Neak Poan, Spring 2008

 


A tree lined pathway on a dirt road to Presat's Neak Poan fountain.
An unusual plant growth on the path to the fountain.
At one time Neak Poan was like a reservoir. Now it is totally dry.
This is the center of the fountain.

Here's a slightly different/closer view of the center.
A sculpture of an animal (possibly a bull) being carried b people. There is also a Naga facing it in this view.
Like the temples, even the fountain has carvings.
A Naga. This one may actually be female. Usually, Nagas with an even numbers of heads are female, ones with odd numbered heads are supposed to be male.

A closer view of the animal sculpture. It's so worn it's a little hard to tell what's going on.
Carvings adorn the center tower of the fountain.
A worn Garuda perched above an elephant.
It's a bit hard to tell what this one is. It may actually be Shiva but it's so worn it makes it difficult to tell and it may just be an Apsara or guardian. However, because of the pose, I THINK it's more likely Shiva.

Elephants with broken trunks.
Unfortunately, just before our group was ready to leave, I found out the that the 4 water spouts for the fountain (which were tucked away within side buildings) all were different. This is one of the 2 spouts I did get to photograph. This one is obviously a man.
Coach sticks his hand in the mouth of the spout. There's some supersition that if you are a bad person, the mouth will bite your hand off. I was a bit nervous about sticking my hand in there, but mostly because I wasn't sure what else could be living in it. However, Coach did get a picture of me putting my hand in there. I'll have to try and locate the DVD he gave me.
A tangle of tree roots and a lone cut block from the fountain.

Here is the other spout I managed to photograph. It's an elephant.
A view of the spout from further back. People still come here to light incense and burn candles.
A tuc tuc sits outside Neak Poan.
This is a restaruant that we frequented while in Cambodia. I have no idea what it is called but it had wagon wheels on the exterior. This is a picture taken from inside, looking out.