Phimeanakas Temple
Stepped pyramid temple crowned by a golden tower tied to a nightly serpent-spirit legend recorded by a thirteenth-century Chinese envoy.
This guide to Phimeanakas Temple in Siem Reap turns on an account written by a Chinese envoy, Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor in 1296 and recorded what locals believed happened atop this stepped pyramid each night: a nine-headed serpent spirit that turned into a woman, whom the king was required to visit before he could return to his other wives. It follows the belief that skipping a night courted disaster, and that the spirit's absence would mean the king's own death. Stand at the base of the steep, handrail-free laterite stairway on the western side, flanked by stone lions, and imagine climbing it in darkness under that kind of pressure.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.