Khmericana: Phnom Kulen national park

This weekend Phil, myself, Diane and three friends from Lehigh decided to take a trip to Phnom Kulen national park in Siem Reap province. Phil has been before but this was the first time for the rest of us. After attempting to get $13 tickets ($20 normally) at City Angkor Hotel (we will have to return later to get back the $7 commission - they don't want people to know you can get cheaper tickets there even though it's in the guide book) we hopped in Phil's work van and took off for the park. The drive takes about 2 1/2 hours from Siem Reap city, and some of it is on some pretty rough road. When you enter the park, you drive up the mountain on a private road. There are three main sights in the park - the stone buddha carved on the top of a huge boulder with a wooden structure built over it, the river of 1000 lingas, and the waterfall.

View from the top

Stone buddha

How about them stairs?

Being blessed by a Buddhist monk

The river of 1000 lingas was created around the year 800 AD when Jayavarman II went to Kulen mountain and declared himself the king of kings. He had the 1000 lingas (fertility symbols) put into the river, which flows down into the valley, ancient Angkor and the city of Siem Reap. Because the water flows over the stones, all the water is blessed.

On another part of the mountain, you can swim in the river. There's the quieter section here.

Quiet river and the bridge of death

The first falls

Crossing this part of the river I stepped into a chest deep hole. No injury and it was pretty funny.

Explore a bit further, down a death defying wooden ladder/staircase, and across slippery wooden planks that will probably fall apart any day now, and you get to the bottom of the larger waterfalls (15-20m high) where you can swim, get nibbled on by river dwelling fish (causing yours truly to shriek at random moments), and climb over moss covered wet rocks that would give your mother or park officials a heart attack if either were actually present or cared.