Wat Bo Pagoda is located just one kilometre from Pub Street area and is in an ideal location to go and explore on your own.

This 18th century temple is one of the oldest known Buddhist temples in Siem Reap. Inside the main temple, there are paintings which date back from the 19th century and are still in very good condition today.

Although Wat Bo is a Buddhist pagoda, some of the wall paintings depict famous Hindu stories. You’ll see the Cambodian Version of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, called Reamker painted on one wall. This epic is the famous love story of Shita and Rama. Rama is the strongest man in the world and Shita is the most beautiful woman of the times.

You will also see paintings of daily life in Cambodia showing such mundane things as going to the market. One of the most surprising things is that it seems that going to the market is still very similar today as it was a few hundred years ago.

Most of the paintings are in very good condition. However, on some paintings, time has clearly taken its toll on them. Some of the paintings are very high up in a dark pagoda, so they’re not easy to see for some people. Especially the shorter ones of our species!