Buddha Kiri – Wat Puth Kiri

Located atop a low-rise mountain, and surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges, Buddha Kiri is a monumental statue of the Buddha flanked by thousands of smaller statues. Also known as Wat Putkiri, the site was founded in 2017 by four monks and is an absolutely stunning destination taking advantage of the beautiful natural landscape. The site is easy to reach now via sealed roads that were in part sponsored by Australia. Some older reports record the site as being in Takeo, it actually sits at the junction of Kampong Speu, Takeo and Kampot, while Sra Chaeng commune, where the site is located, is now part of Kampot Province.

You can spend some time here admiring the views and the wonder of the monks’ creation. There are several drink stalls, stalls selling local fruit and even some huts to sit down and eat. The journey through the area is also quite pleasant with open farmlands backdropped by epic mountain ranges.

Getting there – From Phnom Penh it is around 95km with good roads all the way. I think there are multiple routes, for us on our moto, we took Road 3 out of Phnom Penh, turning right just before Panksey Market onto the PR145 and following that all the way past Kroeul and then turning left a bit before Pheakdei Pagoda (there are signposts pointing to Buddha Kiri) and following that turning right once again and all the way to the site. We left via the road heading to Trapang Anderk which is also good, joining back onto Road 3.

Rodney Charles LHuillier

Living in Asia for over a decade and now residing in beautiful Siem Reap - Contact via [email protected] - more..