The Site of Angkor Borei and Phnom Da

The first part of my two weeks field trip in Cambodia and Thailand exploring pre-Angkorian and Dvaravati arts with ICOMOS international experts was focusing on Funan Culture, the first kingdom of Southeast Asia. We started our journey at Phnom Penh National Museum to admire beautiful and realistic Funan period Hindu god statues to understand how Southern Indian art and architecture existed in Mekong Delta area via ancient maritime trade route that connected India, Nicobar Island, Sumatra, Java with communities around Gulf of Thailand. On the next day we went to Angkor Borei, a typical Cambodian town with nothing special apart from many canal that some historians pointed out that was a part of ancient canal system connecting Angkor Borei with Oc Eo and the sea in modern day Vietnam. The star attraction of this historic town is its small Angkor Borei Museum with some fine artifacts of Funan and early Chenla that discovered around town, the museum activities and Funan study were funded by an American university.

We continued to Phnom Da which is a small mountain south of Angkor Borei. We hiked to the top of the mountain to see an Angkorian temple named Phnom Da Temple. The highlight of this temple is the quality of laterite that is probably the best in the whole Southeast Asia, and with this high-quality material, ancient artisans abled to chisel and make beautiful motifs on laterite, a real one of a kind. Also from here I could see the …