Heritage Archives | Travellenz

Beng Mealea temple – Lost in the wilderness

TravelLenz — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 18:08:25 +0000

With Koh Ker behind us, Tes sped us to the final stop of our Angkor exploration – Beng Mealea. It’s a 58 km drive that gives views of the distant Phnom Kulen mountains that was once Mahendraparvata, the first capital of the Angkor civilisation. Read more: Beyond Angkor – Cambodia’s hidden temples at Koh Ker. [...]

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Phimai Historial Park – Model for Angkor Wat

TravelLenz — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 13:44:44 +0000

When the Khmer Empire was at its peak, there existed an imperial road that started from Angkor Wat and connected the capital city with the other smaller provinces. The ancient route was often referred to as the Royal Road (or Dharamsala Route) and was dotted with shelters, hospitals and many other temples. The ultimate and final destination [...]

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Muang Tam – Amidst the lotus pond and the serenity

TravelLenz — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 15:25:53 +0000

It was like a village we had driven through back in India. Cleaner, yes. Quieter too. But the simplicity and the playfulness of the children we spotted by the roadside were no different. We crossed a bridge, drove past Muang Tam reservoir on our left and turned the corner and slowed down. We had pulled [...]

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Phanom Rung – Khmer temple on an extinct volcano

TravelLenz — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 07:31:09 +0000

Back in the 9th century AD, when there was no Thailand and no Cambodia (as it were) – the Khmer dynasty ruled over the region that today encompasses Cambodia, Laos, Southern Vietnam and Eastern Thailand. Across their empire, the Khmer built a large number of temples that were dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. In [...]

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Beyond Angkor – Cambodia’s hidden temples at Koh Ker

TravelLenz — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 12:23:12 +0000

It’s a Sunday. Not that it made any difference to life. We were already on vacation and this was our last full day in Cambodia. Tomorrow is when we catch a morning flight back to Bangkok and then proceed back home to Bangalore. For now, we were ready to explore Angkor’s relatively further off temples [...]

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Phnom Bakheng – and a crowded sunset

TravelLenz — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 14:22:44 +0000

Come evening and all the roads from the Angkor complex lead to Phnom Bakheng hill. Why? Well, this is where you get the most amazing views of the setting sun against the stunning backdrop of the Angkor Wat ruins. And did we mention that this is one of the most crowded temple complexes around sundown? [...]

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Neak Pean – entwined Nagas and an island temple

TravelLenz — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 07:15:59 +0000

In the last two days, we had climbed over a number of laterite steps, sandstone platforms and posed against a few apsaras. What we were about to visit was entirely different from what we had seen these two days. Neak Pean is an artificial island temple situated in the middle of the Northern Baray. The [...]

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Ta Som and the tree-framed eastern gopura

TravelLenz — Wed, 08 Aug 2018 13:39:40 +0000

The Khmer temple of Ta Som was relatively small when compared to the many other temples built under Jayavarman’s reign. Tes mentioned that it was frequently skipped by tourists who were more interested in visiting the better-known sites in the complex. Good for us, when we got to the temple from East Mebon, there were [...]

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East Mebon and the guardian elephants

TravelLenz — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 13:47:52 +0000

From Banteay Samre, a short drive took us to the mountain temple of East Mebon. It sits in the midst of an artificial reservoir – East Baray – built to provide water to the city. From a distance we could make out that East Mebon was a large temple, rising to three levels and crowned [...]

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Banteay Samre – The fortress and the cucumber King

TravelLenz — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 14:16:19 +0000

With its tall and windowless laterite walls, the Banteay Samre temple looked more like a fortress from outside. An isolated fortress for that matter. Banteay means ‘fortress’ and Samre refers to an ethnic tribe who inhabited the regions at the base of Phnom Kulen mountain. We were reminded of the huge temple walls in central and [...]

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