Pagodas and Shrines - Siem Reap

Eighteenth century Wat Bo is the oldest of the temples in town. It’s a serene and accessible traditional wat by the river near the old town on Wat Bo Rd. Its walls feature 19th century paintings depicting the the Khmer Reamker - the local derivation of the Indian Ramayana story.

Not far away, Wat Dam Nak, once a royal compound, is now home to a Khmer Studies Centre.

In the large park between the Royal Residence and the Grand d’Angkor hotel is one of Siem Reap’s most popular shrines housing two statues of sister deities that have been protected by monks for centuries. They have only been located here since 1990.

The newest shrine is Siem Reap’s grim memorial to the victims of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime.  Wat Thmei is located on the back road to the Angkor temples. A collection of victim’s bones are stored in a glass interior stupa. The bones are of those murdered by Khmer Rouge soldiers in surrounding fields.