Wat Ek Phnom

Wat Ek Phnom stands about eleven kilometres north of Battambang, among rice fields and lotus ponds. The stone temple was put together from sandstone in the eleventh century under Suryavarman I, when these lands were part of the Angkorian empire, and it was dedicated to Shiva. The structure has settled badly and partly collapsed, but reliefs survive on the lintels, among them the scene of the churning of the ocean of milk. In the two thousands a working pagoda and a huge white figure of a seated Buddha on a brick pedestal were raised beside the ruin. Khmers come here with their families at weekends and at new year, while for visitors it is a standard stop on the way out of Battambang.

On the map