Ruins – Traveling Mark

Ollantaytambo Off the Beaten Path – Inca Bridge and the Pyramid

Having arrived from Cusco, gotten a room, explored the ruins on the Pinkuylluna Mountain, and filled my belly with fried trout, I felt like I’ve seized the day pretty well, but whereas I still had an hour until the sunset, I decide to get off the beaten path in Ollantaytambo and explored its least visited areas.

Photo: Pedestrian Uses Suspension Bridge to Walk Toward the Pyramid

I found out while messing around the town’s main square of Plaza de Armas that just outside of the town boundaries on Ollantaytambo’s south-east side, can be encountered the ruins of an ancient Inca bridge, and that near said bridge lay also the ruins of an Inca pyramid. I hit it off to check those out.

Getting to the Inca Bridge

I started the walk from the south-eastern corner of Plaza de Armas and followed the road due east, passing the small market with incredibly overpriced fruits (Peru is expensive to begin with, but it’s even worse as you get closer to Machu Picchu – Ollantaytambo was second only to Aguas Calientes, which is at the foot of Machu Picchu), and onward down the road, until I reached a T intersection. There I turned left and after a few meters immediately right to carry on due east.

On that road I passed Inka Paradise hotel and some kind of a school, after which there was a narrow pedestrian dirt road through a field. That road leads to the bridge. Except at the end of it, there’s a cliff that needs to be descended so if you didn’t take the stroll in your hiking boots, you will only get to enjoy the bird’s eye view of the bridge, and no pyramid.

An alternative is to go around town by following the road back to Cusco, but that road is narrow with no sidewalks to safely walk on and the drivers don’t pay much respect to pedestrians.

Inca Bridge

There isn’t a whole lot left of the ancient Inca Bridge. Just the support column erected in the middle of the Vilcanota river still holds the original stones used for its constructions. Nowadays, a newly built suspension bridge connects that banks of the river, still utilizing the remnants of the old Inca structure.

Along the Ollantaytambo side of the river there are railway tracks leading to Aguas Calientes, but no road so tourists don’t have the means to get themselves near Machu Picchu, and are stuck having to use the train for which they are charged more than 100 times the cost of the locals. It is a major and blatantly deliberate rip off which I refused to support.

Photo: PeruRail Train Passed By While I Was on the Inca Bridge in Ollantaytambo

While I was at the bridge, a train with ripped off tourists returning from Machu Picchu back into Cusco passed bay.

Ollantaytambo Inca Pyramid

On the other side of the tracks from the bridge is the pyramid. It is a cascading stone structure build into the slope. I didn’t come across any reasonable kind of backinfo about the pyramid, except that it’s there, near the bridge next to the tracks.

Te pyramid had a set of protruding stones built into the outer wall, to serve as steps for ascend. Despite dodgy looking purpose, those steps are solid and absolutely safe to walk on, having withstood the test of time – centuries after being built, they are still there in their original form after affording countless people the way up on the pyramid.

Photo: Rock Steps Built Into the Outer Wall of Ollantaytambo Pyramid

Because the way I came to the area involved a descend down a very steep cliff including a near 2 meter jump, going the same way back was not an option, so I walked around town down the paved road from Cusco.

The vast majority of people who come to Ollantaytambo will only visit the fortress – having shelled out some $43 for the entrance to the archeological sites within the Sacred Valley of the Incas. They come on buses as part of organized tours which only take them to the fortress and nowhere else. So whereas the fortress is overrun with hundreds of tourists every single day, the nearby Pinkuylluna Mountain, which is free to visit receives very few visitors, but when it comes to the Inca Bridge and the Pyramid on the opposite side of the river, your chances of spotting another tourist around them are next to none.

Hike Up Pinkuylluna Mountain to Ruins of Inca Storehouses in Ollantaytambo

While Ruins of Ollantaytambo are the main archeological attraction in the town of Ollantaytambo, I left them out of my itinerary, as I did many other major archeological sites in and around Cusco, because the entrance fee to those is 140 Soles ($42 US). I simply refuse to support the rip off practices of this magnitude, unless it’s something I could not, for the life of me, afford to miss out on.

Photo: Inside Pinkuylluna Warehouse Ruins

Good thing about Ollantaytambo is that on the opposite side of the town from the main archeological site, is steeply towering Pinkuylluna Mountain, on which there are multiple smaller ruins of Inca storehouses and access to those is entirely free. The only challenge is that one must climb on foot the steel slopes of Pinkuylluna Hill in order to access them. But that’s an adventure in its own right that would be worth while even if there were no ruins on Pinkuylluna. Hell yes I was up for it.

And I wasted no time. As soon as I checked in the Inka Wasi Hostal, I put on Shea Butter which I use as purely natural sun screen, and headed out to hit the slopes.

Face of Viracocha

One quickly observable feature of the Pinkuylluna Mountain is the Profile of the Inca (Perfil del Inca). Said to represent the face of Viracocha – the supreme god of the Incas, the father of all other Inca gods and the creator of the earth.

Photo: Face of the Inca Carved Into Rock Next to Storehouse on Pinkuylluna Mountain

I was told by a local that the face on the side of the mountain is not an orographic whim, but it was sculpted in the rock, and it fulfills an astronomical function related to the seasons – the cultivation cycles – illuminating itself in the solstices in a certain way.

Access to Pinkuylluna Mountain

From Plaza de Armas, enter the old town of Ollantaytambo by way of the street the nearest to the hill (rightmost when facing the old town from Plaza de Armas). Follow the narrow, cobblestone street until you come across a gate on the right hand side.

The steep rock steps begin right on the other side of the gate. On the left side of the gate there is a sign informing you that you are at the entrance to the Pinkuylluna Mountain.

Climbing the Pinkuylluna Mountain

The trail up the Pinkuylluna Mountain will get your heart pumping right off the bat. Climbing the hill is basically one major cardio exercise, so by taking the hill on, you’ll get the combination of good heart workout, the best views of the town as well as the main ruins, and the ability to get up close and personal with the storehouse ruins without shelling out a dime.

There were moments during my climb when the gusts of wind were super strong, so not only did I have to hold on to my hat, I had to carefully watch my footing on the narrow rocky trail with deep abyss on its side. If you’re a thrill seeker, you’re gonna love walking the cliff edges of the hill.

Storehouses

The Pinkuylluna storehouses, or mountain granaries, are rectangular structures perched on various parts of the Pinkuylluna Mountain.

Photo: Selfie in Front of Storehouse Ruins on Pinkuylluna Hill

Although the placement of these warehouses on top of the hill may seems strange, the fact that at that height the air is cooler and it moves faster, would help in preserving the food and keeping it ventilated. I also tend to doubt the exhausting hike needed in order to reach the storehouses would attract many would be thieves.

Photo: Main Ollantaytambo Ruins Are Better Visible from Pinkuylluna Mountain

Overall, even though challenging, I found the hike up the Pinkuylluna Mountain, and the exploring the storehouses to be a rewarding experience that was totally worth the effort.

Moreover, with the amazing views of the main Inca fortress, I was happy to be on the hill where there were hardly any other people around, and not within the overcrowded main ruins overrun with thousands of tourists.

Photo: Pinkuylluna Ruins with Town of Ollantaytambo in the Background

If you continue all the way to the top, the ever fainter trail will take you around the hill where you will find a small cave. Few people, including locals, even know about the cave.

Photo: Cave in the Back of Pinkuylluna Mountain

If you’re easily spooked, or suffer from vertigo, a climb up the Pinkuylluna Mountain may be hazardous, but in every other case I would certainly recommend it as an alternative to the overpriced and overcrowded main ruins of Ollantaytambo.

Photo: Bird's Eye View of Ollantaytambo Town with Section of Storehouse Ruins on Pinkuylluna Mountain — Photo: Bird’s Eye View of Ollantaytambo Town with Section of Storehouse Ruins on Pinkuylluna Mountain

Here’s a video of bits and pieces I filmed while hiking the Pinkuylluna Mountain. At times the wind gusts were extremely strong:

Tour to Sillustani Pre-Inca Ruins Outside Puno

While my first night in Puno was plagued by cold and noise, the second one was just cold. But it got really cold. It was reasonably quiet in Hotel Inka Tours, which I desperately needed, but as the wind picked up at night, it got so cold, I could not stop shivering.

I concluded that I simply am not equipped for stay in such a cold place, and made the decision to leave after the second night. Puno was colder than I expected and I simply did not have warm enough clothes to handle the relentlessly cold nights.

I checked out of Hotel Inka Tours at 11am and headed for the bus terminal where I purchased a ticket to Cuzco on an overnight bus. Whereas several providers offered these trips, I specifically asked each one if they would hold my luggage until the bus’ departure at night, so I can go out and do some more exploring during the daytime.

Company Mer was happy to store my luggage until the departure so I bought the ticket with them, and proceeded to make arrangements to get me to the archeological complex of pre-Inka ruins at Sillustani.

Photo: Lama Used as a Lure in Front of House on Way to Silluani to Attract Tourist and Charge Them for Photos

Located on the shores of Lake Umayo in the Umayo Atuncolla district of the province of Puno, the near 40 kilometers long journey to the archeological site involved a bus to the access road from where I took a taxi to cover the last few kilometers.

Having passed by a number of traditional houses with llamas in front of them to attract tourists and charge them for taking pictures of the animals, I found myself at the entrance to Sillustani, which was likewise turned into a tourist trap with numerous sellers of overpriced handicrafts and high-cost bottled water. The use of bathrooms was also one of the most expensive in all of Peru. The entrance fee to the complex was 10 Soles.

Sillustani was used as a necropolis and is littered with “chullpas” – funerary towers built on the hill overlooking the Umayo lagoon. The location with breathtaking views of the lagoon would make for a captivating trip even if archeological sites are not your thing.

Chullpas of Sillustani

The chullpas are tower like structures built as tombs by the Qulla people, a subgroup of the Aymara indigenous nation, before they were conquered by the Incas, and later by the Spanish.

Photo: Set of Older Chullpas at a Further End of Sillustani

The majority of chullpas at Sillustani are circular and made of stones. In some, the archeologists found mummified bodies particularly well preserved thanks to the cold and dry climate of the Altiplano. The tombs also held ceremonial objects in gold, although the majority is believe to have been lost to grave robbers.

Photo: View of Lizard Chullpa from Location of More Remote Chullpa

All Chullpas have a single, small door facing east. This direction has been symbolically chosen to represent the rebirth of the soul through the sunrise. The oldest Chullpas are said to have been built by the Pukara civilization at around 800 BC.

Photo: Ramp of Rocks Is Presumed to Have Been Used to Get Large Stones on Top of Chullpas

They are spread out across the hill, so even though I kept a decent pace without pausing for too long at any one structure, it took me an hour to get to all the main ones.

Lake Umayo

You can see the marshy side of Lake Umayo as soon as you enter Sillustani. But its true beauty does not reveal itself to you until you’ve climbed on top of the hill housing the Chullpas. With its flat-top island in the middle and steep cliffs on the fringe, the lake truly rewards the visitor braving the high elevation climb to Sillustani.

The 125 hectares large Umayo Island is called Intimoqo by the locals. There are diverse legends surrounding Laguna de Umayo, such as the one that says that its water is saltier because it is the tears of the princess Ururi, who poured them when losing her beloved. In the face of so much pain the Sun hid and there were years of drought and hunger, until their parents guilty of the drama, implored the return of the Sun, but their tears also arrived at the lagoon, making it saltier. After the return of the Sun, only the time and the less suffering of the people made it less salty, so that the fish returned and procreated.

Photo: Partially Collapsed Chullpa with Laguna de Umayo in the Background

What to Expect

The highest point of the area, according to the information I got from the locals, stands at 4,000 meters above sea level, which is a significant elevation so one should take precautions against possible altitude sickness. Having been built on a hill, the walking around Sillustani involves a lot of uphill trekking that is sure to get your heart pumping and lungs gasping for more air.

Photo: Lizard Chullpa Is The Most Iconic

When I was there, the sun was blasting something intense, so making sure you put on sunscreen before heading to Sillustani. At that elevation you have 4 kilometers less of dense air blocking the sun rays compared to the sea level, but even though the temperature would not suggest it, the intensity of the rays is savage despite seeming that way.

Photo: Flowers Like This Surrounded with Thorny Spokes Can Be Found on Sillustani Hill

A light jacket would also come in handy as once you reach the top of the hill, the wind really picks up. I did in in just a long sleeve shirt and was fine, but the biting wind would have been too much for a short sleeve.

Photo: Intiwatana - Ceremonial Circular Structure Build by the Incas — Photo: Intiwatana – Ceremonial Circular Structure Build by the Incas

Overall I found Sillustani overly touristy. The ancient structures were interesting, but for me the highlight were the views of the lagoon surrounding the hill on which the chullpas were built. Make sure you bring your own bottle of water so you’re not left having to buy the overpriced small bottles sold in the local shops lining the sidewalks of the village.

Photo: Chullpa with Umayo Island Inside the Lagoon

Krol Romeas

To me, a visit to Krol Romeas evoked similar feelings to those I felt when I first entered the Neak Pean Temple – a positive change from the “same old”. After a while, whether it’s due to immense heat of the Cambodian sun, harassment by relentless touts or whatever other reason, all Angkor temples start to look the same. Many are built in the same way – both architecturally and artistically – bearing the same styles and motifs, but even if you get above all that, they all start to look like crumbling piles of jungle overrun ancient rocks after a while. But then you come to Neak Pean and you see something entirely different and it just feels very uplifting. And if Neak Pean felt positively different, then Krol Romeas does twice as much.

What’s most intriguing about Krol Romeas is that it wasn’t even built as a temple. Neak Pean looks unlike anything else at Angkor, but it’s still a temple. Back in the years of the Angkorian glory only temples – being dwellings of the gods – were built out of stone and as such, they are the only thing that still remain. Dwellings of people, including royalties were built from wood and other perishable materials and have long been claimed by nature – including palaces. Everything that was once a powerful and busy area is now gone, except from the temples which still stand. Yet there is one exception to it – Krol Romeas. As it turns out, Krol Romeas is not a temple.

Because not even Khmer kings had their palaces made from stone, the discovery of Krol Romeas lead many to speculations that it must have been a water reservoir. All that remains of Krol Romeas today is a large circular hole in the ground with thick walls of stone along its circumference. But when the signs of an inner wall were discovered, and the fact that the outer wall is just unreasonably thick for a pond of this size, the notion that Krol Romeas was built to be a Baray (water reservoir) was quickly abandoned. But if it’s not a water reservoir, than what is it?

Photo: Ancient Stone Wall That Goes Around Krol Romeas

A different look at this unique monument would have it that Krol Romeas was an elephant corral. Its location just outside of the north gate to Angkor Thom would make it suitable for royalty to mount their mahouts for long journeys through the jungle, yet by being behind the gate, the roaring and smell associated with large keep of wild beast would not bother anyone in the palace. Elephants would be bathed and fed inside of the keep and its level being slightly below the ground would make it easy for the nobles to board the animal.

Needless to say, scientists are not firm as to the real function of Krol Romeas but one thing is for sure – it stands out. Unlike Neak Pean, Krol Romeas has not been restored at all. It is as difficult to find as Prasat Prei and Banteay Prei so virtually nobody ever goes there and since it’s completely overrun with trees, it’s also impossible to step back to take any reasonably looking photo of it which would fit all of the structure within.

Photo: One of Huge Trees Growing on Top of Krol Romeas at Angkor, Cambodia

The dirt road which leads to Krol Romeas has a slight upward slope and is far less trod down that that leading to Prasat Prei and Banteay Prei making its identification tricky. Since the structure doesn’t stick above ground and trees grow uniformly throughout it in the same density as they do outside of it, any form of guesswork which could imply that there is something up that road is not gonna work. Luckily, being not far from the north gate of Angkor Thom, you don’t have a long section of the road to scout through so if you find a dirt road which diverts from the paved road forming the Grand Circuit of Angkor towards the east, regardless of how little used it may seem and how into the middle of the woods it seems to point, it’s probably the one leading to Krol Romeas. Take it.

Banteay Prei Temple

Banteay Prei is a small, quiet temple that’s in even more ruin than its nearest neighbor – Prasat Prei. Located a couple hundred meters up the dirt road from Prasat Prei, a visit to Banteay Prei is incidental to finding the dirt road which leads to them both. If you do find it, you will be rewarded with relatively quiet spot that will afford you some peace from hellish Angkor touts and a view of the temple that’s built with strangely small doors.

The structure is in a pretty ruinous state with stones collapsing around the doors, but it’s easy to make out what size the door once was and after a visit to a few Angkor temples before, its size will leave you puzzled. Like its neighbor, Banteay Prei was also built in the 12th century and also by great builder King Jayavarman VII. It features architectural/artistic style and scale similar to Ta Som. The temple has some Buddhist carvings on the lintels and some Apsaras on the corners but overall it’s a small, uncomplicated temple ruin that shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to explore.

To get to Banteay Prei, you just have to try your luck with one of the dirt roads diverting from the Grand Circuit road towards the north. The dirt road is not too far from access road to Preah Khan, only a little bit towards the nearby Neak Pean. Being a Buddhist temple, Banteay Prei was built to face East so if you can visit it before noon, you will have a chance to get nicely illuminated pictures, not crappy once with strong backlight from the sun like I have, cause I got there in the afternoon and the sun was baking.

Prasat Prei Temple

Prasat Prei is an easy temple to visit. It’s just north of the Preah Khan Temple, slightly towards Neak Pean – on the opposite side of the Grand Circuit road. The trick is that being completely surrounded with trees and having only a shoddy dirt road leading to it, it’s a bit tricky to find. Prasat Prei is a small, insignificant ruin which doesn’t attract anybody. Not even the more determined explorers who do embark on a more thorough exploration of the Grand Circuit venture off to pay Prasat Prei a visit. This could be attributed to both its insignificance as well as difficulty to find. As a matter of fact, it took me several goes before I found the right dirt road which lead to the temple as there is neither a sign nor any other indication telling you that there are some hidden ruins if you go down this path.

The dirt road that leads to Prasat Prei (as well as Banteay Prei, which is just a few hundred meters further north down the same dirt road) is not heavily trodden. It’s probably nothing more than a shortcut to some remote field of rice somewhere beyond the horizon these days, which makes thinking that there could be something worthwhile if one was to swing down there improbable. And truth be told, there really isn’t a big payout to paying Prasat Prei a visit either. However, because it is not a big detour at all, you could easily add two extra lines to the list of visited Angkor temples if you did go for it and tried a dirt road to the north of Preah Khan.

Prasat Prei is a big time ruin. Central tower was restored a bit, but then the restorations were abandoned because the ruin just wasn’t attracting any tourists. The rest of the temple now stands there as a pile of unorganized rocks. Furthermore, built as a Buddhist temple, Prasat Prei is oriented to face the east, so if you reach it in the afternoon (like I did), you’re gonna end up having the sun creating strong backlight making a chance of a decent photograph an impossibility. Still, aside from the need to look for the right dirt road to take (which will likely result in a few there and backs because you took the wrong one which lead to nowhere), visiting Prasat Prei is easy and requires very little energy. No traffic also means no touts so you can use this temple to take a much needed break from this hellish nuisance.

Prasat Prei, whose present day name allegedly means “the temple of the forest” was built in Bayon style by Khmer king Jayavarman VII. Restored central tower features lintels with some carvings and corners adorned with Apsara dancers. Because there isn’t all that much that still stands to explore at Prasat Prei, one only needs a few minutes for this temple and can move further north to reach its even less visually appetizing neighbor – Banteay Prei.

Ta Som Temple

If you do like I did and take the Grand Circuit of Angkor in the counter-clockwise direction, you’ll get to Prasat Ta Som after visiting Pre Rup and East Mebon temples respectively. And if you start roughly at the same time as I did and do a thorough exploration of each ruin you pay a visit to, by the time you get to Ta Som the noon hour will be upon you and you’ll be sweating out of every pore on your body, including those you didn’t think contained any sweat glands. I provided myself with self propelled transportation, so when I reached Ta Som, I was ready to throw the clothes I was wearing in a garbage bin. Even my underwear was drenched in sweat to a point of drip marking my every step.

Photo: View of Collapsed Central Sanctuary of Ta Som, Angkor, Cambodia

Ta Som Temple was built at the end of the 12th century by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII (the great builder king who also built Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and Bayon, among others), which makes it one of the younger temples on the Grand Circuit. Because of its location (it is the most distant temple on the Grand Circuit, meaning that it is furthest away from other temples than any other ancient temple in the main area of Angkor) and great state of ruin, it doesn’t attract very many visitors. Being a single tier temple, Ta Som doesn’t have any stairways to climb making for a less challenging exploration however because of almost completely collapsed rooftops, the temple offers no real places to hide so a visitor gets pretty heavy beating by the merciless Cambodian sun rays.

There are three sets of walls surrounding the central sanctuary which in itself doesn’t look like much due to lacking restoration funds, however there are some well preserved carvings to be seen. Ta Som was one of the last bigger temples in Angkor Archaeological Park to be added to the World Monuments Fund (WMF) restoration program but the work so far has mostly only consisted of securing the structures to remove an immediate threat of collapse while visitors are around.

Photo: Ta Som Features Carvings of Devatas Which Show Individuality - A Unique Feature for Angkor Temples

As is the case with many other Angkorian temples, centuries of neglect resulted in jungle overgrowth with huge fig and silk trees growing on top of the collapsing stone walls. The presence of the trees as well as an architectonic style of the temple which is similar to that of her more famous sibling has earned the temple a name of Mini Ta Prohm. Entrance gopuras in the outer enclosure are crowned with four faces similar to those found in Bayon. The main entrance gate used by everyone who visits Ta Som looked much like the South Gate of Angkor Thom, only smaller and more crumbled up. The state of Ta Som’s collapse seems to get worse with each enclosure you step within. Since outer gate still stands in a pretty decent shape, it is patrolled by aggressive child touts who wait in its shade for a sun beat tourist to walk right into their arms like a fly into a jar of honey.

Photo: Used as a Main Entrance Point to Ta Som, the West Gopura Hides Lurking Touts

Stone causeway which once served as a bridge over a moat is located inside the outer enclosure, rather than outside of it which implies that the outer wall was a later date addition to the temple. The causeway is decorated on both sides with serpents and Garudas, however they are broken into pieces and miss large parts which is the price the temples paid after greedy locals discovered that they could loot the temples and sell their ancient art for personal profit. What’s truly amazing is that despite looting and decay through neglect and time, many carvings and reliefs throughout Ta Som are in a remarkably good shape and are remarkably well carved for a late 12th century temple. These fine carvings of Apsaras and Devatas more than make up for a disappointing sight offered by a largely collapsed central sanctuary.

More Photos of Ta Som Temple at Ta Som, Angkor Photo Gallery.

Spean Thma

Spean Thma is the Bridge of Stone located just west of Ta Keo temple. Not many Angkor era bridges survived to this day, Spean Thma is one of the few that did. Albeit it’s just an odd array of rock nowadays.

Spean Thma was constructed to bridge the Siem Reap River and is believed to have been reconstructed sometimes in the 15th century by utilizing carved stone from old temples.

Photo: Remains of Spean Thma, Angkor, Cambodia

When you first see Spean Thma and realize that it was actually a bridge, the first thing that gets to your mind is – and where the hell is the river? Fact of a matter is, Spean Thma did cross the Siem Reap river when it was constructed, but through obstructions and construction of water channels, the river’s course has changed, but the bridge remained where it was built.

Bat Chum

Prasat Bat Chum temple ruins is a bit tricky to get to but it wasn’t as difficult as some make it. This temple is one of the least visited structures on the small circuit – the most popular itinerary taken by vast majority of visitors to Angkor Archaeological Park – due to its location (slightly off the paved road through Angkor), size, insignificance and great state of ruin.

To get to Bat Chum, I left Prasat Kravan and followed the road north, towards Sras Srang royal bath lake and grand Banteay Kdei temple. The turn-off with the dirt road leading to Bat Chum has an arrow sign letting you know that this is the right turn you need to take to get to the ruins. It is proceeded by a small, detached police station and has a wooden shack on the corner selling stuff for the locals. Banteay Kdei temple is only a short ride from there so if you see an ancient wall with the gate crowned by a tower with four faces on your left, you’ll know you had missed the turn off.

After the turn off to the right, I rode a bit down the dirt road, then turned left and later left again. The road eventually lead me to Bat Chum but because it was unpaved, it could be a bit challenging when taken after heavy rain. Luckily for me, three days of intense sunshine with no rain kept the dirt road dry and dusty, which is easier to ride on than wet and dirty.

What I found when I got to Prasat Bat Chum were three hills of brick that were once towers sticking out of the ground. All three towers sit on the same platform and face east. At the time of my visit (September 2009), the northern tower (prasat) was surrounded with scaffolding implying that it’s undergoing restoration works, but there were no workers in vicinity (hopefully there are some international workers involved). Three kids from a nearby village kept me company while I was exploring the temple, persistently insisting on giving them a “dolla” each.

Photo: Prasat Bat Chum Stairway to the Central Tower

Kavindrarimathana, an educated minister of then king Rajendravarman believed to have been responsible for the design of East Mebon, Sras Srang and (possibly) Pre Rup also designed Bat Chum and had the praise of his work inscribed on the temple’s door jambs. Kavindrarimathana remains the only Khmer architect involved with design of ancient Angkor temples whose name is known. Even though Khmer kingdom was dominated by Hinduism when Bat Chum was constructed (mid 10th century) the temple was built to be a Buddhist temple (Kavindrarimathana was a Buddhist) which makes it not only one of the oldest, but also most unique.

An enclosure wall and a moat that once surrounded Prasat Bat Chum are in such desolate state, you have to focus to see where they once laid. Stone lions guard the entrance to the central tower with two of them seated at the bottom of the staircase, but only one out of two that used to be on top is still there. The doorway of the main prasat is crowned with a lintel that contains nicely preserved (or restored?) carvings. Given the advanced state of ruin the rest of the temple is in, this lintel as well as the octagonal colonettes on the sides of the doorway are in an intricately good shape.

Photo: This Could Be a Restored Lintel That Will Go Above the Door of the North Tower

As an interesting fact, the inscriptions found on Bat Chum’s door jambs also allegedly contain ancient “No Parking Here” signs requesting the elephant owners to keep their beasts away from dykes to prevent their damage.