More Angkor

After two days exploring the main Angkor Archaeological Park, yesterday we went a little further afield to visit two more sites.  The first was Banteay Srei, a small but beautifully restored temple.  The scale compared to giants like Angkor Wat and Preah Khan might be subdued, but the attention to detail is not, and the temple is often referred to as the jewel of Khmer art.

The second site we visited was Kbal Spean, a riverbed that has many Hindu carvings from the 11th to the 13th century.  The carvings are divided into three categories: lingas (phallic representations of the deity Shiva), yonis (female counterpart to the linga, representing Shakti and Devi), and more complex Hindu motifs.  As you can guess from the English translation of the site's name, River of a Thousand Lingas, the phallic carvings are the most prevalent.  The lingas and yonis were believed to have fertilized the water as it made its way to the fields.  We're here at the end of dry season, so the river was nearly dry.  It would have been neat to see the sculptures through running water, but at least we got a clear view of them.

We made a quick stop on our way back to town at the Landmine Museum.  This country continues to be plagued by mines laid during the Vietnam War and the subsequent thirty years of civil war involving the Khmer Rouge.  Cambodia is still one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with an estimated 5 million or more active landmines, in addition to a myriad of other unexploded ordnance.  The museum was founded by a former Khmer Rouge child soldier that laid down many mines, but has since defused an estimated 50,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance.  It was fairly small, but still worth the time to see what many Cambodians still have to deal with.

More pictures in the full post.
Banteay Srei:

Yet another pose by a doorway

Carved pediment

Cutting grass the hard way

Kbal Spean:

Reclining Vishnu

Inspecting a headless Vishnu and a yoni

One yoni, many lingas

This waterfall is a little underwhelming during the dry season

Landmine Museum:

Defused landmines

Defused rockets

Many of these locations still have live explosives