Final day in Kompong Thom

Youngster and sandstone pedestal at Wat Taing Krasaing

The 8th century brick prasat at Kuk Veang

Returning from my three-day Phnom Chi adventure, I stayed overnight in a $6 fan room at the Monorom guesthouse and decided on a quick temple-hunt for my last day in Kompong Thom, to make up for the paucity of sites in Phnom Chi! Sokhom and I left after breakfast and headed south along Route 6, stopping to photograph a couple of Ting Mong (scarecrows) propped up outside houses to ward off bad spirits. At the town of Taing Krasaing, 25 kms from the city, we called into the town’s main wat to seek out the Khmer Rouge genocide memorial there, which has fallen into disrepair, as have many such monuments across the country. There were still some victim’s remains there and our presence encouraged others to visit the memorial. I also spotted a couple of sandstone pedestals at the pagoda to suggest this was the site of a prasat in the distant past. Leaving Wat Taing Krasaing, we headed a kilometre east to another prasat, Kuk Veang, located at Wat Po Vang. I’d visited this solitary 8th century brick temple eight years earlier and on this occasion was immediately besieged by a large crowd of children. Nice kids and nice temple though devoid of much carving. We called into a couple of wats looking for interesting Neak Ta shrines and found a good one at Wat Raksmei Chei Mongkol on the edge of town.

A nice collection of carvings at Wat Kakoh including two lintels and an inscribed stele

This isn't Ta Prohm at Angkor but a similar view at Phnom Sruoch

We returned to the village of Kakoh, in the shadow of Phnom Santuk, to inspect the stonemason’s workshops that line the main highway. Very impressive workmanship and well worth a look. At Wat Kakoh, next to the main vihara, is a shrine containing two very well preserved lintels, a Shiva statue and an impressive inscription stele stone, as well as large red ants waiting for an unsuspecting foreigner with a camera! Painful. Nearby, Pai and Pat beamed with pride that I wanted to visit Wat Chas, ‘their’ temple, which housed a collection of old stones and predestals. A lovely old couple who told me their life story. A kilometre away, Wat Tbong Krapeu is an open-sided wooden vihara sat on the laterite foundations of a long-gone prasat. A few sandstone pieces remain but nothing noteworthy. In sight is Phnom Sruoch, sat next to its larger sister Phnom Santuk. We took the moto on a circuitous route to the top where a maze of shrines are located amongst the natural sandstone boulders. Scrambling around, I found an inscription stone, predestals and other stones from the temple that had once occupied the site, which is now a Buddhist pagoda. Just off Route 6, a few laterite blocks and broken brick debris denote a small mound where O Prasat once stood, surrounded by a moat, and is now an orchard. Interestingly, the owners told me that the Culture Ministry have recently claimed the land, even though it’s been in the owner’s family for generations, though the Ministry allow them to continue to farm the land. The Ministry claimed the site is of ‘national and cultural heritage importance’. The residents said I was only the second foreigner to visit their temple, my pal Cristiano being the first.

The small mound that was once O Prasat and is now a small orchard

A nicely carved pedestal in the Kompong Thom museum

Back in Kompong Thom with seven temple sites visited in just three hours – Kompong Thom province, according to Cristiano, has over 400 such sites, varying is size and quantity – I treated Sokhom and his daughter Kunthea to lunch at Arunras before a whistle-stop visit to the museum directly opposite. With the poor light inside the museum room, it was rather a worthless visit and I hope that the new museum currently being built will display the artifacts - which include more than 15 lintels and lots more besides – to a far better standard. I also chatted to Chhunly, one of the culture department’s teenage dance troupe who were gathering for a practice session, and she introduced me to her fellow dancers preparing for their New Year schedule. Nice kids. I caught my Phnom Penh-bound GST bus at 3pm but with a two-hour traffic jam at Preak Leap, I didn’t get home until 9pm. I was knackered though it’s always pleasure to hook up with Sokhom. I’m now planning our next foray into the countryside of northern Cambodia. Watch this space.