Tour Name: Angkor Wat Banteay Chhmar Excursion 3d
Tour Code: A3E
Tour Duration: 3 days
Tour Operates: all year round / on demand
Number of Pax: available upon request
Tour Price: available upon request
Pick-up and drop-off location
Can be anywhere upon request
Hotel in Siem Reap
Upon arrival in Siem Reap airport
Upon arrival in Siem Reap bus station
Upon arrival in boat pier in Chong Kneah floating village
Any AirBnB and residences in Siem Reap.
Day I - Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Prohm, small circuit and watching sunset at Phnom Bakheng hill or at Pre Rup temple
Angkor Thom city complex – you will be met and welcomed by our English speaking guide at your pick-up location in Siem Reap and then transfer onward to visit the Great City of Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Great Khmer Empire under the reign of Jayavarman VII. This city is surrounded by an 8m high wall; each side of the city is 3 kilometers long. It draws a perfect square you access this town through 5 gates, 4 of them represent the cardinal points and the 5th one the Victory Gate was the one leading directly to the Royal Palace area.
You will arrive via the South Gate, an impressive stone gate carved with Elephants and 4 giant faces. On each side is a row of 54 gods or demons holding the sacred Naga snake.
After passing through the South Gate, you will go down along this shady road to the Bayon temple. This temple lies exactly in the center of the city. The particularity of this monument is the 54 towers representing the 54 provinces of the then Great Khmer Empire. Each tower has 4 faces. This is the only temple in Cambodia depicting scenes of the everyday life at the time of the empire.
From the Bayon continue by walk to the Baphoun recently re-opened to the public. There you will pass by the Phimeanakas the location of the Royal Palace. The only remaining are a pond and a temple. The palace was made of wood and did not survive the time and the wars.
Then continue to the Terrace of the Elephants. This Terrace was the place where the parade was done for the king. Next is the Terrace of the Leper King, depicting the water world.
Ta Prohm overgrown temple – continues transfer to Ta Prohm - one of the most popular temples of the Angkor Complex. This temple was built in the memory of the King Jayavarman VII’s mother. When found by the French conservators at the end of the 19th century, they deliberately left this temple in the same condition as it was discovered, overgrown by strangler fig and silk-cotton trees, giving the temple a mystical and romantic appeal.
Your visit will include Banteay Kdei, a Buddhist monastery from the late 12th century, Srah Srang, also known as the “pool of ablutions”, the identical twin temples of Tommanon, Chaosay Tevoda, Ta Keo and Krovan temple.
Lunch at local restaurant (at your own costs)
Angkor Wat – continue visit the magnificent temple of Angkor Wat, built by Suryavarman II in early 12th century. Angkor Wat is constructed following the model of the temple mountain symbolizing the mount Merou, home of the gods, considered as the masterpiece of the Khmer architecture. This Vishnuite temple is the King’s funerary temple that is why the temple is oriented to the west. Inside the temple the walls are covered by carvings and bas-reliefs depicting the Hindu mythology and the wars Suryavarman II made during his reign. As well Angkor Wat is well known for the 1800 Apsara dancers decorating the all temple. But like most say, it takes a life time to discover all the wonders of this temple.
Return to Siem Reap after watching sunset at Phnom Bakheng Hill. Dominating the flat landscape, this 10th Century mountain temple is the most popular spot in the area to watch a classic sunset over Angkor Wat and the surrounding forest or
Watching sunset at Pre Rup temple, a Hindu temple, built as the state temple of king Rajendravarman and dedicated in 961. It is a temple mountain of combined brick, laterite and sandstone construction. The temple’s name is a comparatively modern one meaning "turn the body". This reflects the common belief among Cambodians that funerals were conducted at the temple, with the ashes of the body being ritually rotated in different directions as the service progressed.
Overnight at your hotel in Siem Reap.
Day II - Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre and Chong Kneah floating village
Angkor Wat sunrise is optional (pick up at 5am for viewing the picturesque sunrise at Angkor Wat and then return to hotel for breakfast).
Banteay Srei - in the morning, after breakfast at your hotel, depart for an excursion to visit Banteay Srei, made of pink sandstone and is one of the smallest temple you can visit but one of the most beautiful as well. Built in 967 AD by a guru to Jayavarman V, it showcases the most exquisite, deep and complex carvings in all Khmer architectures. As well the carvings and bas-relief are in a perfect condition although being here for more than millenary.
On the way back to Siem Reap, visit an isolated temple Banteay Samre. Situated on the eastern edge of the Angkor complex, this temple is very similar to Angkor Wat. The structure with its typical lotus flowers shaped tower but has very compact proportions. This temple was built during the best period of the Khmer architecture and its condition is almost perfect.
Lunch at local restaurant (at your own costs)
Kampong Klieng fishing village – in the morning, you will be met and welcomed by our English speaking guide, picked up and transferred to Kampong Klieng fishing village, is located on the northern lake-edge about 35 km east of Siem Reap. It is more remote and less touristed than Kampong Pluk. Visitors during the dry season are universally awestruck by the forest of stilted houses rising up to 10 meters in the air. In the wet season the water rise to within one or two meters of buildings. Kampong Khleang is a permanent community within the floodplain of the Lake, with an economy based in fishing and surrounded by flooded forest. But Kampong Khleang is significantly larger with near 10 times the population of Kampong Pluk, making it the largest community on the Lake.
Overnight at your hotel in Siem Reap.
Day III - Banteay Chhmar and Banteay Top excursion
Banteay Chhmar – in the morning, after breakfast at the hotel, pick up and transfer onward to Banteay Chhmar, is a commune in Thma Puok District in Banteay Meanchey province in northwest Cambodia. It is located 63 km north of Sisophon and about 20 km east of the Thai border. The commune of Banteay Chhmar contains 14 villages.
The massive temple of Banteay Chhmar, along with its satellite shrines and reservoir (baray), comprises one of the most important and least understood archaeological complexes from Cambodia's Angkor period.
History
Like Angkor Thom, the temple of Banteay Chhmar was accomplished during the reign of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th or early 13th century. One of the temple's shrines once held an image of Srindrakumararajaputra (the crown prince), a son of Jayavarman VII who died before him. The temple doors record Yasovarman I's failed invasion of Champa.
The long Old Khmer inscription found at the site (K.227), and now on display in the National Museum, Phnom Penh, relates how Prince Srindrakumara was protected on two different occasions by four companions in arms, once against Rahu, and once on a military campaign against Champa. Their four statues, with one of the prince, was placed in the central chapel.
Another bas-relief states Yasovarman II was attacked by Rahu, but "saved by a young prince."
The site
The complex resembles Angkor Thom and other structures attributed to Jayavarman VII. It is one of two sites outside Angkor with the enigmatic face-towers. Besides that, its outer gallery is carved with bas-reliefs depicting military engagements and daily life scenes very similar to the well-known ones in Bayon.
The complex is oriented to the east, where there's a dried baray (about 1.6 by 0.8 km), which had a temple on an artificial island (mebon) in its centre. There are three enclosures, as typical. The external one, largely ruined, was 1.9 by 1.7 km and surrounded by a moat. The middle enclosure, provided with a moat too, is 850 by 800 m. It contains the main temple, surrounded by a gallery with reliefs 250 by 200 m which constitutes the third inner enclosure.
Besides the main temple and the mebon there are other eight secondary temples. Four stelae detailing Jayavarman VII's genealogy were placed (though they remain unfinished) at each of the four corners of the third enclosure wall, mirroring the stelae that occupied the four corner-shrines (Prasat Chrung) of the king's capital at Angkor Thom.
Modern threats
Because of its remote location and its proximity to the Thai border, the complex has been subjected to severe looting, especially in the 1990s. In 1998, 2000 and 2002 the temple was listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the top one hundred most endangered sites in the world.
For example, in 1998 a group of soldiers stole a 30-metre section of the southern wall. The bas-reliefs of Banteay Chhmar once displayed eight exceptional Avalokite?varas in the west gallery, but now only two remain. In January 1999 looters dismantled sections of the western gallery wall containing these bas-reliefs. They were intercepted by Thai police and 117 sandstone pieces of the wall were recovered. They are now on display in the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
Lunch at local restaurant (at your own costs)
Banteay Top (Fortress of the Army), set among rice paddies southeast of Banteay Chhmar, may only be a small temple but there’s something special about the atmosphere here. Constructed around the same time as Banteay Chhmar, it may be a tribute to the army of Jayavarman VII, which confirmed Khmer dominance over the region by conclusively defeating the Chams. One of the damaged towers looks decidedly precarious, like a bony finger pointing skyward. The turn-off from NH69, marked by a stone plinth with gold inscription, is 9km south of Banteay Chhmar.
It takes one day to visit those temples from Siem Reap.
Return to Siem Reap.
Tour Ends
Included
- Full tours and transfers by private luxury A/C vehicle
- English speaking guide
- All entrance fees for mentioned visit.
Excluded
- Meals not mentioned
- Accommodation
- Visa fees $30 (visa on arrival, please bring 1 of your recent passport-size photo to visit your Cambodia visa). Southeast Asian passport holders do not require a Cambodian visa
- Drinks, laundry, telephone calls, tips and expenditure of a personal nature
- Personal travel insurance
- Any services not mentioned in itinerary.
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