PHNOM KULEN TREKKING IN 2 DAYS

Pick up from hotel in Siem Reap at 8am and drive to Kulen Mountain national park for 2day trekking. Drive will drop at bottom of Kulen Mountain, where our trekking start, ready for river exploring… Visit an amazing holy place and the holy water of the god Hindu, where is the former Khmer peoples who believe that is the holy water from the god, and Kulen Mountain is the unique sacred mountain in Cambodia, specially while the former time, thousands of Lingas carving under the river, where you see it very clear through the water.

Visit Preah Ang Choub and continue by walking to 1000 of Lingas. Continue our trek along the jungle way, with a small downhill through the forest to visit the bat cave, where you can see thousands of bats who living in this jungle cave. Discover exceptional site of Srash Dumrey, immense monolith 6 meters high sandstone of the 10th century. Representing elephants and lions, lost in the dense jung.

We head up to the Wat Preah Kral pagoda where we stay overnight there.

Overnight camping in Tent.

After enjoying the breakfast from the remote hidden jungle temple camping… we are ready to prepare our stuff and continue another adventure by foot to discover this secret jungle mountain of Kulen, by trekking through to the tall grass and limestone, across some of the organic farm along the way.

The group will have breakfast once the monks have eaten out of respect before setting off on the days trek with many sights to see along the way. The group will trek into the jungle to see one of the lesser-visited sites, Srah Demrei meaning “Elephant Pond”. There’s no longer much water here, though impressive elephant and lion statues now commandeer this jungle hideaway. These 1200-year-old large sandstone carvings were built to guard the sacred mountain. Continuing a short distance away is a bat cave, which is a place of worship for both Hindus and Buddhists that has a large chamber teeming with bats. From here it is about 2.5 hour walk through the canopy on a wide track to Kulen’s main attractions; the waterfall and riverbed carvings.

After some rest, the group then follows to the one thousand Linga River. The river is known for its carvings representing fertility and its waters hold special significance to Hindus. Just 5 cm under the water’s surface over 1000 small carvings are etched into the sandstone riverbed. The waters are regarded as holy, given that first Angkorian King chose to bathe in the river, and had the river diverted so that the stone bed could be carved. Carvings include a stone representation of the Hindu god Vishnu lying on his serpent Ananta, with his wife Lakshmi at his feet.

Just to follow the river the group will arrive to the two sets of falls; the first is between four and five metres high with a diameter of 20 to 25 metres. Taking care to walk down a set of haphazard stairs, nestled in the jungle is the second waterfall that is 15 to 20 metres high and has a diameter of 10 to 15 metres depending on the season. There is a changing room that the group are able to use for a small fee before cooling off in the waterfall pools.

Before returning to the camp, the group may want to visit Preah Ang Thom (Big Buddha), located on the mountaintop that attracts Khmer pilgrims during religious festivals. Built in the 16th century, it features a large statue of the reclining Buddha reaching nirvana. The statue is 7.5 meters tall and 8 meters long, carved into a huge sandstone boulder. The site also offers spectacular views across lush jungle. There are two Champa trees at the site and local people worship there because they believe the site holds great power.