Kampong Cham Province : Nokor Bachey Temple

Nokor Bachey Temple iNokor Bachey Temple is located in Wat Nokor Bachey, about 2 kilometers from the provincial capital of Kampong Cham. We travel on National Road No. 6 and continue on National Road No. 7 from Skun to Kampong Cham. When you reach the provincial capital, you will see a sculpture of four dragons in the middle of the national road, with their heads facing all four directions and their tails intertwined. At the end of the intertwined dragon tails, there is a dragon standing on two wings with the inscription Thank you. This figure is waiting to welcome and thank you all the time for visiting Kampong Cham province. This figure began to be built during the socialist era in 1962, when King Norodom Sihanouk was in power. And was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and was rebuilt in 1991. To the right of this dragon, you will see an entrance gate that leads you to Nokor Bachey Temple. About 50 meters from the gate you will see the fourth tower of the temple, made of sandstone, with walls about 3 meters high, but nothing remains. Apart from this tower, the surrounding walls are badly damaged. In the vicinity of the fourth tower, on both sides of the path to the tower of the third tower, you will see a gatekeeper standing with a staff next to a lion, with a dragon guarding the place calmly behind it, as if carefully guarding the place. On the walls of the third tower are decorated with female guardian deities and a window with a carved stele. This third tower is built of sandstone found on the northern slope. It tells the story of the great journey of Buddha Siddhartha to build a mountain. Siddhartha was the name of the Buddha before he became enlightened. In the vicinity of the third tower there are two ponds. According to Buddhist theory, this pond represents the Bodhisattva Lake with its clear, clear river and fragrant flowers. According to the Hinduism, the water surrounding the temple represents the seven oceans of the world, the temple walls are the seven mountains of the world, and the temple is the abode of the gods. In the second enclosure, in front of the entrance on the left is a statue of Narayana with four hands. On the right is a statue of Avalokiteshvara with eight hands, or the Eight-Handed Loki, a bodhisattva who saves and brings happiness to people. He had not yet attained enlightenment as a Buddha, like Gautama in the Hinayana Theravada Buddhism. In the enclosure of the first enclosure, made of sandstone, there are separate rooms, each separated by eight entrances[1]:

On the east side there are three entrances.

There are three entrances on the west side.

On the north and south sides, there is one entrance on each side.

There are two libraries built of sandstone on either side of the entrance to the central tower. Both libraries face the opposite direction of the central tower, which is built to the east. Although the central tower has doors open to all four directions, according to Buddhist astrological rules, temples or shrines must be built facing the direction of the rising sun, which is the east, the direction that gives birth to life.