CAMBODIA OVERLAND – COL7

Upon arrival at Phnom Penh airport, meets and transfers to hotel for check in.

In the morning, confront Cambodia’s tragic past on a guided tour of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former school which served as a Khmer Rouge torture center. It’s estimated that more than 20,000 people were held and tortured here, visit to Independence Monument and Wat Ounalom Pagoda.

In the afternoon, visit the National Museum. Housed in a beautiful traditional building, it contains many outstanding examples of Khmer craftsmanship. Learn about a brighter period in Cambodian history with a visit to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.

Today, we will drive out of Phnom Penh city for the visit to Ta Prohm and Yeay Pov temples in Tonle Batie.

Lake Tonle Bati is located 30 km to the south of Phnom Penh, an Angkorian temple close to the lake is called Ta Prohm, not to be confused with Angkor’s famous jungle temple of the same name in Siem Reap Province. But Ta Prohm at Tonle Bati, in Takeo Province, is from the same period, and a smaller version of a jungle temple.

Ta Prohm at Takeo was built about 1200 by Angkor’s famous king Jayavarman VII. That Mahayana Buddhist period in Cambodia’s history of art is called Bayon style. Like Ta Prohm in Angkor, the Ta Prohm temple at Tonle Bati was a sanctuary for Hindu deities at the same time. The site had been a Hindu place of worship already since the sixth century, in the pre-Angkorian Phnom-Da period, belonging to the maritime “empire” called Funan.

The temple structure is mainly constructed of brick and laterite. The inner (first) enclosure of Ta Prohm in Takeo Province is 42 m long and 36 m wide. The wall was decorated with bas-reliefs illustrating Hindu myths, some of them are on the ground in front of the temple.

There are five rooms inside the temple proper. Each room contains a Lingam indicating Shivaworship. In the main sanctuary an original 13th century Buddha statue faces east. A sandstone carving depicting a reclining Buddha in situ above the main door of the sanctum.

The sparse remains of the contemporary Yeay Peau temple can be seen only 200 m north of Ta Prohm. The temple, also spelled “Prasat Yiey Pauv” or “Yey Peo”, is said to be named after the king’s mother or a female protecting spirit. A Theravada Buddhist pagoda, called Wat Tonle Bati, was built in 1576.

The nearby lake called Tonle Bati is a popular weekend destination and fishing spot for the local population and city residents from Phnom Penh. The large picnic area at the southern shore of Tonle Bati has bamboo shacks on stilts, built picturesquely out over the water in the shallows of the lake. They can be rented for a picnic. Or meals will be brought to you. A popular local delicacy is frog. There are also restaurants and shops and drink stands opened daily, but Tonle Bati is crowded only on weekends and public holidays.

Return to Phnom Penh later in the late afternoon, and stop for the visit to Choeung Ek Memorial, where a stupa made up of some 8,000 human skulls marks the site of the infamous Killing Fields. This was the execution ground for the torture victims of Tuo lSleng and standing in this peaceful setting it’s almost unthinkable to imagine that to date nearly 9000 corpses have been exhumed from the area.

Transfer to Phnom Penh Bus station for your Joined Bus to Siem Reap. This trip will take you about 6 hours to arrive in Siem Reap via the country road of Cambodia where you will be met and transferred to hotel.

Visit the antique capital of Angkor Thom (12 century): the South Gate with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, the Bayon Temple, unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara, the Phimeanakas, the Royal Enclosure, the Elephants Terrace, the Terrace of the Leper King, and Ta Prohm, one of the area’s most beautiful temples. Ta Prohm has been relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery.

Visit to the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag and the 12th century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Enjoy wonderful sunset from the top of Pre Rup temple

Visit to Banteay Srey, known as Citadel of Women or a Pink Temple, and Banteay Samre Temples.

Visit to the unique interior brick sculptures of Prasat Kravan, Srah Srang (“The Royal Baths” was once used or ritual bathing), Banteay Kdei (surrounded by 4 concentric walls), Neak Pean, a fountain built in the middle of a pool (representing the paradisiacal Himalayan mountain-lake) and Preah Khan temple, Built by the King Jayavarman VII. Preah Khan is, like Ta Prohm, a place of towered enclosures and shoulder hugging corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, however, the temple of Preah Khan is in a reasonable state of preservation and ongoing restoration efforts should maintain and even improve this situation.

In the morning, we will enjoy a boat ride on the Tonle Sap Lake at KAMPONG PHLUK VILLAGE. This is the largest permanent fresh-water lake in South East Asia and flows into Tonle Sap River, joining the Mekong in Phnom Penh. We will see a fishermen’s “floating village” with floating schools, floating police station, etc. It is same as a big village floating on the lake, and the “village” move from place to place following water levels and current.

Transfer to Siem Reap airport for flight to next destination.