Banan Temple sits about a 30 minute bike ride from Battambang. It’s not for the faint hearted that’s for sure! It was a baking hot and humid February day and I was particularly feeling the heat which isn’t like me. After arriving sweating but at least cooled by the air on the moped I was faced with millions of steps! okay, a bit exaggerated, the consensus seems to be there is 358 but it didn’t seem like it that day!
In fairness, halfway up I was feeling quite perky, I thought I wasn’t as unfit as I thought I was. I even teased a few local lads going up, saying “come on, you’re half my age and I’m ok”! Well let’s just say that came back and haunted me about 20 steps on when I thought I was having heart problems. Good job I wasn’t as they just bounced past saying “come on mister, you said it was easy”!
It was well worth the pain though. It is the best preserved temple in the Battambang area and reminded me of Angkor Wat in style. Prasat Banan was built in the 11th century and thought to have been built by bricks from an earlier structure that sat there. It is believed to have been built for praying to God as it was originally a Hindu temple.
It became a Buddhist temple later, probably during the reign of King Jayavarman VII the greats era (reigned 1181-1218) as he was only the second Buddhist King to rule as a Khmer King. The walk back down was as hard going as climbing up and I felt like I had been in the shower with all my clothes on by the time I reached the bottom! It was well worth it though, the view at the top was immense as was the view at the bottom.
©JKbeeson
