The temple that kept going - Ta Som

Previous post in this series is here..

It was almost 4 PM. We had visited six places since morning. Given our schedule, our driver told us we had three more temples to see before sunset.

The next temple stop was back in the Agnkor complex or close to it. The Ta Som temple built by Jayavarman VII who appeased both Hindus and Buddhists by building temples for both. This one was a Hindu temple and kept going.. from one entrance to the other we walked past at least a dozen doorways and corridors.

At some point when it was a functioning temple, this must have been like the Aavudaiyaar kovil we saw in Tamilnadu two years ago. Just magnificent.

Our drivers artistic photography was taking a hit by now. We were tired. San managed the occasional smile. I could not carry my heavy SLR anymore and took only my iPhone with me. Not a lot of photos but the video tells you everything. Most of the temple was shaded and that was a big plus. We walked all the way to the other end to see the 4 headed Brahma on the gate and walked back.

Our driver had the right concept for this one.. he just had to get more depth to get me in focus instead fo the web.. still I give him A+ for effort..

The video highlight reel.. (the photos really don’t show the grandeur of the temple in terms of distance).

After this we were off to another temple…. the temples, they kept on coming..

Banteay Srei temple - a beauty that was ahead of the big temple by 50 years

The previous post in this series is here..

After our epic romantic lunch, we drove a short distance downhill to reach the Banteay Srei temple. This temple predates the Tanjore big temple by 50 years! It is a Hindu temple with a beautiful moat and carvings with separate shrines for most of the main deities. Sadly the French dismantled most of it and took it to France.. what is left is a fraction of the original temple and is still mind blowing. Humans don’t know how to leave a magnificent creation the way it is. Religiion, language, culture wars take a toll on beauty.

We walked around the temple. It was hot already. The restrooms here were really well maintained. The staff friendly but firm in enforcing people stay within the ropes. Was thinking “isn’t this a too little too late!”

Sarak of course was practicing photography the entire time. I should have spent more time teaching him how to use portrait mode better.. would have had more good pictures. In any case here are the photos..

after we had taken a portrait at every door frame and window frame we told our driver, all the pictures are starting to look the same. So we can finish this location and move. We did get to see the moon rise over the temple top when we went all the way to the back of the temple. It was beautiful!!

after the temple we drove past a market to our next stop. I got fresh roasted local cashews. They were amazing. San got jackfruit which she kept eating through the rest of the trip. I am very allergic to it so when she gets it already in a sealed pouch, I cannot complain. Just told her not to keep it in my suitcase and all will be well. Then she ate fresh palm cakes with jaggery and kept raving about it for the next two days. Apparently this is not something even the locals can make at home. They just buy it in bulk in the market.

The video highlights reel.. the interesting part is the way rice is harvested.. hopefully more desi kids see this so they know how rice gets to their plate the way it does!

Then we went towards our next stop. The sun was up and it was hot and humid. We had already seen 6 locations since 7AM. We were getting tired, but weren’t going to give up. So we tredged on..

Finally a live temple- Wat Preah Ang Thom Buddha

Previous post in this Thanksgiving 2025 trip is here..

We had driven more than 75km from our hotel to get to the Kulen mountain area. This area was an old settlement from which the kings came down to set up Angkor Wat.

Our first stop in this hill was the reclining buddha temple, the largest such buddha in Cambodia. The head of VIshnu may have been replaced with a head of Buddha. The temple on the rock on top of a hill is impressive and it was good that there are still prayers going on.

A note about this drive. Kulen mountain is where the buddha is and it is a long drive up a windy road and cars drive slowly to be safe. One good thing about Cambodia compared to India is that the temples may be in ruins, but the restrooms near the ticket counters are extremely well maintained. Clean and constantly cleaned. So use the restrooms in the Angkor wat complex before driving up!

They are continuing to piece together history at this site. The steps to go up are beautiful as are the stores. We got to pray, make wishes by ringing the bell and also eat some kuzhi paniyaaram. Here are the photos.. on the way to this area we did stop by to see the place where they quarried the stones to build temples. We also got to see how the villagers were drying the rice to store.. they had just started the harvest! The first photo is from the quarry! There were some interesting cats. GIven our little one loves cats, I am now taking “Catraits” wherever we go..

More photos..

and a video highlights reel..

Again we beat the buses. We walked out when two big buses showed up! It was time to drive to the next stop..