The earlier to rise the better experience for our specialised program into the ‘backcountry’ of Angkor. 

 A short road journey out of Siem Reap takes us towards the Western Baray and into the communes of Koh Chak and Kok Chan. We disembark our vehicle to collect our bicycles and commence our short cycle ride through the community and across to the Western Gate of Angkor Thom. 

King Jayavarman VII ordered the capital city to have walls built around the area at 8m high , 3km at each side and moats that are 100m wide. The walls are of laterite buttressed by earth, with a parapet on the top. There are gates at each of the cardinal points, from which roads lead to the Bayon at the centre of the city.

These more remote entrances to the temples are primarily for locals to access and criss-cross the complex, but the peaceful natural environment and distinct lack of tourists makes for an atmospheric entry point. A short 500 metre ride takes to a forested pagoda, opposite the mighty Bayon. If we time our visit right we may be able to see and hear the local monks at prayer before conducting their morning chores. 

We continue to cycle past the Bayon temple (we leave our visit there for another time) and follow an abandoned road through the forest for 1.5kms to the Eastern Gate, known ominously as the Gate of Death. Legend has it that it was through East Gate that convicts were sent to be executed. 

The gate’s highlights include statues of gods and nagas on the approach to the gate, and carved faces on top of the gate, reminiscent of those at Bayon. Restored with care, it is the only gate of Angkor Thom to be untouched from eight hundred years ago. 

We leave our bicycles aside here and commence our climb up the walls of Angkor Thom’s giant moat. 12kms in length, the wall is an attraction on its own. In 1177 the invading Chams from the Kingdom of Champa were only challenged by a wooden wall so Jayavarman VII constructed the stone wall which now remains. It consists of 1 metre square blocks of laterite, stacked 8 metres high on the external and inner walls, and reinforced with earth inside.

We walk along a short 500m stretch of the rampart to arguably the finest and best preserved gate of Angkor Thom – the Victory Gate. The gate is called "Victory Gate”, according to the assumption that it was this gate through which King Jayavarman VII sent his army into battle against Champa, the Khmer empire's mighty enemy to the east. 

Witnessing the gate’s monumental Buddhist face come into view from the forest cover is one of the joy’s of exploration and, if timed right, will be ours to view alone in solitude.

After our walk around the Victory Gate we board our awaiting vehicle to drive us to the nearby, small but beautifully preserved Thommanon Temple. 

The modern name "Thommanon" is derived from "Dhamma", which is the Buddhist teaching, and "nanda", meaning "supreme wisdom”. 

Built in the early twelfth century, in the early phase of the style of Angkor Wat, Thommanon is a small compound and a flat temple (without upper levels of rooms). It has only one Prasat, with a cruciform ground plan. The core temple structure, consisting of the Prasat tower with a preceding Mandapa hall, connected by am Antarala passageway, is of considerable size and elegant classical Khmer design in sandstone, and it is well preserved. Gopuram gates in the east and west and a library building in the south east corner are in a good condition after the complex underwent restoration in the 1960s by French archaeologists, who supplemented the broken roof by adding concrete ceilings. In particular, the highly stylized Devata goddesses (often called Apsaras) of the outer walls are of excellent quality and remain some of the finest in all of Angkor. 

Our final visit today takes us to Banteay Kdei, being the first huge temple built by Jayavarman VII (1181-1218). This is another temple that has much to offer the visitor but tends to avoid the crowds found at nearby Ta Phrom. We enter from the quieter western gate and, as the temple opens up we are confronted by a massive tree that has completely overtaken the south side walls of the complex.

The style of Banteay Kdei marks the transition of the Angkor Wat style to the Bayon style of the dawning era of Jayavarman VII. The temple seems not to be built in accordance with one initial ground plan. More and more corridor galleries were added later on, connecting the 13 towers. This resulted in the confusing labyrinthic arrangement of halls. But it is still less complex than the floor plans of Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and the Bayon created later on.

Stepping out from the main eastern gate we are confronted by the massive Srah Srang reservoir, which supposedly was integrated in the plan of Banteay Kdei, maybe in connection with worshipping the Buddha of the East. Return to your hotel thereafter.

PROGRAM CONCLUDES