to do alot here as the some part of the buildings have gave way.

In one of the buildings below, if one stands at a side and pounds chest once like Tarzan, a thundering sound can be heard in the chamber. I tried it, but the echo wasn’t that thunderous. Ah, probably not ‘hard’ enough. LOL!

Walking around in Ta Prohm wasn’t easy. There are some part where we had to climb over the big fallen brick stones and bent over to avoid the branches jutting out from the trees. But despite all that, I love walking around this temple.

Why?

Because of the shades provided by the trees! They made the place cooler!

On the way to our van, we were ‘taunted’ by the locals – asking us to buy something from them. I was super paranoid with this, as I was told that when one bunch of people surrounded you, you need to be on guard as while you’re distracted with their goods, their hands will work their way to your wallet. Luckily we didn’t encounter such problem. *phew*

Since I’m not interested in the good they’re selling, I quickly walked to the van. Satkuru and Emily found themselves good bargains, therefore gotten themselves few Angkor-temples print t-shirts.

Next, Ta Som…