Kbal Spean

Kbal Spean
Originally uploaded by Asia Trip2007.

The next place (which I, unusually, had a vivid dream about in the mid of last year) was called Kbal Spean and was located further 18k north from Bantreay Srei. It took about 40 minutes more on dirtbike to reach it. This area is known for being one of the more heavily landmined areas, so I had to be careful where I stepped. There were almost no tourists there when we arrived and began the 30 minute hike up to the river. It's a beautiful area, too bad it's too dangerous to explore because the birds were flitting everywhere and it permiated an amazing tranquility. Just before approaching the river, there is a beautiful little waterfall that I cooled off in and took some photos around. The yellow sulphur butterflies were dancing in and out the light amidst the light misty spray of the falls.

From the top of the waterfall, the carved circles of lingas follow along until it reaches the masthead where I shot this photo. Along this section, there are more involved carvings of Vishnu and detailed lingas. I bet it looks quite neat in the wet season as well. Just as we were heading out, all the hoards of tourist buses pulled up,(phew, we just missed them!!!)

I don't know why I dreamt of this place, but I'm glad I made it out there to see for myself.

The last and furthest east of the temples we visited, was Beng Mealea. It was another temple sight that had been consumed by the forest and then rediscovered. It was full of charm and had a wooden walkway throughout (apparently put there by the film crew for "two brothers", but I've never seen that movie so I have no idea).
In this temple, unlike other ones, you could climb anywhere you wanted to discover all the caved passageways and trees pushing through the walls. That was fun. But the tour groups were catching up with us now so it sort of takes away from the ambiance. It was still beautiful though.

Afterwards, we headed back on the back of our motorcycles via the main highway (instead of the backroads we took to get there) and our moto drivers even treated us to freshly pressed sugar cane juice. My moto driver asked me on a date, when we got back, but my ass was so sore from the riding, I could barely stand straight. I declined and after returning to my room, flopped on my bed and didn't awake until my alarm was telling me to get up.