Kbal Spean The River of A Thousand Lingas in Cambodia

Have you heard about Kbal Spean the river of a thousand Lingas before? I hadn’t. Until the last day in Siem Reap when our driver insisted on taking us to the mountain. He took us to several places that day, including temples and waterfalls. The most interesting part, though, was the river. He stopped the car in an empty field, made us walk through the bushes and showed us the Kbal Spean aka the river of a thousand Lingas. I was awestruck by it. There were stone carvings in the riverbed done centuries ago.

Kbal Spean The River Of A Thousand Lingas

The site was protected by a small rope on both sides so we couldn’t step into it, which I’d very much intrigued to do. There were neatly carved images of Hindu God, Shiva, and Lingams, hence the name of the river: The River of a Thousand Lingas.

The other part of the river has a more complicated carving, depicting Lord Vishnu lying on a serpent. Meanwhile, on another part, we could clearly see the carving of Parvathi and Shiva, the wife and the husband. The details were just mind-blowing. It was the highlight of my Cambodia trip, besides Angkor Wat.

We could see the carving come to life in some of the shallow parts. It was like a 3D effect.

When I was busy admiring these carvings, somebody called me. A local girl was standing in the middle of the river, making a hand gesture for me to take her picture. I did and showed it to her. She gave me two thumbs up. I have gotta say, Cambodians by far, are the friendliest people I have ever met.

When you travel to Siem Reap, please add Kulein mountain to your itinerary to visit Kbal Spean.

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