31. Preah Khan Temple - Part 2.
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| Vishnu Reclining and His Wife, Lakshmi Carved Over a Doorway |
Here we turned
North and had to find the carving of the reclining God Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi, the goddess of
good fortune. If you find her carved image here good fortune will follow you.
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| Silk-Cotton Tree Root |
There are
several large trees that have penetrated this temple. Their roots are so large
they have raised havoc among these stones. They are the Silk-Cotton Tree, with
its knobby, brown, heavy and large roots and the Strangler Fig Tree, whose
roots are smaller but massively spread out, smooth and grey looking.
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| Another Silk-Cotton Tree Root |
The Whole Tree
Sound Chamber
There were
‘sound’ chambers throughout this temple. You lean on the walls, smack your
chest and you can feel and hear the vibrations through your body. I tried it
out; this did not work for me. Some people were amazed to see it, I pounded my
chest but nothing happened. (Probably
because he still had his back-pack on.)
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| The Greek-Like Granary |
All of a sudden
Mr. Touch came to visit us. He wanted to make sure we would find and see the
Granary. It’s a two story, Greek Temple-like structure with round pillars, on
the North side of the main temple building of Preah Khan. The granary has no
stairs to the 2nd floor. It must have had wooden stairs that
decomposed by now and many people believe it served only as a granary, to store
rice. Nothing else makes sense, they say.
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Niches Above the Apsara Dancers Used to House Buddhas
But These Were Removed During the Hindu King's Reign. |
It’s a bit odd looking among the so
flowery decorated other parts of the temple complex. The experts can tell that
this structure must have been from the 2nd half of the 13th
Century, so it was likely a later add-on.
Now Mr. Touch (our
tuk-tuk driver) was our ‘guide’ and he brought us to the hall of dancers; the
hall of the Apsara. The friezes along the door frame were plentiful but some of the
Buddha figures were destroyed. That was done after Jayarman VII died and the
next King, who was Hindu, not Buddhist, did not like to see a Buddha.
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| House of Fire. Area Thought to be a Staging Area Before a Battle |
By now, no
matter that Mr. Touch wanted to show us more, we had had it.
The long trek
back to the East gate took some time, too.
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Long Walk to Moat, Then Another Long Walk
to the Exit Gate |
On this long
walk back we passed the small ‘House of Fire’. It’s a place where the holy
flame was kept the sign said, but I cannot find a lot online supporting this
nice building.
The East side
of the Preah Khan temple borders the Siem Reap River. It’s a beautiful spot. It
would be idyllic were it not for all the small vendors that crowd here, asking
you to buy this, or buy that. It takes some practice to ignore them but I am getting better at it.
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| Siem Reap River - Very Low |
I asked Mr. Touch to stop at the Ceramic Center so we could pick up the handicrafts we made.
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| A Few of the Many Vendors |
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| First Entrance to Siem Reap Resort |
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| Right Side View of Same Resort |
And being Mr.
Touch, he drove us past some amazing hotels. Hotels built for huge hoards of
people. Mr. Touch said mostly Chinese stay in these hotels, but most of these
large resorts were empty now that the Covid-19 virus is so virile in China and
their borders are closed. Siem Reap and Angkor Wat have lost about 1/3 of their
tourists since the virus broke out. This loss of revenue is felt by everyone,
from hotels down to tuk-tuk drivers.
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| Second Entrance to Same Resort |
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| Left Side of Same Resort - Several Rows of Buildings Behind the 3 You See |
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