Monument sights in Cambodia
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Chet Dey Mak Proum
At the northwestern extremity of the ridge stand four large stupas. The first is the cement Chet Dey Mak Proum, the final resting place of King Monivong (r 1927-41). Decorated with garudas (mythical half-man, half-bird creatures), floral designs and elephants, it has four faces on top.
The middle stupa, Tray Troeng, is decorated with coloured tiles; it was built in 1891 by King Norodom to house the ashes of his father, King Ang Duong (r 1845-59). But some say King Ang Duong was in fact buried next to the Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh. The third stupa, Damrei Sam Poan, was built by King Chey Chethar II (r 1618-26) for the ashes of his predecessor, King Soriyopor. The fourth …
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Sambor Prei Kuk
Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia's most impressive group of pre-Angkorian monuments, encompasses more than 100 mainly brick temples scattered through the forest, among them some of the oldest structures in the country. Originally called Isanapura, Sambor Prei Kuk was the capital of Chenla during the reign of the early-7th-century King Isanavarman and continued to be an important learning centre during the Angkorian era.
The main temple area consists of three complexes, each enclosed by the remains of two concentric walls. Their basic layout - a central tower surrounded by shrines, ponds and gates - may have served as an inspiration for the architects of Angkor five centuries lat…
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Vihear Preah Ko
About 120m northwest of Vihear Preah Ath Roes is a line of small viharas. The first is Vihear Preah Ko, a brick-roofed structure that contains a statue of Preah Ko, the sacred bull; the original statue was carried away by the Thais long ago. The second structure, which has a seated Buddha inside, is Vihear Preah Keo. The third is Vihear Prak Neak, its cracked walls topped with a thatched roof. Inside is a seated Buddha who is guarded by a naga (serpent). (Prak neak means 'protected by a naga'.)
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Prasat Thom
The principal monument is Prasat Thom, a 55m-wide, 40m-high sandstone-faced pyramid with seven tiers that's just west of Prasat Krahom. This striking structure, which looks like it could almost be a Mayan site somewhere on the Yucatan Peninsula, offers some spectacular views across the forest from its summit. Look out for the giant garuda under the collapsed chamber at the top of the vertigo-inducing stairs. Some 40 inscriptions, dating from 932 to 1010, have been found at Prasat Thom.
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Khmer Rouge Statues
About 2km before the frontier, where the road splits to go around a house-sized boulder, look out for a group of statues - hewn entirely from the surrounding rock by the Khmer Rouge - depicting a woman carrying bundles of bamboo sticks on her head and two uniformed Khmer Rouge soldiers, since decapitated by government forces.
Now a macabre place of popular pilgrimage, local people come here to leave offerings of fruit and incense to honour the souls of dead Khmer Rouge soldiers.
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Wat Sampeau Moi Roi
About 250m northwest of the church, a road leads through a three-towered gate to lichen-caked Wat Sampeau Moi Roi, known as Five Boats Wat because some say the five oddly-sculpted rocks nearby resemble boats (although what they were smoking at the time is up for debate). Built in 1924, it affords tremendous views over the jungle to the coastline below, including Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island. Four cement supports that once anchored a Khmer Rouge radar station still stand just outside.
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Pile of Rubble
Most of Anlong Veng's sights are connected with the terrible Khmer Rouge years. An Angkorian temple used to stand in the southeast corner of the yard behind Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School - formerly Ta Mok Primary School - but it was turned into a jumble of laterite and sandstone blocks by Ta Mok and his army in their search for ancient statues to sell to the Thais. The school is 600m east of the roundabout.
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Prasat Damrei
At the eastern end of the 3km-long baray (reservoir) is a small pyramid temple called Prasat Damrei. On the remaining entrance wall, there are several impressive carvings of devadas (goddesses). At the summit of the hill, two of the original exquisitely carved elephants can still be seen; two others are at Phnom Penh's National Museum and Paris' Musée Guimet.
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Independence Monument
Modelled on the central tower of Angkor Wat, the Independence Monument was built in 1958 to commemorate the country’s independence from France in 1953. It also serves as a memorial to Cambodia’s war dead (at least those that the current government chooses to remember) and is sometimes referred to as the Victory Monument. Wreaths are laid here on national holidays.
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memorial
At the base of the ridge, close to the road, is a memorial to the victims of Pol Pot that contains the bones of some of the people who were buried in approximately 100 mass graves, each containing about a dozen bodies. Instruments of torture were unearthed along with the bones when a number of the pits were disinterred in 1981 and 1982.
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Khmer Rouge bunker
The island's interior is forested and, except along the beaches, trees grow right up to the water's edge. On the hilltop you can see the remains of a one-time Khmer Rouge bunker .
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Prasat Tao
Prasat Tao, the largest of the Sambor Prei Kuk structures, boasts two excellent examples of Chenla carving in the form of two large, elaborately coiffed stone lions.
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