Bird's Eye view

A bird's eye view of the main central courtyard of Phnom Chisor

Here is a bird's eye view of the 11th century Suryavarman I-constructed temple on the summit of Phnom Chisor, courtesy of the three-storey monk's quarters nearby. When I visited on Sunday, the monks were relaxing and various members of a pinpeat orchestra were practising on their instruments - including the roneat ek xylophone, the sralai thom flute and the sampho drums - as music whafted throughout the hilltop complex. One of the monks pointed me to the roof of their quarters to take these shots. The top photo shows the northwest half of the temple with its laterite and sandstone walls and brick towers within the central courtyard. The corrugated roof covers the main vihara called Preah Ang Prasat Vihear Khnom. The middle photo looks past one of the brick towers and onto the Takeo province plains below. In the foreground is one of the structures on the processional royal road called Sen Ravang which leads onto the sacred pond of Tonle Om. In the bottom picture, you can see the roof of the modern vihara in the background, whilst the prasat in the foreground looks neat and tidy and contains a host of treasures for visitors with a keen eye, including an assortment of decorative lintels and pediments, nagas, antefixes and other items.

A look at the plains below Phnom Chisor and the royal road and sacred pond
The central sanctuaries of Phnom Chisor