Treks and travels

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Treks and travels

Kulen mountain waterfalls

Posted: 09 Nov 2016 05:52 AM PST

I came to know about this waterfall a day before starting to Cambodia. I thought it would be a good addition to break the monotony of temples in Siem Reap!! Since the entire plan was under my control, it was not a difficult task to include this place. It was also interesting to know that the stones for Angkor wat was quarried from Kulen mountains.


We visited this place on the third day of our stay in Siem Reap. On previous day, our driver had taken us to the place where the tickets to the mountain was issued. It costed us 20$ per head. Children below 12 years were allowed free.

Views on the way to Kulen mountains
Kulen mountain is about 60 km from Siem Reap. On the way to the mountain, we visited Bantrey Srei temple which has amazing carvings. The last 20 km of road was on mud track passing though forests. Though a rough patch of road, it is still a motorable for all 4 wheelers. Our tickets were checked on the way.

Bantrey Srei temple

We first visited the Big Buddha on the hill and then went to thousand lingas. For Big Buddha perched on a rock, we had to walk some steps. Thousand lingas was similar to "Sahara Linga" near Sirsi in Karnataka. But we were at the end of monsoon in Cambodia and the river was running full which covered the lingas.

Steps towards Big Buddha

Big Buddha
The last place was the waterfall, the most important place of our visit. It is a three step waterfall. The first two steps are small waterfalls which forms a good photographic spot.


In order to reach the third step, we had to get down to the base of the falls. Nicely constructed iron steps eased the process of walking down. As we got down, the force of the waterfall was clearly visible. Once we reached the river, we had to walk a little to reach the bottom where a pool is formed from the falls. It was a great feeling where we stood braving the force of water while trying to protect the camera from water splashing on it.

Steps to the waterfall



After spending some time in the waterfall, we decided to have our lunch at a restaurant near the falls before heading to the next destination.