Phnom Banan by Sarah

               Ma took us to an old temple about 20kms from her house in Batambong.  We took 2 tuk-tuks because we couldn’t fit comfortably in one early in the morning.  It was cool that morning, so it was easy to get up the mountain.  The Phnom Banan or Mountain Banan Temple was cool and really old. 

                The temple, I think, was made in the 11th century out of volcanic rock near where the constructor of the temple made their offerings.  The volcanic rock was red and black and had lots of holes in it that made it look like it was boiling. The 358 steps were hard to climb because of the irregular texture of the rock.  I got to the top first, but it was hard and I was tired.  Now I know why Ma didn’t go up!  She had done it before.

                At the top, there were 4 different sized corn cob temples placed in a diamond shape.   The biggest one was empty.  It was a pyramid that we walked thru.  The main temple in the back had a Sitting Budha with a robe on in it.  The other 2 temples were the same but one looked like it got burnt because it was blackened.  The other one was grey.

                Some of the Budha’s heads that were carved into the rock walls were stolen from the temple.  The heads were chiseled out by robbers and sold to foreign collectors for money during the Khmer Rouge.  Some were given back to Cambodian museums after the war.   I’ve gone to two museums that had the Budhas heads and stolen statues; the National Museum in Phnom Pen and the Museum in Batambong.   I am glad that the heads and statues were returned so I can see it and not on someone’s wall, but I wish they were on the temples.

                The Phnom Banan temple that Ma took us to made me feel religious because it had the Budhas and being on top of the mountain was peaceful.  I liked the history, the rocks, the temple designs, and the Budhas.