Cambodia: Banteay Srei

We had to take a little drive to get to the next temple: The Banteay Srei.  This temple is about 30 minutes north of the main Angkor temples.  Our tour guide told us this is the woman temple (The Citadel of Women) and also known as the "precious gem" temple. He kept joking with the men that they couldn't go because they were not beautiful women. 

The coloring of this temple is a deep pink color, made from red sandstone.  There isn't any red sandstone native to this area, so the locals don't know where the stones for the temple came from. The detail and the precision of the stone work was something I haven't ever seen before.  It was so rich in color and the designs were timeless.

I didn't realize before I came to Cambodia, that a lot of the temples were still in the process of being restored.  The stones were still being placed and unburied.  This temple especially still had stones around the edges and unfinished walls.

The main entrance into the Banteay Srei was an outer wall followed by a walkway leading to the main area.  There were so many neat doorways.  The kids had fun going through the empty doors.

After walking through two main door ways, we got to the inner enclosure where we were told there is a sanctuary and two libraries.  We were not allowed inside any of the buildings, due to the fact that this temple has had a strong history of thieves and looters.  We were still able to see the beauty of the sanctuary and the carvings.  The charm of this temple came from the miniature size of everything.  After seeing the gigantic Angkor temple and Bayon, this temple seems so small.  The entire inner sanctuary and libraries seemed almost fairy like.  It was absolutely stunning.