Cambodia 2007, Bakong

Bakong 2007 -1-12

The Bakong Temple was built in 881 AD and was farther on the road from Siem Reap., For the first time we saw the country side of Cambodia and its stilted houses. The height of the stilts must be related to the seriousness of the flood. The driver told us that Sean Reap would be under water in rainy season. He drove taxi during the dry season, and took courses in the other season aiming at becoming a tour guide. Most of the houses along the road looked in good conditions. There were many traditional bike with high handle bar on the road. Its rider looked gracious with their back straight up while riding. The road was generally not very congested and the asphalted road surface was smooth and good with no holes. Many cars on the road were extremely overloaded.

The causeway

The naga on the causeway

Like many other temples in Angkor, the temple at Bakong also had three concentric square enclosures and two moats. The outer enclosure was 900x700 m but there was not much remnants left of it. There was supposed to be a moat at its boundary but it was hard to find. The road took us right to the second enclosure. It was 400x300 m and there was a monumental seven headed serpents welcoming visitors at its entrance on the east. The inner enclosure was 160x120 m and was bounded by laterite walls. The space between the middle and the inner enclosures was taken by a broad moat. The main structure in the middle of the inner enclosure was a five levels pyramid and eight brick towers, two on each side. A wide earth causeway connected the east entrance of the second enclosure to the base of the pyramid. At the end of the causeway was a gopura. There was a very narrow hall with balustered windows on each side of the causeway and I didn't know its purpose or usefulness..

Bas reliefs on the lintel of the brick tower

The pyramid was 67x65 m at base and 20x18 at top. The statues of elephants had been installed at the four corners of the lower three levels. There were remains of 12 small shrines on the fourth level. And the top level was 14 m above the ground, and was crown with a 15 m high tower in the style of Angkor Wat. There were five flights of stairs from the gopura on the east side, from the base to the top terrace, and on each terrace there was a lion statue guarding the stair. There were a pair of brick towers on all four sides of the pyramids, and two smaller brick towers, and in much worst shape, at the corner of the west wall, and two pairs of the same buildings at the corner of the east wall. Only some bas reliefs survived on some lintels on the brick towers. The carvings of apsaras carved on the brick walls were also badly damaged.

Brick towers in Bakong 

I had some small talks with a white middle age man, and we talked about Indonesia. He asked me if the Dutch had done a lot of good things in that country. I told him that depended on what point of views. It turned out he and his wife were from Amsterdam. Every year, they took two to three months vacations to travel around the world. They had been in many places. They commented that luckily they did not have children and therefore they could travel a lot. I thought that they were missing the fun and happiness for having GOOD children in the family.


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