Koh Ker
Cambodia's 10th century capital.
My second day in Cambodia, I found myself on a “group tour”, not like any other tour I’ve ever taken. It was advertised as a photo/history tour and indeed it was as the sponsor of the trip is an amateur photographer and has a passion for the area we visited. We boarded the minivan around 6am, drove about 2 hours north east of Siem Reap to the area of Koh Ker. This was at one point the old capitol of the province. It is up in the hills a bit with nothing but jungle around. No rice paddies here.
In Koh Ker, we visited maybe two dozen various sites of temple ruins which varied from small ritual sites to a 40 meter, 7 level pyramid...yes...I did climb all the way to the top :) We were never rushed to leave a site as this was our promise by the organizer. He wanted to make sure we received the full experience and I can say I did. Oh...and we were VERY careful to stay within the “cleared land mine” areas. Most of Cambodia has been cleared of all land mines, which were left by the Khmer, but some still are out there and the areas are clearly marked. At the very end of this bit of the tour, some kids from the jungle appeared. It was an interesting concept to think, looking at these kids dressed in clothes left behind from others, that they are standing in and on the ruins of their ancestors.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
