Jan 18th - Koulen Mountains

Jan 18th

Not such an early start today as we headed off to the Koulen Mountains. We had expected this to be a bit cooler as it’s up at about 500m. Unfortunately as it’s jungle up there, and it’s even hotter!

Koulen mountain is situated about 50km north east of Angkor Complex, it takes approximately 2 hours drive up to the hill top which is about 500 meters high with a plateau stretching 30 km long. The road up to the peak is mostly single track with some areas paved, but not much. It is only possible to go up before 11 am and down after midday, to avoid vehicles meeting on the narrow road.

Koulen is considered by Khmers to be the most sacred mountain in Cambodia and it is a popular place for domestic visitors during weekends and festivals. The hill was used as the ancient capital city by king Jayavaraman II in AD 802 where he declared himself as a god king and announced independence from Java, then giving birth to present day Cambodia.

On the hilltop there are 56 Angkorian temples made of bricks and volcanic stones, but most of them are in poor condition,. This area is known as Hahendrapura and was founded in the reign of King Jayavarman II.  The sites are Prasat krau Romeas, Rong Chen (the first mountain temple), Sra Damrei (Elephant pond). 

1000 lingham river bed

Our first stop was the thousand lingam river bed. This is a carved river bed, carved in that the river rock has been carved for most of the source - we saw about 50 metres. The lingam (male part) cover most of the carvings with yoni interspersed at random intervals. Also amongst these are depictions of events in the Hindu belief.

We walked upstream and saw one of the many sources that feed the river. The water was clear and you could see the sand at the bottom of the pit billowing in the current. We happily returned to the van as we were all getting hot.

The head of the reclining Buddha

We climbed a bit further and entered a busy area of stalls. Most were selling religious tat and some Chinese health foods (dried porcupine stomach included). At the summit of the hill you can see Buddhist pagoda and a large reclining Buddha statue 8 meters length carved into a sandstone block in  the16th century. We took off our shoes whilst 3 children squabbled over who was going to look after them while we were in the temple. The reclining Buddha is impressive and is still worshipped today. There are many slot boxes happy to take your offerings including the Red Cross!

We continued to climb until we reached the top and the Umbrella Rock. This has, close to the summit, a source of water that is consider sacred as it never seems to run out. We poured some of this over our necks in an attempt to cool down. Most of the shrines are a bit tacky, but the Cambodians revere them.

Walking back down the mountain we stopped outside a new building. I noticed that it was displaying a banner about being a centre for the education of eco systems. The irony the this centre is made of cement with a huge cement parking lot in an area strewn with plastic bags and other rubbish seems to have been lost.

On the way to the waterfalls we stopped at a street vendor selling fried banana skins. This are flattened and rolled in some bits which contain sugar, honey and coconut and are then fried. Top Joe bought some for us to try plus some for himself and our driver Shophram.

The waterfall has two falls here. The first waterfall is four or five metres in heights and between 20 to 25m width depending on the season. The second waterfall is 15 to 20 meters heights and 10 to 15m wide depending on the season. The water is considered holy and Khmers like to bottle it to take home with them. This water eventually flows in to Tonle Sap Lake and is thought to bless the water ways of Cambodia.

Leaving the Kulen Mountains via the road we’d come up we headed to Beng Mealea for lunch before exploring the abandoned temple.  Beng Mealea was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting buddhist motifs. Its primary material is sandstone and it is largely unrestored, with trees and thick brush thriving amidst its towers and courtyards and many of its stones lying in great heaps.

Beng Mealea

The history of the temple is unknown and it can be dated only by its architectural style, identical to Angkor Wat, so scholars assumed it was built during the reign of king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century and some believe as its carvings are cruder than those of Angkor Wat and that it was the trial run. However, it does differ from Angkor Wat as it has 4 entrance causeways coming from the north, east, south and west. Angkor only has them from the east and west.

By this time we were all very hot and sweaty and glad of the cold water that our driver Sophram seems to have an endless supply of. As we entered Siem Reap Joe pointed out where the markets were and especially the night markets as we’d planned to go there after we’d had a shower and some rest.

The night markets are a seething mass of humanity. A mix of Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Australians, British, German, Americans and Scandics as well as locals. All in a humid atmosphere. Tamsin and Kim were shopping, looking for nice bargains in t-shirts, baggy trousers (cue for a song), and anything else that might have taken their fancy. I did try on a couple of pairs of shorts and was having the pee taken out of me from Tamsin and Kim. The store owner thought we were having fun at his expense and started getting shirty. Needless to say he didn’t make a sale.  We retired to a bar stool in Pub Street. A cold beer was exactly what was required as we watched the world go by.