Petchabun - Si Thep Historical Park (2)

I went back to Si Thep, but actually there isn't much new to add to my previous blog

http://tinamue.blogspot.com/2011/02/petchabun-si-thep-historical-park.html 

Si Thep is a nice destination for picnics and to learn a bit about how the tentacles of the Angkor kingdom spread across the region. What is interesting is that the ruins now are surrounded by a lot of sugar cane fields.
During the harvest season, the small roads leading to the few mills in the region are clogged. And around the mills, trucks (big and small) occupy huge parking lots where they wait for their turn to offload the sugar cane. To a casual observer, it definitely looks like a lot of time is wasted as the trucks wait for hours on end.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

After putting it off for years - due to expectations of extreme commercialism - I finally made my way to Siem Reap and to the temples of Angkor. 

While the town's backpacker center was glitzy and fake, it was somehow not as bad as I had expected and certainly not as bad as Bangkok's Khao San Road or as in Luang Prabang. And the temple complex is indeed impressive although it gets "busy" at some places.

So, I'm glad I made the trip although I most probably will not bother going there again. In two full days, you can rush through the sites with some advance planning, but if you have the time, I suggest that you allocate three days.

The southern gate of Angkor Thom (which means Great City) is one of the most famous sights. The bridge crossing the moat is flanked by 54 demons (asuras, on the right) and 54 gods engaged in an epic tug of war as they are pulling a giant seven-headed naga. They're probably churning the Sea of Milk.

This is part of the Hindu creation myth where the gods and demons cooperate for 1,000 years by alternately pulling a giant naga (Vasuki) coiled around Mount Mandara to produce the elixir of immortality. As in real life, once the objective is achieved, one partner to the deal cheats the other. In this myth, the gods refuse to share the elixir with their partners (the asuras) who then try to steal the elixir.

It makes me wonder, if you cannot trust Hindu gods, who can you trust?


Bayon looks like a pile of rubble from the distance but actually has bas-reliefs more impressive than those of Angkor Wat. Bayon has three levels and on the first level alone, the bas-reliefs stretch for 1,200 meters.

The Ta Phrohm temple is very interesting because the temple has (almost) been left in the same state as it was when it was "found" by the French around 150 years ago. This means that the jungle has only been partially cleared; in particular, several large trees have been left standing such as the silk cotton tree in the picture below.

The last picture is from Angkor Wat and is basically only chosen because the sky was so wonderfully clear and blue that day.

Petchabun - Si Thep Historical Park

Surely, everybody has visited Lopburi's capital to take pictures of monkeys running around freely on the city's Khmer ruins. People may even, like me, have travelled to Lopburi to take pictures of blooming sunflower fields and visited the Pa Sak Cholasit dam and tried the train.

However, I think only few have thought of continuing north to visit Si Thep Historical Park, which is located in Petchabun, only a few dozen kilometers north of the Pa Sak Cholasit reservoir.

Si Thep is today's name of a Khmer town that – at the time – rivaled Phi Mai and Khao Phanom Rung in importance. Moreover, traces have been found of the area being populated as far back as 2,000 years ago, i.e., predating the Khmer settlement by more than 1,000 years.

The Si Thep Historical Park covers an area of almost 5 square km complete with remnants of walls and moats. Near the park are ruins of a tower and couple of Khmer monuments.


To be honest, what is left of the Khmer ruins is not all that impressive. Maybe that is one reason that - compared to famous Phi Mai and Phanom Rung - Si Thep does not have many visitors. It is thus possible to take leisurely strolls among the ruins and the ponds spread out across the park. At the same time, the service and the quality of the information offered from the park's officers are far better than at Phi Mai and Phanom Rung.