Last year I wrote about the carved riverbed and Cambodian food at Borey Sovann Restaurant. Today I’m gonna cover 3 temples – Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre and Prasat Kravan. So this post is gonna be lengthy again. Or should I make it short and break this post into two? Oh well, let’s the flow decides the length.

Prasat Banteay Srei is located about 15 minutes from Kbal Spean; was built in honor of female deities – therefore the name “Citadel of Women”. This temple representing strength, unity, and safety and was told by Siya that the whole temples was carved by ladies!

There are two water lilies ponds in front of the temple. Sadly, there were no flower on the ponds as it was dry season. If only the flowers bloom, the whole place would really be beautiful and totally suits the name – the citadel of women!

The crowd at this temple weren’t much compared to the prime temples. Location might be a factor, as it’s about half an hour away from Angkor Wat. We would have miss this temple too if we took the 1 day pass. But after googling about this place, we realised we must be foolish for not stopping here.

The first thing I noticed in this temple apart from the red building, is the floral motif!

Just a simple floral motif, they are certainly carved beautifully and looked as though they’re real.

Each and every carving has its story, but I couldn’t tell you that as I don’t remember them. It’s been one year laaaa… T____T

Among so many temples I’ve been to, this temple is my favourite! The womanliness touch in it – the flower, the colour, the very detailed carvings; just attracts me so deeply. Even deeper than the famous Angkor Wat.

It was sunny when we reached there. The redness of the temple plus the sunny day, made the entire place even hotter. I wouldn’t walk around without my trusty umbrella. But then, the sunny clear sky complimented the red building, making the building stood out in the picture!

We walked around the temple, snapped endless pictures here and then left. On the way out, we were surrounded by local sellers! One of the small boys tried to con Satkuru into buying books from him by telling him USD1 for a book. But when he stopped and reconfirmed with him again the price,  he quickly said, “11 dollar!” I don’t know if this is one of the business gimmicks, but Sat and I encountered the same tactic again at Kek Lok Si – which I will tell when I write about that in future.

Next, we visited Prasat Banteay Samre.

Again endless stairs!

If I said that there weren’t much visitors at Banteay Srei, there were even lesser at Prasat Banteay Samre!

And it was so sunny…  that Emily walked hunch-ly along the corridor.

Okay, I made that up. She was looking for something or taking picture of something I think. Lol.

From the stairs, we walked along the corridor on the left and towards the back of the 3 main towers.

As we walked, we realised that we were the only visitors there! It was really quiet with only the sound of the wind can be heard.

So quiet that when I told them to look at me for photo group, it became an echo!!!

…And I kena marah by someone because of the stupid echo. Wuuwuu.

So, for those with loud voice like me, if you happen to be here, please remember to talk softly. If not, your voice will turn into echo and will ‘sort of threaten this beautiful temple to fall into pieces’ with your loud voice! Lol.

Walking from the back of the temple, we went to the main tower to pray!

It was quite dark, with limited light. Do bear in mind there are no electricity within the vicinity of the temple. That’s why all the temples are closed by sunset.

I pai pai-ed before I snapped. Like minta permission la. And then I looked up, and wow-ed by the structure of the tower.

If feminine is the word to describe Prasat Banteay Srei, then peaceful is the word for this temple. One will feel calm in this place. Don’t believe me, ask May! See how relax and bergaya she is…

I’m surprised to find so many nice photos taken there. As much as I wanted to post all up, but I don’t want to flood this post with pictures of the same temple only. So, next Prasat Kravan!

Prasat Kravan is one of the small temples, situated about 7-10 minutes drive from Angkor Wat. The temple consists of 5 brick towers with the central tower stood out prominently from the rest.

By the time I reached this temple, I was so tired and weary that I didn’t want to move much. In my mind, all I want was to quickly look around the place, quickly snap whatever necessary photos and find a place to sit!

Which I did – in under 10 minutes! Haha!

We headed to the central tower first. The central tower housed the carvings of Vishnu. On each side of the wall except for the entrance.

It was very dark in the tower. Very hard to take picture without flashing the carvings. T____T

Then we walked to the side towers. I notice that I have only 2 pictures of the carvings of the side towers. Was it because of no access to the rest of the towers, or was it because I got too frustrated due to snapping under low light? Can’t really recall the reason. LOL.

But I do remember sitting down at the side, taking picture of SIYA! Keke.

Feeling very tired, sleepy and hungry, we walked back to our van and went back to our home in Siem Reap. I was so tired that I slept on the journey back. Keke.

What’s next? Do stay tune!

About 20 minutes later, we reached the town of Taiping. Pre-war buildings (built by the British) can still be seen in the town area. Like the one below, it’s well taken care of and turned into Taiping Tourist Information Centre.

Went straight to Taiping Lake since it was already 4 something in the afternoon. Decided to have a walk around the big ex-mining pool.

There are people fishing at the lake though there are BIG SIGNS saying “NO FISHING” at the entrance of each lake. I guess people would never obey rules.

The plastic bag containing the fishes above were fished from the pond. Were surprised of the amount of fishes in the bag. Wondering what time they started fishing? Lol!

Lots of lovebirds took this swan ride. There’s also boat ride, but I guess swan ride is more romantic.

Halfway walking, I felt so overdressed – as most people are here for jogging! Even saw an auntie running past us – which made me and my mum exchanged glance of respect. Lol!

Walk and walk and suddenly I spotted something big hanging high on the tree. I called my dad! All looked up and mouthed, “BEE PANG SIEW!” (Bee hives!)

Then we continued came to this view. Very nice and relaxing. Even the ‘wai laus‘ kn0w this spot as lots of them sat there candying their eyes. If a young lady jogged past by, their eyes will follow her until she’s no longer in their sight. Lol! (which greatly reminds of me the article I read in STOMP! yesterday about this whole bunch of foreigners flocking the beach in Singapore to snap pictures of girls in swimwear! Ewww)

From the beautiful spot, we took a detour route to another beautiful place. My dad used to snap me and my sister here when visited this place long long time ago. I can still remember, me and my sis in identical yellow dress – posing like nobody’s business here.

Colourful flora found in the garden.

Wax stain on the pathway-  shaping a heart! ♥

Ice-cream treat after walking 3 quarter around of the lake! Nom nom nom~*

Favourite picture taken there – white flower with 2 swans bokehness! Sweet!

After spending like about an hour there, we left the place for oink oink! That – I’ll cover in the next post.