Fancy a scenic trail within Angkor that’s rarely explored, has a jungle wandering feel featuring water views along with ruinous and intriguing ancient construction offering up amazingly unique photo opportunities? Read on.
Preah Khan, the brother to Ta Prohm, is one of the larger and more interesting sites inside of Angkor Archaeological Park. Located just north of Angkor Thom and to the west of Jayatataka Baray, the site measures some 56ha and features an outer moat, a wall with four brides and gates, a massive area taken by jungle, and then, an inner wall with four entrances enclosing ponds, libraries, etc, and then, another walled enclosure which goes on to contain the fourth walled enclosure featuring the main sanctum.
Yes, it’s a beautiful, and complex labyrinth of a site that I dive into deeper here.
Today, I’ll focus solely on an amazing feature that is rarely visited and offers something for the temple buffs and those looking for the unusual.
This is, the very unique stone bridges with their hidden bas-reliefs, and, the rarely trodded trail that leads around the 700m x 800m outer wall featuring incredible two and a half metre tall mythical bird statues.
Most visitors to Preah Khan will get a few snaps of the bridge from where they enter, usually from the west, and maybe, just maybe, spot the large bird figure to the side of the gopura (entry gate) and with limited time, quite rightly head into the inner sanctum.
Little did they know, they passed a wonderful little adventure trail leading around 72 rarely seen statues and the other amazing bridges and gopuras.
Let’s call it the Garuda Trail, because once you have walked around the outer wall trail and visited each of these majestic mythical creatures you won’t help but feel they deserve a little more recognition. Many are in dire need of preservation work.
Walking around Preah Khan wall
1 East Gate and steps to baray 2. outer wall and garuda 3. South Gate 4. West Gate 5. North gate 6. Moat 7. Jayatataka Baray
Once you cross any of the bridges you can look either right or left and follow the narrow trail between the wall and moat. To walk from one bridge to the next bridge around the outer wall takes around 30-40min. The whole thing, maybe 3 hours, but I feel it’s more interesting to break it up over different days.
There are some sections where trees have uprooted and wall sections have fallen down, so, if you don’t feel comfortable, no risks should be taken and just turn around. Here are some examples of the trail around the wall
The section from the southern bridge to the western bridge features a couple of obstacles due to fallen trees and collapsed wall sections. The last is a tree very near to the northern bridge that requires a little careful effort to climb over.
The section from the eastern bridge to the southern bridge also requires climbing over some fallen wall sections.
The section from the western bridge to the northern bridge takes around 30 min features a large but easily passable fallen section of wall. There are also some monkeys that roam around here too and they not accustom to visitors and get a bit growly.
Northern to eastern takes around 40 min navigating one fallen wall section.
Also pay close attention to the birdlife and the interesting array of sounds as they have the jungle here, especially the southern side, mostly to themselves with little human activity. You may want some mosquito repellant, good shoes/boots, a hat, and some water.
Before talking about the highlights of this trail, I’d like to introduce a few characters that are seen along the way
Garudas
A half man half bird mythical creature from Hindu mythology that is regarded as the protector and enemy of the Naga. He is a regular figure in all temples, often depicted carrying Vishnu.
Naga
originating from Hindu culture, a serpent snake, again, can take the form of being human and even fully human. In Khmer culture. In Khmer culture, it seems the naga can be a friend or foe and also offers the pathway to heaven (or riches). A naga with an odd amount of heads is a male (depicting immortality) and even is female (depicting mortality).
Devas and Asuras
devas depict god-like beings or beings of light, representing good, while asuras are also god-like beings but in this context representing the bad, or evil.
Highlights
Garudas
Carved from sandstone, the garudas along the wall stand at over two and a half metres in height partially embedded into the laterite wall, and spread out at a distance of 35 metres. There are a total of 72 garudas lining the perimeter of the outer wall.
The stone statue features the large garuda with a human body, ornate bird-like head with head regalia, claws for feet which are clasping the five-headed naga while its arms point upwards with fists clenched around the tails of the naga.
From a mythological perspective, it’s believed that the garuda, depicted subduing the naga, is lifting the walled city into heaven.
The stone garuda statues at each corner of the wall are particularly impressive. Set as a corner piece they are larger than the others and feature seven-headed naga. The garuda at the northeast corner is in the best condition out of the four.
Many of these statues were restored many years ago by the World Monuments Fund while many are experiencing decay, some have collapsed completely, and one is completely missing (or in a museum/being restored).
Eastern entrance
The most ornate of all the entrances where the king would have taken a boat around the Jayatataka Baray (with Neak Peak at its centre), docked at the stone jetty and preceded along the 10 metre wide, 100m long avenue lined with bollards before crossing the naga bridge and entering through the wall via a three-tiered gopura.
Interestingly many writers claim that the original constructors erred in the development of the processional way, with the bollards narrowing from the bridge width and blocking what would have been a flowing view. They assume it’s an entrance. If you view it as an exit, and follow the king’s spiritual path out of the temple and into the baray with all its religious meanings, it perhaps makes sense.
Northern Entrance
The northern entrance does not feature a bollarded entrance before the bridge regardless the bridge and gopura are no less interesting.
Western Entrance
Featuring a bollarded entranceway similar to the eastern side. The naga bridge is partially restored.
Southern Entrance
The most unique experience of this trail is to follow along the wall and to happen upon the south gate leaving you with a true ‘jungle find’ feeling. The bridge here would have replicated that on the north but today it sits beautifully, but also sadly, unrestored with its naga balustrade collapsed into the water below and the bridge’s bas-reliefs only viewable in places. Few ever venture here.
Processional Way and its Bollards
There are 41 pairs of stone bollards lining the processional entryway on the eastern and western entrance preceding the bridges and moat. These square stone pillars (often referred to as lanterns or borne) are carved with Singha (mythical lion monsters) in the lower section and a carving of a seated buddha in its upper section and capped with a lotus. All the buddhas were apparently removed in the 13th century but you can find one bollard, at least, on the eastern side where a buddha survived the cultural upheaval of the time.
The Four Gopuras
Each gopura in the outer wall is a cruciform structure of three towers in Bayon style with the central tower being the larger featuring four ornate upper tiers. Each tower provides an entry with the larger central tower offering a larger entry that’s flat with the ground level, allowing access for carts, elephants, troops etc.
In the eastern gopura, a statue of Prajnaparamita (representing the king’s wife, Jayarajadevi) was found that now resides at a museum in France with a copy on display at the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
Naga Bridges
each entrance features a stone bridge similar to those made famous by the entry to Angkor Thom. But here, I would argue they are even more impressive.
Similar to Angkor Thom, each side of the bridge features a large Naga (the mythical snake we mentioned earlier) being pulled by Devas on one side and pulled by Asuras on the other in what forms a representation of the constant struggle between good and evil and the Hindu myth, Churning of the Sea of Milk.
At Preah Khan’s bridges, we find the original stone path of the bridge still in place and if you look underneath the bridge, you’ll find spectacular bas-reliefs which mostly go unnoticed to the foot traffic above. The bas-reliefs are mostly covered during the higher water levels of the wet season and are best viewed in drier times. The southern bridge is unrestored and lies in ruin, which makes it somewhat fascinating.
