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Cambodia > Places & Sights > Tonle Bati
About 30 km south of Phnom Penh is Tonle Bati, a small lake, which serves families as a popular picnic spot on weekend excursions.
Nearby are Ta Prohm Temple and Yeah Pean Temple, which are associated with a legend.
It says that a king of Angkor once fell in love with the daughter of a fisherman, the beautiful Yeah Pean (sometimes also spelled Yeay Peau). Upon leaving he gave her a ring. The child she was to bear him should be brought to Angkor with the ring as identification. Obediently, Yeah Pean sent her son, named Prohm, to Angkor where he received a warm welcome and the best education. Later, Prohm was sent back to the province as governor. He looked well after the province and built a temple after the one he had seen in Angkor, named after him Ta Prohm. Nearby he erected the small Yeah Pean temple in honour of his mother.
Historically, it is known that there has been a shrine on Ta Prohm's location since the 6th century, and that the oldest buildings still visible date back to the 10th and 11th century. Construction of Ta Prohm is generally attributed to King Jayavarman VII (the same king who commissioned a temple of similar name at Angkor, as well as many other great buildings).
A visit to Tonle Bati can be combined with a visit to Phnom Chisor, situated some 25 kilometers further south.