Page 20 - Thailand Cambodia Korea 13 Day Sample Itinerary

Lolei Temple resembles Preah Ko and was built in 893 by DAY 12 SIEM REAP/INCHEON (Seoul) King Yasovarman I in tribute to his predecessor, Indravarman I. Once located in the middle of an artificial Meals included: Breakfast lake (now rice fields), the four brick towers are in poor Your room has been confirmed for a 6:00 PM check out. condition. Sanskrit inscriptions can be found on the doorposts. According to one of the inscriptions, the four towers were dedicated by Yasovarman I to his mother, This morning visit the Roluos group of which includes his father and his maternal grandparents on 12 July 893. three temples - Bakong, Prah Ko and Lolei - dating from the late 9th century and corresponding to the ancient Return to the hotel and enjoy a leisurely afternoon. capital of Hariharalaya, from which the name of Lolei is derived. Remains include 3 well-preserved early temples that venerated the Hindu gods. The bas-reliefs are some At 7:30 PM be ready in the lobby of the Park Hyatt Siem Reap in preparation for your transfer to the Siem Reap of the earliest surviving examples of Khmer art. Modern- airport. day villages surround the temples. 11:15 PM Depart Siem Reap via Korean When king Jayavarman II came from Java to take power Airlines flight # 688 direct service to Incheon at the beginning of the ninth century, he settled twice at Hariharalaya - already an existing city, - first before his (Seoul). Total flying time: 4 hours, 55 investiture on Phnom Kulen (Mahendraparvata) where minutes. Set your watch back 2 hours. the cult of the "Devaraja" was inaugurated, and then The twilight years of the Yi dynasty exposed a Korea again afterwards, dying there in 850 after a reign of 48 woefully unprepared to meet the challenges of the West. years. His successors remained until Yasovarman Because Korea had been off the main oceanic trade founded the first Angkor, centered on Phnom Bakheng. routes with a relatively backward economy, Preah Ko (Prah Ko) was built in 879 by Indravarman I in it had been spared the direct pressure all its Asian neighbors had been forced to endure. Ironically, by 1876, honor of his ancestors. Known as the temple of the that pressure made itself felt not by the West, but by sacred ox and dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva the Korea’s age-old adversary, Japan. temple features three sacred oxen in front of the first row of temples. The front towers relate to the male ancestors or gods, the rear towers to female ancestors or Japan had previously invaded Korea twice–in 1592 and goddesses. A series of lions guard the steps up to the again in 1597–during the reign of Hideyoshi, which stretched all participants to the breaking point. In less temple platform. than 20 years, the Ming dynasty, exhausted, would fall to the Manchurian invaders. Hideyoshi would die in 1598, Bakong Temple (Late 9th century-881 AD) was built by having accomplished none of his objectives, except to Indravarman I one year after Preah Ko and is another weaken his most loyal vassals to the advantage of less example of sandstone mountain-temples. The five superimposed terraces symbolize Mount Meru. reliable stay-at-homes like Tokugawa Ieyasu. And last but not least, the Korean countryside lay devastated 'Discovered' by Henri-Marchal in 1936, the temple has beyond repair. All that was left was a national phobia of been completely restored stone by stone. It's the nicest of Japanese invaders. the Roluos temples for its atmosphere, as it is lost in the jungle. Overnight: Inflight