Phnom Kulen

Phnom Kulen was never on my plans for my trip to Cambodia in January 2023. All that I'd known about it was that there was a mini-version of Kbal Spean, a waterfall, and a reclining Buddha; I had no idea that it was also the site of the former capital of the Khmer or that there are a lot of remains of that time left behind. Instead, I'd set my eyes on Kbal Spean itself. Our driver-guide, on the other hand, didn't like the idea as much and recommended Phnom Kulen instead, and because I was traveling with my aunt who was having foot and knee problems, I caved and followed his suggestion. I'm actually quite glad I did, though I hope I'll see Kbal Spean one day, perhaps with better hiking company. Phnom Kulen ended up taking the whole morning into early afternoon (which is a must, as the national park closes entry at around noon) and a fairly hefty $20 entrance fee per foreign head, which must be bought at a certain hotel in Siem Reap (just ask any Angkor guide you have). After driving for about an hour towards and into the park, we arrived at the parking lot, and I was in for an adventure I'd never prepared for.

Our driver-guide negotiated with a motorcycle rider at the parking lot, who was offering an off-road tour to four sites in the jungle, and they reached a deal that was then recommended to me. I ended …

One of the things I got from my two weeks trip to explore pre-Angkorian and Dvaravati arts with ICOMOS international experts in Cambodia and Thailand is the problem of drafting nomination dossier of Cambodia on other Angkorian sites. The problem of how to distinguish between those nominations with Angkor as the listed Angkor already almost covered all aspects of the Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian cultures. Some ICOMOS scholars even opinioned that if original nomination of Angkor exclude Rolous Group which is a Pre-Angkorian site, the works will be more easier for the nomination of Phnom Kulen and other lesser Pre-Angkorian sites to be World Heritage! And right now, this site is being proposed as an extension of Angkor to solve the unsolved problem.

Since the trip only went to the unknown lessor temples on Phnom Kulen, not Kbal Spean, the most famous historical site, initially I thought this is just “fill the gap” day with minor sites, but the visit turned out to be the most memorable one and a hot debate among ICOMOS scholars. After Sambor Prei Kuk, the power center of Khmer Empire moved to the area of Siem Reap, but before the ancient Khmer decided to settle around Angkor Wat, they settled on the small plateau top of Phnom Kulen Mountain and named the city “Mahendraparvata” as the center of the super large Khmer cultural landscape that covered whole northern Cambodia plain. Our mini van took us to the top of Phnom Kulen, the winding road showed …

I visited the site of Kbal Spean, or the River of 1,000 Lingas which is included in this batch of monuments. It was a really rewarding place to visit as one of the outlying Angkorian monuments and made a great morning trip when combined with the magnificent Banteay Srei temple.

Here the river bed is carved with multiple representations of lingas and yonis as well as several other carvings on the river banks. These were used to symbolically purify the water flowing into the central temple complex of Angkor. It is a pretty impressive spectacle and the carvings continue for about 100m downstream of the first batch at the top of a waterfall.

It takes a little while to get out to the site from Siam Reap, and once at the site there is a 1,5km walk from the car park. It is a pretty nice walk, although some bits are a little tough as you clamber over rocks.

I guess if this was ever added to the list it would be as an extension to the WHS of Angkor, however if any site on the world heritage list deserves to be inscribed twice it is Angkor. So I would fully support it being added separately.

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