In the pre-Ankor days of about 880 C.E. (current era) a king and his sons built this temple about 10 miles outside of Siem Reap, called Preah Ko. This is a series of six temples to honor the king, his father and his ancestors. The king sees his family as living symbols of the Hindu Shiva, the destroyer and transformer who is worshipped here.


The temples are in a serious state of decline because of the civil war of 1975-1979. The United Nations is helping with the restoration since these temples have been declared part of Ankor Wat, a World Heritage site.

While the buildings at Ankor are largely stone and marble these were built with brick. Most temples these were built with a hill as a pedestal to the temple. Unlike other temples these were built on a natural hill. In ancient times the entire area was a lake of rice fields and the temple hill was the only dry land. Even today rice fields surround the temple which is only accessible by an elevated gravel road.

Funny, while on the road we passed some adults seated on a bench the size of two full-beds. I asked Kong if they were eating lunch or waiting for transportation. "No," he smiles, "They are drinking rice wine" Imagine a bar in the middle of a rice field. All that was missing was a TV with the World Football League.

This is still an active worship site that houses a wat, a monastery and stupa like this one. This stupa honors the people killed by the Khmer Rouge and buried in a mass grave nearby. It used to contain the actual bones and skills of the dead in a glass case. They are now buried in sand in the stupa itself.