About 13km South East of Siem Reap are three early temples - the Rolous group where I headed off yesterday. The first was Lolei which was more or less ruined and surrounded by a modern temple complex where celebrations for the full moon and Water Festival had taken place the night before. People were clearing up in a haphazard way aware that it is a tourist attraction but not working too hard in the sunshine.
It has some of its original inscriptions in situ, which is unusual as most are in museums. These are in learned Sanscrit and give dates of consecration etc.
After this we headed to Preah Ko dedicated on 25 January 888 and most attractive in the sunshine.
When we got to our final temple, we were very close to Mr J's parents' house so he left me and went to visit them collecting me a hour or so later.
This was Bakong the first Khmer temple mountain and the State Temple of the capital Hariharalaya. It is set within the second of its two original moats on a site that is now a modern monastery.
There is, as usual, plenty to see and explore when you get to the temple itself.
It is quite unusual in that the statues on the corners are rather fetching elephants who have unfortunately lost their trunks and tails but are compelling nonetheless. I love his wrinkly legs and the fine detail of his strappings. I was sitting in the shade at the top of the tower when a bus load of Japanese arrived. Now they take pictures constantly (I don't of course!) usually of each other showing the V sign. I was too tempting for them to ignore so I was in demand to grin with various party members whilst they were having a photo taken with a strange Brit up a temple.
One local thing of visiting the temples is the opportunity to be in the beautiful countryside, listen to the sounds of the jungle and the birds. You can usually find a quiet spot under the trees to perch on a bit of sacred rock and enjoy being here at this moment.
When Mr J returned his mother had sent some special Water Festival food for us to share. She look unhusked rice and beat it flat and then cooked it and removed the husks. This was then mashed up with bananas and sugar to make a crunchy treat.
Just another great day.
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