18/03/2010 The River Carvings

18/03/2010 The River Carvings

On our first day in Siem Reap with Wait our lovely tuk-tuk driver we decided to go to the temples furthest from town – especially as we hadn’t arranged a guide for today. After a 55km drive North we arrived at Kbal Spean – the River of a Thousand Lingas - which entailed a steep half hour trek up very rocky terrain (after battling the young hawkers of course). Hard yakka and luckily it was only 11am as you wouldn’t want to attempt this after lunch when it really warmed up! However the intricate riverbed carvings on the River of a Thousand Lingas were well worth the trek. Especially after one of the local park cleaners offered to show us more carvings that were out of the way and mostly overlooked by the average tourist (there was no signage and the guards at the top had no inclination to point you in the direction of the less obvious carvings). Besides the lingas that had been carved in the riverbed during the dry seasons over a thousand years ago there were crocodiles and monkeys, carvings of Shiva and Brahma, and loads of dancing

nymphs. Some were underwater still but there were plenty visible carvings.




After this trek our driver took us to a tourist café for lunch – a bit expensive in Cambodian terms but quite good food. Next stop was Banteay Srei – known which translates as ‘Citadel of the Women’ locally as the lady temple – about 15km back along the road. While the temple was largely a ruin, the elaborate carvings here are so fine and intricate it is believed they had to have been carved by female artists. This evening we tried to catch up with the girls from Vang Vieng but they weren’t at their guesthouse and we could only leave a note and hope to catch up with them in town. Wandered off to the touristy centre (near the markets) to have a great meal. There are dozens of restaurants here catering to all tastes and budgets but most of them very cheap with local tap beer at 2 for 1 prices.



Tanei Guesthouse, #017, Steung Thmey Village, Svaydangkum Commune, Siem Reap Province, Kingdom of Cambodia Ph: 855-92-865-150/ 855-12-757-867/ 855-63-966-545

(USD15 Aircon, Hot Water, Wi-Fi, Pool and Very clean – excellent place to stay just a couple of streets back off the main road!)