Day 1: Phnom Penh to Kampongthom

Start from Phnom Penh and you will be picked up from your hotel at 9am and will visit Sambo Prei Kuk ancient temple, situated 21 miles from present-day Kampongthom, which is 86 miles south of Angkor, contain the ruins of s huge square settlement surrounded by an earth wall about a mile long per side, bordered by a moat supplied with water by the Stung Sen river which once ran near the city. The city' water supply was provided by a Baray situated on the south side. The history of Sambo Prei Kuk is associated with that of ancient Chenla, which was not a United Kingdom but decided into various principalities. Bhavavarman, who came from one of these principalities, settled at Bhauvapura, which was probably situated in the area of Sambo Prei Kok. When Bhavavarman died shortly after 598, his kingdom was inherited by his brother Citrasena, whose son Ishanavarman, crowned between 611 and 616, founded Ishanapura, meaning " City of Ishana," Ishana being a name of the god Shiva as well as the king. Chenla reached its maximum size during the reign of Ishanavarman, and the capital reflected its power and wealth. 

     However, Ishanapura was not build from scratch. There are settlements in the archaeological area of Sambo Prei Kuk which date from before the reign of Ishananvarman such as those in the northern area, although they were partly rebuilt during Angkor period. Break for lunch in the area then going to Preah Vihear temple- the Dwellings of Shiva. The spectacular temple stands at a height of 1,720 feet on a triangle promontory 500 feet long and 525 feet wide that just out of southward about halfway along the Sangria mountain chain. As already mentioned, this natural barrier which enclosed by a number of roads that let to Phimai, Wat Phi, and Preah Vihear.

   The building seems to have been started in 893 by Yashovarman I, who build a temple in honor of Shiva Shikhareshvara(Lord of the Summit). Subsequent kings, especially Suryavaraman II and his spiritual advisor Devakarapadita, renovated the older buildings and added new ones. 

   The temple, like Wat Phi, has an axial layout but in this case from both to north, which was essential in view of its position on the mountain. The ascent route is 2,625 feet long, passing through five gopuras connected to one another by staircases and avenues in a procession that evokes the ascent of Mount Meru. A first staircase 256 feet long, one flunked by lions, has 162 steps cut directly into the rock and leads to a flatform 100 feet wide lined with nagas. The fifth gopura, across shaped structure which once had a tiled wooden roof and still bears evident traces of red paint which may have been gilded, leads to a second avenue. 

  The route continues for another 890 feet between two rows of 65 pillars in the shape of stylized lotus buds, passing a reservoir on the left, to fourth gopura, which is reached via a short but steep flight of steps. A bas-relief showing the "churning of the sea of milk" decorates its south tympanum. Another avenue, 500 feet long with 35 pillars, leads to the third gopura, the largest in the complex, which was originally roofed with bricks on a wooden framework as opposed to earthenware tiles. Alongside it there are two rectangular environments with inscriptions dated 1026 containing galleries and elongated halls, known as " Palaces." Their facades act as the wings of the gopuras, creating a scenic front 330 feet wide. Stay a night in Preah Vihear Province.

Day 2

Leaving your hotel in the morning to visit Koh Ker temple, Beng Mealea Temple and straight to Siem Reap Town.

- Koh Ker Temple, The short lived capital. In 921, during the reign of Harshavarman I, a maternal uncle of his rebelled against the legitimate king and had himself crowned with name of Jayavarman IV in his fief, situated 53 miles north-east of Angkor. As he would not or could not move to Yashodharapura, he chose his birthplace, Chok Gargya, now Koh Ker, to be the capital of his kingdom and built a Baray measuring 3,900 by 1,800 feet, called the Rahal, by exploiting  depression in the terrain and a nearby river. The Rahal was partly excavated in rock, and the laterite lock which controlled the outflow of water to irrigate the paddy fields still survives. The Capital had an area of 14 square miles and part of its enclosure wall can still be seen to the north and west of the Rahal. There are numerous buildings at Koh Ker but they are sadly in a very poor  state of repair. However, a visit to Prasat Thom complex dedicated to Tribhuvaneshvara( Lord of the triple world) is worth a visit because of its innovative characteristics. The desire for the temple which reproduced the sacred mountain had rewired up to this point the construction that was tightly amassed around the center and build upwards. probably as a result of the increasing complexity of ceremonial procedure and the inclusion of parades, a series of axially rising structures was placed in front of the palace of gods. Prasat Thom is situated on east-west axis 2,000 feet long and is divided into three architectural blocks: the processional avenue with its innovative approach buildings, the triple enclosure with the shrine to the ancestors, and the mountain temple at the end of route. The long processional avenue is flanked at the start by two quadrangles , improperly called " Palaces". They considered of long buildings, each divided into three rooms, with pillared porticoes and windows screened collocates, which surrounded a kind of patio. After about 590 feet a huge cross-shaped sandstone gopura extends to the north and south with two galleries around 70 feet long, which have a solid wall on the east side and a series of porticoes on the west and must have had a tiled roof laid on the wooden framework. immediately after this there are two elongated buildings positioned perpendicular to the access avenue, followed by two Prasat. 

- Beng Mealea Temple (The Triumph of the Ground- Level Temple) 

Khmer architecture reached the light of its glory in the twelfth century with the building of Angkor Wat, one of the most spectacular religious complexes in the world. However, the magnificent temple was not created out of the blue but was based on a long process of development which included other monuments worthy of attention. Chao Say Tevoda, Thommanon, Beng Mealea, Banteay Saré and other buildings in the huge Preah Khan of Kampong Svay are attributed to the same king who built Angkor Wat, Suryavarman II. Although it is unlikely that this temples were all built by him and some were probably built, or at any rate completed, his successors, in view of their characteristics they are classified within the Angkor Wat style, the golden age of Khmer architecture. Apart from Angkor Wat, the buildings erected by Suryavarman II were all ground- level temples with the same layout: a raised processional approach avenue to the temple interrupted by cross-shaped terraces; one or more concentric enclosure walls consisting of continuous galleries with gopura.

Day 3

Visit Angkor Wat Temple, South Gate of Angkor thom, Bapun, Elephant Terrace, Lunch in Angkor area. In the Afternoon will visit Taprom temple and sunset on Bakheng Mountain.

- Angkor Wat was a place, a temple, or a museum? Angkor Wat, the famous monument in Angkor, built by Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150, was all this and more; it was also the dwelling-place of the gods. once called Prah Bishnulok or Prah Bishnuloka(the sacred dwelling of Vishnu); it was dedicated by Suryavarman to the second deity of the Trimurti with whom he identified. On his death the great king took the posthumous name Paramavishnuloka(he who gone to the paradise of the supreme Vishnu), and the temple became his mausoleum. The name by which it is now known means" Royal Monastery City" because after the religious recollection introduced by Jayavarman VII in the thirteenth century, the Khmer Empire embrace Buddhism and Angkor Wat was transferred from Vishnuite shrine to a Buddhist Wat, a term of Thai origin which means " Monastery ". Local legend has it that Angkor Wat was turned into a monastery by Buddhaghosha, a famous Indian monk who received the magnificent complex as a gift when he returned from Sri Lanka with the text of the Buddhist law. Be that as it may, its conversion to a Buddhist temple meant that Angkor Wat was never totally abandoned. 

   It was a temple, Mausoleum, and Monastery, but was it also a palace? There is no doubt that a city, Suryvarman's capital, lay inside the outermost enclosure of the shrine , and that Suryavarman's court was situated there, probably to the north of the temple. In addition to the historical evidence that part of the now empty spaces in the complex were used for residential purposes, there is a delightful Cambodian legend involving Ket Mealea, in Sanskrit Ketumala(Prince of flowery light), son of a Khmer princess and and the god Indra. The young man was taken to heaven by his father on reaching adolescence but rejected by the other gods because of his unpleasant " human odor". hits grief-stricken father sent him back to earth to rule over Kok Thlok(Kambojadesha) and gave him Angkor Wat to compensate in some way for the divine legacy of which he had been deprived. There are various versions of the legend. One of the two main ones recounts that Indra ordered Vishvakarman, architect of the gods, to build a palace similar to the celestial dwellings for his son, while the other says that he was asked to choose which of the heavenly buildings he would like to take back to earth with him, Ket Mealea, not dearing to ask for too much, chose the stables of the oxen. 

- Angkor Thom, the royal palace and the elephant terrace. Although he was greatest builder of all the Khmer Kings, Jayavarman VII lived in wooden structures, choosing as his residence the Ancient Royal Palace built around Phimeanakas, situated in the northwest quadrant of Angkor Thom. All that remains of the great complex is the laterite walls with the access gopuras, built earlier than Jayavarman's reign, and reservoirs, the largest of which appears to have been renovated by the king. This pool, known as the " Quee's Bath" , measure 410 by 150 feet, and is bordered with steps decorated with reliefs of guards, nagas, fish and other aquatic creatures. The scenic lay out of the Roya square, which overlooks the eastern facade of the palace and was used for parades, triumphal performances, and ceremonies, is also attributed to Jayavarman. The avenue that runs from the Victory Gate leads into the east side of the square between two rows of six towers. These 12 literate buildings, surmounted by two floors, are known as Prasat Suor Prat(Rope dancers' towers) because popular tradition has it that ropes were slung between two buildings and used for tightrope walking shows. Whichhever, Zhou Daguan says that parties to a dispute were shut up in it, and the one who was the wrong would fall ill after a few days. As Prasat Suor Prat gives onto the Royal Square, the most likely theory is that they were places from which dignitaries and ambassadors could watch parades. The towers, which were perhaps built after than the reign of Jayavarman VII, were accessed through a porticoed entrance and illuminated by windows on three sides, and the door frames and pediments were made of sandstone. The same comments apply to the use of Khleangs, the twin buildings behind Prasat Suor Prat, which were perhaps annexes for distinguished visitors. One was built in the tenth century, and the southernmost one in the eleventh century. 

- Terrace of Leper King: To the north of the Elephant Terrace is the Terrace of the Leper King, whose present layout seems to be attributable not to the builder go Angkor Thom but to one of his successors: Jayavarman VIII. The front of the terrace overlooking the Royal Square is 82 feet long, 20-to 26 foot-high wall is decorated with up to seven registers of divined characters, nagas, and see creatures. Behind this first wall there is a second one , discovered by chance during the EFEO excavations, which is decorated with same bas-relief a the first. The existence of this wall is interpreted differently by by the experts. Some, including sterm, consider that it is an extension of the structure, while others, Especially Coedes, belief that the wall was deliberately concealed by another one because it alludes to the chthonic world and deities of the underworld beneath Mount Meru. This interpret ion, certainly more fascinating, id base on the fact that the terrace probably had a funerary function; it may have been used for royal cremations. The statue of th Leper King after which the terrace is named has been identified with Yama, lord of dead. What was thought to be a portrayal of leprosy on the baby of the mysterious, naked, sexless, figure was probably actually caused by lichen. However, Khmer folk tradition has it that Jayavarman himself was a leper, which is why he built so many hospitals. According to popular accounts, other kings apart from Jayavarman also suffered from the terrible disease. 

- Baphuon Temple is west of the road to the Dei Chhnang gate and near the Bayon temple. The temple was built in the 11th century, around 1060, by king Udayadityavarman II ( AD 1050- 1066), dedicating to Brahmanism.  A highlight of the temple is the bas-reliefs, which differ from most others as they are vignettes carved in small stone square set one above the other on the temple walls, similar to tiling. Unfortunately, few of these are visible because of the poor state of temple.

- Taprohm Temple : is located about 1 kilometer east of the Victory Gate, southeast of Takeo temple. Its rampart is near the northeast corner of the rampart of Manteay Kdey temple. The temple was built in AD 1186 by king Jayavarman VII, dedicating to his mother. shrouded in jungle, Taprohm temple is ethereal in aspect and conjures up a romantic aura. Trunks of trees twist amongst stone pillars. Fig, Bayan and Kapok trees spread their gigantic roots over, under and in between the stones, probing walls and terraces apart, as their branches and leaves intertwine to form a roof above the structures.The Sanskrit inscription on stone tells something about its size and function. Taprohm owned 3,140 villages. It took 79,365 people to maintain the temple including 18 heigh priests, 2,740 officials, 2,202 assistants and 615 dancers. Among the property belonging to the temples was set of golden dishes weighing more than 500 kilograms, 35 diamonds, 40,620 pearls, 4,540 precious stones, 876 veils form China, 512 silk beds and 523 parasols. The monastic complex of Taprohm is a series of long, low building on one level connected with passages and concentric galleries framing the main sanctuary. A rectangular, laterite wall, which is 700 by 1,000 meters enclose the entire complex. The east entrance is signaled by a gopura in the outer rampart of the temple. There is a sandstone hall just north of the gopura known as the hall of dancers which is distinguished by large, square pillars. The central sanctuary itself is easy to miss and stands out because of its absence of decoration. The stone has been hammered, possibly to prepare it for covering stucco and gilding, which has since fallen off. This accounts for the plainness of the walls of this important shrine. Evenly spaced holes on the inner walls of the central sanctuary suggest they were originally covered with metal sheets. 

Day 4

Today you will visit: Srah Srang, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Neak Poan temple Break for Lunch. In the afternoon, will visit Preah Khan Temple and back to your hotel.

- Srah Srang is located face to face with Banteay Kdey temple. It was built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. It is a large lake which is 700 by 300 meters with an elegant landing terrace of superb proportion and scale. it is pleasant spot to sit and look out over the surrounding plain. Srah Srang always has water and is surrounded by greenery. It is built of laterite with sandstone moldings. The platform is of cruciform shape with naga balustrades flunked by two lions. At the front there is an enormous garuda and a stylized tail decorated with small naga heads. The body of the naga rest on a dais supported by mythical monsters. 

- Pre rup temple: is about 2 kilometers northeast of Srah Srang and about 500 meters south of East Baray. The temple was built in 961 during the reign of king Rajendravarman, dedicating to Shiva Brahmanism. The boldness of the architectural design is superb and gives the temple fine balance, scale and proportion. The temple is close in style to East Mebon, although it was built several years later. It is temple-mountain symbolizing Mount Meru. Up until now, Cambodians regards this temple as having funerary association, but its true function is uncertain. Nevertheless, the same Pre Cup recalls one of the rituals of cremation, in which the silhouette of the body of the deceased, outlined with its ashes, is successively represented according to different orientations.

- East Mebon Temple: is about 500 meters northeast of Pre Rup tempel. The temple was built in AD 952 by King Rajendravarman. The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plain, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, that is East Mebon one stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka ( The east Baray ). The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. 

- Neak Paon Temple: is located east of Preah Khan temple and about 300 meters off the road. The temple is in the center of Jayatataka or northern Baray and placed on the same axis as Preah Khan. It was built ni the second half of the 12 century by king Jayavarman VII. The temple seems to have served as a place where pilgrims could go and take the waters both physically and symbolically- the Khmer equivalent of a spa.  

- Preah Khan temple: is located 2 kilometers north-east of Angkor Thom on the grand circuit. The temple was built in the second half of the 12th century in AD 1191 by king Jayavarman VII, dedicating to his father Dharanindravarman. The Buddhist complex covers 56 hectares served as the nucleus of a group that includes Neak Poan and Task temple, located 4 kilometers long Jayatataka Baray- the last of the great reservoirs to be built in Angkor. The inscription indicates that Preah Khan was built on the battle site where king Jayavarman VII finally defeated the Chams. In those days it was known as Nagarajayacri which mean the city of Preah Khan.

Day 5

Leaving to Battambang, on the way will visit Silk Farm, where the villagers making by hands such as scarfs, skirt and other products from the silk and straight to your hotel relax. In evening visit Phnom Sampov Bat cave, where there are millions of bats flying out from their cave the look so amazing and back to the city center or visit Pha Silpak that mean the brightness of the Arts- is non profit arts and circus school located in the city center of Battambang. 

Day 6

See sunrise at the Bamboo train is located in Ohsralau village that villagers using the bed made from the bamboo and motor for touring and it used to be a transportation for villagers in the past to go to the market by this mean of vehicle and breakfast in the local restaurant and then visit Ek Phnom temple, located in Tkov village, Pam Ek commune. The temple was built in AD 1027, during the reign of King Suryavarman I. There are 18 Bodhi trees around the temple. There are lovely to look at and provide abundant fresh air. Outside the temple to the south, there is a moat that is now a pond. And then straight forward to visit Rice Paper, break for Lunch here and have some spring rolls from the rice paper which just made in the place and it looks fresh and so yummy and travel to Phnom Penh hotel or drop you off some where in the city or to the airport. END OF TOUR