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..

Time changes everything- Boeng Mealea temple Cambodia

The previous post in this trip series is here..

Our first day in Cambodia started with a nice early breakfast at the Golden Temple resort hotel. Our guide and driver Sarak was prompt and picked us up. We had a quick chat with him to introduce ourselves. Told him we can walk fast. We can walk and talk and listen to him to save time. We preferred to go to places less crowded to get pictures. He understood the assignment. He was also a very creative photographer and San was happy that she had two photographers to cover her during this leg of the trip.

Our first stop was Boeng Mealea temple (also known as Indiana Jones temple.. even though no Indiana Jones movie was shot here!). This was built for the flower in the pond that used to grow in the place and was a temple to honor the kings daughter who died as a child. The entire thing is in ruins. It is an amazing place that is still being restored.

The trees have taken over the stones! What caused the stones to slide off without any damage is weird!

These pictures don’t put this ruin to scale!

More photos in portrait format.. the first photo below will be very useful for folks planning a trip. Buy the 3 day pass if you are going to any temples in this complex all three days.

A highlight reel of our day 3 till this point..

We had started before 7AM and were pretty much the only people in this temple that early. We were coming out of the temple when a big bus full of people showed up. We were going to hit our next stop before the buses showed up there..