Temples of Roluos and Banteay Srei

For my last day with the temples of Angkor I visited some of the places which are outside the main area.

The temples of Roluos are some of the earliest temples found in the area, built from 880AD.

Preah Ko was a beautiful temple dedicated to Shiva:

These ancient Sanskrit inscriptions on the inside of the door frames were stunning.

Bakong is a representation of Mt Meru and it was a tough climb to the top, but worth it.

Each corner of the temple levels was guarded by big elephants (this one had lost his trunk somewhere in the last 1,000 years or so):

Finally Lolei was the smallest and the towers were covered in grass.

There was some more beautiful Sanskrit on the inside of the door frames:

Apparently this temples was dedicated to the King's mother, father and grandparents on the 12 July 893. King Yasovarman I was the founder of the first city of Angkor.

Banteay Srei was another journey through the beautiful Cambodian countryside in the back of a tuc tuc but it was worth it to see this gorgeous temple. The name means Citadel of the Women and the temple has some of the finest stone carvings in the world (apparently). The intricacy and beauty of this place, with its pink sandstone, has led people to say that this temple must have been built by a woman (which is obviously very unusual).  This temple was built in 967AD, although it was probably altered and added to later than this date.

The most intricate and beautiful doorway.

There were carvings on almost every surface.

I also revisited Angkor Wat, although the sunrise was hidden by thunderous clouds I managed to spend some more time looking at the vast reliefs that run inside the building.

The reliefs tell many stories, this one involved Rama's army of monkeys.

This is the most famous and beautiful carving - the churning of the ocean of milk. There are 88 demons and 92 gods (shown above) churning the sea to extract the elixir of immortality.

This one shows the 37 heavens (top half) and 32 hells (below).

There were many gruesome battle scenes.

I think I could come back to Angkor Wat another ten times and still see something different each time, it's a very special place.