APAD 099: Nom pang
I remembered taking this photo almost a month ago. My husband, younger brother and I left our house very early in the morning to drive out of Phnom Penh heading west.
It was a Sunday, and the whole country is celebrating the Chinese New Year. We were supposed to turn left at a junction where there is a small but bustling market. It’s called the Prek Phnov market. Anything and everything can be bought there.
Had the lady in colourful shirt not moved you would’ve seen some more nom pang (a local French bread) stacked neatly. My brother called it the “great wall of bread”.
To her right, which is not seen in the photo, are huge baskets of nom pang and another set of neatly stacked nom pang. Nom pang is really great with Khmer curry, or simply toasted over charcoal and dipped in condensed milk. A local sandwich known as nom pang pate is also a popular streetfood here. A pate is the Khmer version of the western meatloaf.
APAD 088: Temple-hunting
It was the Chinese New Year and my husband and I wanted to escape the city. We finally pushed through with our plan last Sunday. My husband, younger brother and I drove 30-40kms northwest of Phnom Penh and found ourselves heading to Phnom Prasith. There we spent the whole day temple-hunting (and kite-flying afterwards).
Despite the heat and the bumpy and dusty ride, we found what we were looking for, a pre-Angkorian wat (temple) – or what’s left of it, anyway – that sits on top of Phnom Prasith and tucked in the lush vegetation.
There’s just so much more temples to explore if only you are game enough to go off the beaten trail.
Since it is perched up a hill, it is cool, very quiet and offers an excellent panoramic view of the area. Local villagers come here often for their daily prayers and offerings to monks-in-residence. During special Buddhist holidays, such as the Khmer New Year and Bon Pchum Ben, the number of visitors increase as the villagers are joined by local tourists who’ve come to offer prayers and food to the monks and spirits of long-gone ancestors to earn extra merits for their next life.
Although we preferred exploring the area by ourselves but we also didn’t turn down the offer to be toured around by a villager. He really gave us interesting details about the area, for example, behind the altar (picture on the top right), is a tunnel about 16kms long and connects this wat to Phnom Oudong, the old capital of Cambodia (1618-1886) before it was moved to Phnom Penh.
Here are some more pictures:
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- This side of the temple is being overrun by the vegetation.
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- Details of the wall carvings.
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- An altar between huge boulders is housed inside the ruin.,
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- Giant reclining Buddha, in the state of Nirvana.
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- A close up view of the giant reclining Buddha.
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- Eerie – a tree growing out of the wat.
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- A very old stupa, a few meters away from the temple ruins.
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- A relic lying on the ground.
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- A Buddhist angel kneels in prayer.
Please click the individual photo for a larger view.
Don’t forget to come back next week. I will feature another wat. Not as old but equally interesting, too.
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