Cambodia - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 93

Immediately north of here is the Terrace
of the Leper King , named after the statue
of a naked figure discovered here (now in
Phnom Penh's National Museum - a
copy stands on top of the terrace). It's
uncertain who the Leper King was or
even where the name originates, though
an inscription on the statue suggests that
it may represent Yama, the god of the
underworld and judge of the dead, giving
rise to the theory that the terrace was
used as a royal crematorium.
he two terraces mark what would have
been the western edge of the Royal Palace.
he palace's timber buildings have
long-since disintegrated, leaving just the
two temple pyramids of Phimeanakas and
the Baphuon standing amid a swathe of
parkland and trees. An impressively long
raised stone walkway leads to the Baphuon ,
recently reopened after a monumental
fifty-year-long restoration during which the
entire temple was dismantled and then put
back together again stone by stone
(somewhat hampered when the original
plans were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge
halfway through). Now one of Angkor's
biggest and most imposing pyramid-
temples, it's a fine, if rather austere, sight.
Its most remarkable feature is on the west
side of the outer enclosure, where the
entire terrace wall has been roughly
sculpted into the shape of a huge reclining
Buddha - although the ravages of time
make it surprisingly di cult to make out
the outlines of the figure.
North of here, the smaller Phimeanakas
temple is like a smaller and more homely
variation on the same theme, with steep
steps leading up to its small upper terrace.
Close by lies a fine pair of stone-edge
bathing pools .

terraces rise to a central sanctuary adorned
with female divinities, which once housed
the lingam of the god Yashodhareshvara.
Bakheng, however, is visited less for its
temple than for the view from the hilltop;
Angkor Wat soars upwards from its jungle
hideout to the east. At sunset, the best
time to visit for great views of Angkor, it
becomes a circus of tourists and vendors,
with elephant rides on offer and souvenir
T-shirts piled up on the ancient stones.

2

Preah Khan
Just beyond the northeast corner of
Angkor hom's perimeter wall stands
Preah Khan , a tranquil site surrounded by
dense foliage. he twelfth-century temple
served as the temporary residence of King
Jayavarman VII while he was rebuilding
Angkor hom, damaged in an attack by
the Siamese. At the southern end of the
east gopura , a photogenic battle of wood
and stone is being fought as an
encroaching tree grows through the ruins:
the tree appears to be winning. Mostly
shady, Preah Khan is a good one to visit
during the hotter hours of the day.

Ta Keo
About 2km east of the Bayon, Ta Keo
scores well on the height points, but is
awarded nothing for decoration. his
towering replica of Mount Meru, which
was never finished, is bereft of the usual
Angkor refinements. It's commonly
believed that it was struck by lightning,
a truly bad omen.

Ta Phrom
he stunning twelfth-century temple-
monastery of Ta Phrom , 1km southeast of
Ta Keo, has a magical appeal (although it
is also spectacularly crowded during the
morning and early afternoon). Rather
than being cleared and restored like most
of the other Angkor monuments, it's
been left to the jungle and appears
roughly as it did to the Europeans who
rediscovered these ruins in the nineteenth
century. Roots and trunks intermingle
with the stones and seem almost part of
the structure, and the temple's cramped
corridors reveal half-hidden reliefs, while
valuable carvings litter the floor.

Phnom Bakheng
he hilltop temple of Phnom Bakheng ,
south of Angkor hom, is the oldest
building in this area, constructed
following Yasorvarman's move westwards
from Roluos. he state temple was built
from the rock of the hill on which it
stands. It originally boasted 108
magnificent towers set on a spectacular
pyramid, although only part of the central
tower now remains. he five diminishing