Angkor - Day 3: Yet More Monuments

So today, we decided to see a different set of ruins: the Roluos group. 13km to the East of Siem Reap. Roluos was the imperial capital during the reign of Indravarman I. As a result, these were some of the oldest temples around - all built in the 9th century. Our tuk-tuk driver arrived at 8:30, and we were off.

The first ruin we saw was Preah Ko, dedicated to Shiva. It consists of 100m x 100 m wall enclosing a smaller 60m x 50m wall, which encloses the main temple, consisting of six towers.

The second ruin we saw was Bakong, and is the largest of the group. It was one of the first significant temple-mountains that was built. The temple mountain consists of 5 tiers, representing the mythical Mt. Meru, with a central tower in the temple, and was dedicated to Shiva. This temple is enclosed by a wall, and surrounded by a moat.

One sound that we've become accustomed to over the past few days is amputee bands playing traditional Khmer music for alms, and here was no exception. I think what distressed me about hearing a band here was not the music, but rather the thought of how many such bands we had passed by over the past few days. We find it hard not to donate - these people have really been dealt a poor hand in life.

The final ruin we saw was Lolei. It was the smallest of the temples, consisting of only 4 small towers. It was also in the greatest disrepair; you could only go into one of the towers; the rest were teetering precariously at the point of collapse, and had a number of wooden beams and braces to try and delay the eventuality. Though it didn't seem like much, this temple was actually in the middle of a 3800m x 800m baray (reservoir), and was such was surrounded by a huge rectangular lake.

We returned to town around 12:30, so we spent the afternoon wandering around, and exploring Siem Reap a little, checking out the markets, then went for dinner at the Khmer Kitchen, a nice place we found with good quantities of tasty and inexpensive food.