September 6, 2009

• The Wrath of Preah Khan…

  
  This is one of the reasons I wanted to go back to Cambodia.  On my first visit I missed some things.  I went to Preah Khan last time and made the mistake of accepting a local person’s offer of a tour of the temple.  He was dressed like a guard and offered his services so I would see and understand the temple more.  The only problem is he rushed me through the temple and I didn’t even know which way was what when we were done and he was asking me for money.  This time was different.
  
  By the end of the second day our driver really wanted to just get home, but we wanted to get as many temples in as we could.  The drivers here are great, but they really don’t expect a person to do the full day without wanting to go back.  We started out early and went until we had to leave… you can’t stay in the temple areas once the sun has set.  We told him we wanted to do Preah Khan, which is one of the three largest temples in Angkor, and he dropped us at the perfect time.  While everyone else (and I mean EVERYONE) headed to a small hilltop temple to watch the sun begin to set over Angkor Watt, we had Preah Khan all to ourselves.
  
  I didn’t even realize when I did the video that I was talking quieter than I usually do, but it was just so quiet and peaceful there that it just seemed right to speak a little lower… kind of like a library.  I found the map below online and it is perfect as it shows the two spots where we shot the videos, the first being on the High Terrace and the second in the Central Sanctuary.  If I had any battery left I would have done a third video in the Hall of Dancers (which on the map is where is says ‘Courtyard’)… but I can alway do that on the next visit.
  
  

  

  
  Preah Khan is one of my favorites (I say that about most of the temples though).  It has many fallen down parts and is like a maze to get through even though it has a very basic North/South – East/West design.  There is so much to see there and little corners to go around and dead ends to come across I’m sure you could visit many times nad the temple would be new and different each time. 
  
  So here we are… Preah Khan…
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  Directly across from the High Terrace you can see a two-level structure which was rare in those temples.  It was actually a library in it’s time, very close to the swimming hole.  I know I seem a little obsessed with the libraries at the temples, but I love that these grand temples were created, and they always made a separate structure, within the grounds but separate from the temple itself for the library. 

  The great thing about this trip was going back to places I’d been before like Angkor Watt, Kbal Spean and Ta Phrom… seeing new temples I missed the first time like Thommanon, Prasat Kravan and Banteay Samre… and getting to see a temple like Preah Khan all over again in a different way.  Instead of the sounds of people all you could hear was the jungle.  Birds, monkeys and other creatures as well as the wind through the trees made it the perfect setting at the perfect time of day to have visited the temple.  We were tired by the end of Day Two, but we were both amazed at the perfect setting we had for visiting Preah Khan.

  
  

  
  
   
  The boys may have had a little too much fun at Preah Khan…

  
  
  
  
  

  A little dancing outside the Hall of Dancers…

  
  
  
  

  Still working through the videos and pictures at the same time as a new project I really wish I had a lot more time for.  Oh… just in case you are wondering why the line ‘Welcome to the Library’ keeping coming up in my videos, we watched this video just before leaving on vacation and Eva can’t get it out of her head…
  
  

  • 6:19 am
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