Recently I had to head to Phnom Penh to pick-up a new passport, and how could I not turn that into a tour? Of course, I did. Chanthim came along and this time, and considering it was going to be sealed roads we just took one bike, this time the Honda Dream. It was a good chance to get some fresh photos and along the way, make a couple of new discoveries (new to us).
From Jan 30 – Feb 3 2024, we’d visit Longvek and Oudong, once again, head down to Angkor Borei and then back up following the Mekong once again from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham, then back to Siem Reap.
Day 1 Siem Reap to Longvek-Oudong
We left Siem Reap around 6.30 AM and caught a beautiful sunrise along the way which was a nice start, taking Road 6 to Skun, then Thnol Keng and across to Oudong via Road 61 and the Prek Kdam Bridge. We’d check out the new Reachny Longvek development which is quite something and they say it may open later this year. From there follow the river, stopping by the pagodas, and then follow the trail into the ancient citadel of Longvek (once again), eat dinner by sunset at Phadek Lake which was quite nice and insanely cheap, and then stop at Khai Fong Guesthouse which is our usual place to stay there.
Day 2 Oudong to Ta Keo
In the morning we grabbed some photos of the sunrise over Oudong Mountain, although it wasn’t the ideal morning for it, but still quite enjoyable. So, try for that photo again another day :).
After that, we’d look at a couple of pagodas and head south, taking Road 5, then the Kob Srov Dam Road, and then across to Road 2 and down to Wat Kouk Khsach for a pitstop, the roads are easy-going bar some traffic with roadworks. After that on to Neang Khmao Temple for some fresh photos, but still didn’t find the key keeper to look inside and see the paintings. From there to Phnom Chisor for some sunset photos and stay the night at Raksmey Pich Phnom Chiso Guest House which is fine and located near the western stairs up the mountain.
Day 3 – Angkor Borei
We’d get up early and head straight to Phnom Da and get some early morning photos then Ashram Moha Rosei where some kids showed us something I did not see last time, a well on the mountain top they say is “ព្រះបាទជាន់ទុកបាតជេីងខាងស្ដាំ”, perhaps a Shivapada or Buddhapada, I can’t tell because it was full of water. We’d wander around some of the caves and then head back to the township.
We’d go to have a look along the ancient wall of the Angkor Borei citadel, check out Angkor Borei Museum, leave our bag behind at the coffee shop, go to Wat Komnou, remember our bag, rush back to the coffee shop :), praise coffee shop owner, and return to Wat Komnou :). This site is a fascinating one where some quite groundbreaking archeological research took place discovering ancient burial sites and important ceramics, it also retains the curious remnants of what appears to be an ancient sandstone Buddha and related temple fragments, along with remnants of an 11th-century temple.
On the last two visits to Angkor Borei the museum was closed, but this time we found the key holder and what a fascinating collection. The Buddhist statues and artifacts of Angkor Borei are something special, notable is the fragment of a chakra wheel that may date to the 6th-7th century, one of the most important icons in Buddhist culture.
It’s also worth mentioning there have been recent discoveries (2024) of Buddhist statuary in Tnoat Village, Srangae Commune of Treang District about 15km to the west/southwest of a similar style to those recorded by Robert Dalet (1936) and Nancy Dowling (2001) [PDF] in two important publications that shed light on early Buddhism in Cambodia.
We’d drop by some of the pagodas on the way back to Phnom Penh including Wat Tuol Sambo, Wat Kaoh, Wat Romlok which is notable for the discovery of Buddhist statues mentioned earlier and an important inscription from the 16th century, and then it was a race to get to Phnom Penh before the embassy closed 🙂 We made it with about 20 minutes to spare!
From there we went to Ksach Kandal over the Prek Tamak Bridge and realised we’d forgotten to get cash out and there’s no ABA in the area… We tried several and none would accept the card so rather than backtrack, we went to Wing and did a transfer ABA to Wing and withdrew that way. Hot tip, have a Wing account, that’s not the only time it’s saved me a lot of hassle.
We’d stay at Vimean Sur guesthouse, the owner was friendly and it was simple, fine and quiet.
Day 4 Kandal to Kampong Cham
We follow the scenic trail along the east bank of the Mekong (once again) dropping by pagodas we had yet to visit. Turns out there are several older pagodas in the area, but sadly few are ever open. The road along here is quite nice now making tourism along the Mekong more and more accessible.
We’d stop at as many pagodas as we could until daylight ran out, including Wat Sovannavatty which features the remnants of the older stupa that has style qualities of the Longvek-Oudong era, nearby is Wat Serei Sakor A little further along is Wat Botum Raingsei which is another of the older pagodas of the area, perhaps around 100 years old.
Further north and on the bank of the Mekong is Wat Preah Prasob a unique and ornately finished pagoda with monumental statues of monks, nearby is Wat Thmey a modern pagoda.
A little further along is Wat Svay Romeat and Wat Trang, two older pagodas.
Then north to Srei Santhor and Wat Prek Pou which features several interesting stupa, we’d meet a friendly Spanish chap here who was following the trail of Blas Ruiz and Diego Belloso from the 16th century. Was this an important site in that era? It may be.
Further along, is Wat Koh Keo which features an array of older stupa, nearby is Wat Prasath Vatey which features a memorial to victims of the Khmer Rouge and some older style stupa, Wat Purthivorn and Wat Svay Sach Phnom (or Wat Amporvanoran) which we visited on an earlier trip in August 2023, and then Wat Thnoat Pkar Bo Prek and Wat Por Vong.
Further north is Wat Samrith Chyaram another of the older pagodas, this one retaining the original stencil-cut wooden pediments, and nearby is the unusual Wat Ti Baram. A little further along is Wat Angkor Chey which features a wooden hall (sala) dating to 1965.
We had already been to Wat Tuol Khloang, Wat Moha Leap, and Wat Choat Naram on prior trips and the day was about done. So we’d head to Koh Sotin just in time for the last ferry across to the island, with a generous wait before it took off which gave us a sunset over the Mekong, and then into Kampong Cham staying the night at Di Dok Guest House once again.
Day 5 Kampong Cham to Siem Reap
The next morning we’d wake up early and watch the sunrise over the Mekong and the famous Bamboo Bridge. We’d stop for a quick look at Nokor Bachey Temple which it seems they are keeping cleaner nowadays. From there we’d head back along Road 6 towards Siem Reap stopping at Svay Le temple and Prasat Andet once again to get some better photos and then back to Siem Reap.
