Explore The temples of Angkor and Siem Reap
Even if you’re feeling pretty templed-out, you’ll probably be captivated by Banteay Srei, 35km northeast of Siem Reap. Built of fine-grained rose-pink sandstone, it’s the most elaborately decorated of all Angkor’s monuments, its walls, false doors, lintels and exotic soaring pediments all richly embellished with floral motifs and Ramayana scenes. Comprising just a single level, it’s positively diminutive compared with the region’s state-temples. A little way further out from Siem Reap, at Kbal Spean, you can trek along the river to see fabulous scenes of Hindu gods and sacred linga carved into the river bed.
Banteay Srei (closes 5pm) is easily reached from Siem Reap on the new road from National Route 6 or by the old road which heads north from Pradak and passes through countryside and villages before reaching the temple. It’s a further 10km to reach Kbal Spean (closes 3pm), and it’s best to allow at least an hour and a half for the visit – it’s around 45 minutes to climb the hill. You need a valid Angkor pass to visit both sites; a one-day pass only can be purchased at Banteay Srei ($20). For refreshments there are restaurants at Pradak and on the new road near Banteay Srei, and food stalls at Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean. A new visitor and interpretation centre was opened at Banteay Srei in 2009, and things are now fairly organized with visitors being directed through the site in an attempt to prevent jams – unfortunately it doesn’t work very well and it’s as well to make sure you have plenty of time to make the best of this wonderful temple.
Read More-
Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei was built not by a king, but by two local dignitaries, Yajnavaraha, who was a trusted guru to the king, and his brother. It was Rajendravarman who granted them the land and permission for a temple to be built, but although the sanctuary was consecrated in 967 to Shiva, it was not actually completed until the reign of Jayavarman V.
The temple layout is relatively simple, with three enclosing walls, an inner moat and a row of three sanctuary towers at the very centre. If the eastern gopura by which you enter the temple seems oddly stranded, that’s because there was never an enclosing wall here – although the buildings just beyond the gopura are deemed to be in the “fourth” enclosure. The volume of tourists trooping past isn’t conducive to lingering here, but it’s worth taking a moment to scrutinize the very fine carving above the exterior of the east door, which depicts Indra – the sky god, ruling the easterly cardinal direction – squatting on the three-headed elephant Airavata.
From the gopura, a paved processional way leads 75m west to the main temple complex. Around the midway point, a pavilion to the north boasts a particularly detailed engraved pediment showing Vishnu in his incarnation as a man-lion. Just before you reach the gopura in the third enclosing wall, you’ll find a carved pediment you can admire without craning your neck, as it’s lying upright on the ground to the right of the doorway; it shows Sita swooning as she is abducted by Ravana. The gopura itself is one of the most dramatic at the site, with soaring finials and the carved scrolls of fine leaf decorations and floral motifs.
In the rainy season, you’ll be treated to marvellous reflections of the temple when the moat within the third enclosure fills. The narrow second enclosure is jammed with six long galleries, each subdivided into rooms which might have been meditation halls.
