In Kien Khleang

This colourful and rather ornate pagoda is Wat Serei Mongkol Kien Khleang and is just a few kilometres outside Phnom Penh, and over the Japanese Bridge. Kien Khleang is better known for it's rehabilitation center for mine and polio victims, but close by is this large wat that overlooks the Mekong River. The pagoda compound is a large one with numerous buildings and burial stupas and was heavily populated on my visit with 150 monks invited to attend a family ceremony, with relatives also coming from far and wide including the USA. I didn't hang around for too long but one of the older women did introduce me to the two Neak Ta shrines placed on either side of the wat's vihara and also told me that the wat itself was quite old and is unusual in that the head monk had a dream about how to construct the vihara and that's why it is so beautiful and ornately decorated.
This Neak Ta figure is Botum Pov and I was told she originates from Laos where she was a soldier and is particularly highly respected by women, who come to the pagoda to pay their respects at this shrine.
This bearded male Neak Ta figure is Lokta Chas Srok, the male version at the pagoda and he sits on the lip of the riverbank. Any land slippage and he'll be in the river.