LEGEND OF THE PHIMEANAKAS TEMPLE AND THE SNAKE PRINCESS:
This legend came from the text of the Chinese historian, Chou Ta-Kuan, who visited Angkor in 1296/7 and wrote a detailed report about all aspects of life there.

He believed that the Phimeanakas was a palace, not a temple. He reported that every night the king climbed to the top of the highest central tower of the Phimeanakas to sleep. When the rest of the occupants of the palace had gone to bed and the entire city was quietly asleep, a sacred naga came to the king's chamber and transformed itself into a beautiful woman. She spent every night entertaining the king, and in the morning he would wake up and find her gone.

The legend goes that if the king missed one single night with his snake-lady, the entire kingdom would suffer a terrible famine, and worse, if she did not appear, this signaled the eve of the king's death.

The Phimeanakas was certainly a temple not a palace. Only temples were made of stone. All the Khmer palaces were made of wood and have not survived to the present day. However, the legend remains firmly attached to this temple.