Kbal Spean

40 or 50 km north of Siem Reap are some small hills from which the Siem Reap river, source of water for the ancient capital, flowed. Up in these hills, close to the source of the river, artists and priests went to carve religious sculptures and symbols of fertility into the rock in the bed of the river, to help bless the civilization. The carving was no doubt made easier by the fact that, basically, there’s a six month rainy season followed by a six month dry season. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. It was a lovely hike up through the jungly woods, and Mom was rightly proud to be clearly the oldest person to make the trek. We all felt it was well worth it!