Photo: Photo Dharma from Penang, Malaysia (CC BY 2.0)

Premium · Walking Tour

The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at HariharalayaPreah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya

A self-guided audio tour of the Roluos Group, the temples of Hariharalaya, driven between the temples and seen on foot at each one. Preah Ko, the 'Sacred Bull', was commissioned by King Indravarman the First and consecrated in 879 or 880 CE as his ancestor temple; three sandstone Nandi bulls kneel before its six brick towers, set in two rows of three. The Bakong, the state temple of Hariharalaya, was consecrated by Indravarman the First in 881 and dedicated to Shiva: a five-level pyramid with stone elephants at the corners of its first three tiers, surrounded by eight brick towers, with the working Buddhist monastery of Wat Bakong inside its precinct. After the ruined towers of Prei Monti, the tour ends at Lolei, commissioned by Yasovarman the First and consecrated in 893 on an artificial island in the Indratataka reservoir, whose basin is now dry and used for rice.

Hear a sample narration
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9 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.

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9 narration points ~2 hours, plus the drives between temples Preah Ko's eastern approach and six towers, the Bakong's causeway, brick towers, pyramid and central sanctuary, Prei Monti, and Lolei's four towers on the Indratataka
Verified Sources

Where the facts come from

Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.

  1. 1

    Built from the record

    Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 17 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 8 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.

  2. 2

    Checked against the authority

    Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.

  3. 3

    Anything unsupported is cut

    Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.

  4. 4

    A person signs it off

    Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.

Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.

The Tour

Explore The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya

📍
Preah Ko

Preah Ko: the eastern approach and the Nandi bulls, Preah Ko: the six towers.

2 narration points
🏛️
The Bakong and Prei Monti

Bakong: the eastern causeway and the moat, Bakong: the brick towers and the libraries, Bakong: the pyramid and its elephants, Bakong: the central sanctuary, Prei Monti.

5 narration points
🏘️
Lolei and the Indratataka

Lolei: the four towers, Lolei: the Indratataka and the island temple.

2 narration points
Highlights

Sites that define The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya

Preah Ko: the eastern approach and the Nandi bulls

Indravarman the First's ancestor temple, consecrated in 879 or 880 CE, with three kneeling sandstone Nandi bulls before its front towers.

Preah Ko: the six towers

Six brick sanctuaries on one sandstone platform in two rows of three, the front row associated with male figures and the rear with female.

Bakong: the pyramid and its elephants

A stepped pyramid dedicated to Shiva, with monolithic elephants at the corners of its first three tiers and lions beside the stairways.

Bakong: the central sanctuary

The state sanctuary at the summit of the five-level pyramid, dedicated to Shiva by Indravarman the First in 881 and standing for Mount Meru.

Prei Monti

Three damaged brick towers on a shared platform, now largely ruined and partly overgrown.

Lolei: the four towers

Yasovarman the First's temple of four towers, consecrated in 893 on an artificial island in the Indratataka reservoir.

How It Works

Walk. Listen. See what they saw.

1
Open the tour

Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 9 narration points.

2
Walk at your pace

Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.

3
Hear the stories

Each site has its own narration. 9 narration points.

What You Get

A companion through The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya

📍
GPS-Triggered

Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.

🎤
Studio-Quality Voice

Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.

📚
Fact-Checked Twice

Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.

🗺
Interactive Map

See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.

🏛
9 Sites

Every narrated point in The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya, each with its own narration.

⏱
Your Own Pace

Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.

Common Questions

How it works

What does the The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya audio tour cover?

9 narration points, including Preah Ko: the eastern approach and the Nandi bulls, Preah Ko: the six towers, Bakong: the eastern causeway and the moat, Bakong: the brick towers and the libraries and Bakong: the pyramid and its elephants. That is about 12 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.

Is the The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya tour self-guided?

Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.

It’s not just GPS — what are the ways to trigger a narration?

Three ways, all built in:

  • GPS-triggered (default): walk near a site, the narration starts automatically.
  • Tap any marker on the map: open the map view, tap any of the 9 markers to play that narration on demand — no walking required.
  • Queue controls: pause, skip, replay any narration; the queue auto-advances as you walk.

The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.

Do I need cell service or data while I’m there?

No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.

How do I make it work with no signal — and open it again later?

Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.

  1. Tap Download for offline above. It opens the guide.
  2. Put that page on your home screen — steps below.
  3. Open the guide from the new icon and download it there, on wi-fi. Keep the screen open until it finishes.

Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):

  1. Tap the three dots at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Tap Share.
  3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.

If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.

What if my phone’s GPS is unreliable?

Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.

How long is the tour and how much time do I need?

The audio runs ~2 hours, plus the drives between temples total, but you walk at your own pace. 9 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.

Can I share with my partner or family?

One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.

What if I never use the tour, or never make it to the site?

Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.

Walk The Roluos Group — Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei at Hariharalaya
9 narration points.
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