Phnom Srei — Attraction in Kampong Cham

The Phnom Srey Temple complex in Kampong Cham Province rises gently from the landscape, a place where the rhythm of time slows and the air is heavy with devotion. The path winds upward, flanked by lush greenery, and the silence is broken only by the soft chirping of birds and the occasional rustle of leaves in the breeze. It is a silence that invites reflection, the kind of silence that speaks louder than words.

As I ascended, I was reminded of the teachings: dukkha, impermanence, the ceaseless motion of life. Each step brought a sense of surrender, of letting go. At the summit, the pagoda stood in quiet dignity, its spires reaching toward the sky. The golden carvings shimmered in the sunlight, an offering of beauty to the heavens and a reminder of human devotion below.

Pilgrims came and went, some lighting incense, others kneeling in prayer. Their faces bore the calm of faith, the peace of surrendering their burdens at the feet of the Buddha. A monk in saffron robes sat in meditation beneath the shade of an ancient tree, his presence a silent lesson in stillness.

From this vantage point, the view stretched far and wide, rice fields and villages laid bare beneath the sky. It was a panorama not just of Cambodia’s physical beauty, but of its enduring spirit. Here, the weight of existence feels lighter, and the truths of the Dhamma more accessible.

Phnom Srey is not just a place for worship but a reminder of balance — of the union between the worldly and the spiritual, of striving and surrender. To walk these grounds is to take part in a pilgrimage not just of the body, but...

There are legends related to the change of the fiancé tradition to the fiancé through the mounds, a match decided when Venus rises in the east.​​​ At that time, at night, the wise women, carrying the land for a few hours, set up a small lantern high in the northeast corner of the mountain. The men looked up and saw a lantern that the woman was blowing and a bamboo tree, thinking that the morning star was rising, so they stopped working and went to sleep, leaving no one behind. The women also carried the land until the morning star really stopped. When the rooster crows, the men wake up to see the morning star and say, "We are all wrong. The morning star has just risen. ” And let's look at Phnom Srey, which is taller than its own mountain, and feel ashamed of losing to women. From then on, men engaged to women as wives...

Beautiful view. History: A competition between men and women that lost in front of ask for the hand of other. The men believed it would be easy to win this contest, because they were much stronger and could carry more earth, so they accepted the contest. Both started working hard, digging the earth to build the mountain, and the men were clearly winning the competition.In the middle of the night, while the men took a rest, the women hung a lantern way up in a tall tree. The men, seeing the light of the lantern, thought that it was the morning star and went to sleep, convinced they had won. But the women continued constructing their mountain. When the daylight arrived, their mountain was higher that the one from the men. They woke up the men and showed them the...