HERITAGE Temples less DAY 2: » Phnom Dek » Kampong Svay travelled In the village of Phnom Dek, It takes only a few hours to get from Phnom Penh blacksmith Mr Sat forges an iron to , where you share sublime machete for about $7. The coffee here is bold, sweet, delicious. with thousands. But with three days to spare, the After driving north on a paved back roads of ’s northwest offer three highway, Vothea heads west along a sprawling ruins, lost to forests, tourists and time dusty dirt road, past cleared forests, parched farms and small banana plantations. We lunch in the tiny village of Ta Seng, then continue to the abandoned city of Preah Khan Kampong Svay. The ruins of Preah Khan lie within a five-square-kilometre enclosure – the largest ever built by the ancient Khmers. By Daniel Otis Thought to be founded by pre-Angkorian kings, the city was completed under the DAY 1: Vegetation sprouts from the temples’ auspices of Jayavarman VII, the prolific Phnom Penh » Kampong Thom » sides where mythic beings stare with monument-building monarch responsible Sambor Prei Kuk carved, stony eyes. The surrounding for Angkor’s splendid temple. our hours after leaving forest is alive with song and life. Trees grow throughout the sandstone Phnom Penh, the bus arrives Vuthear points out circular bomb and laterite complex. At its eastern in Kampong Thom. Chin crater ponds, sanctuaries where phallic end lies an elephant-adorned pyramid, Vothea, the guide and driver, idols were once bathed, and a slab of a lotus-filled reservoir, an island is waiting. After pointing out stone where animals and humans were sanctuary, then Prasat Preah Stung – Kampong Thom’s few sites, he sacrificed. The site, Vuthear explains, an overgrown shrine crowned with Fsteers out of town. dates from the 7th century. It was the four Bayon-like bodhisattvic faces. Faded colonial mansions, a bustling capital of Chenla – an ancient Hindu Within the site’s inner walls rests Preah market, freshly painted beer halls, kingdom that was later absorbed into Khan’s largest temple. Banyan roots then endless fields and red-earth roads the . weave in and out of its stonework: that cut through picturesque villages “About 5,000 foreigners come every carved gods, dancing apsaras and of raised wood houses ringed by fruit year,” Vuthear says. By contrast, finely shaped balustrades. Vegetation trees and palms. Water buffalo eye averages more than 4,000 cloaks the half-crumbled site. the world from stagnant ponds. Rice visitors a day. Butterflies flit through its collapsed paddies shimmer in the midday sun. After touring several surrounding inner sanctum. Nearby, a mynah A simple lunch is served at the villages, we return to the homestay. The mimics the jungle’s multifarious cries. homestay – a large wooden house in host, Tong Khy, has been his village’s Preah Khan’s caretaker says that the a garden of fruit trees – before we chief for nearly a decade. Over dinner, complex receives a visitor every four enter the ruins of Sambor Prei Kuk: he speaks of growing up in the 1970s, to five days. As the sky streaks red, we Cambodia’s first temple city. of civil war and the Khmer Rouge, of string up hammocks under an open- Local guide Noun Vuthear leads the American bombs that rained almost walled hut. Two smiling police officers the site’s few visitors along a series of every day. – our ‘security’ – arrive with a dinner sandy, tree-shaded paths. Dozens of Everyone retires soon after dark. Before of curry soup and rice. While fireflies small temples built of dry-set brick sit long, hoarse roosters rouse the world to dance to the sounds of the surrounding g amidst crumbling walled enclosures. dawn. Vothea is up and waiting. Rubble trouble: the collapsed ruins of Beng Mealea Photos : Daniel Otis jungle, everyone drifts to sleep.

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DAY 3: Spean Ta Ong – a 77-metre-long 12th Preah Khan Kampong Svay » century laterite and sandstone bridge. the Royal Road » Beng Mealea » Siem Reap Children splash in the cool water With Preah Khan obscured in the rushing through its base. Hooded morning haze, Vothea takes a red- nagas stand guard from the ends of its dirt road, driving through forests and balustrades. The ancient masonry easily farms, then a vast rubber plantation supports the weight of Vothea’s car. An recently hacked from the jungle. hour later, we arrive at Beng Mealea. On the road, buffaloes pull carts Suryavarman II – the monarch laden with timber and coal, old men responsible for building Angkor Wat – pedal vegetable-loaded bicycles and constructed Beng Mealea in the early tractor-engine cars haul produce and 12th century. It is one of Cambodia’s families. The houses here are mostly largest temples, but unlike Angkor, it made of bamboo, thatch and tarpaulin. is in a totally ruinous state. Towers, Everywhere, people bend in their fields. walls, and ceilings have collapsed, and The road we’re taking, Vothea says, what remains is consumed by a dense was constructed by Jayavarman VII. tangle of vines, roots and leaves. He points out ancient hospitals and Close to Siem Reap, Beng Mealea rest houses hidden amidst towering Nature’s gardeners: although cows receives more visitors than the other sugar palms, numerous collapsed and graze throughout Sambor Prei Kuk, two sites – between 200 and 500 overgrown stone bridges, then towering it’s best to stay on marked paths people per day. It is at its most quiet, however, once the buses leave in the afternoon. If you’re able to scramble over Beng Mealea’s imposing piles of toppled stone, you can have entire wings of the complex to yourself. Fallen serpents guard Beng Mealea’s A n g k o r - C a m b o d i a entrance. Carved apsaras and gods rest amidst mounds of fallen blocks. A The intimate sanctuary of well-being, local guide points out the safest routes your ideal boutique property for discoveries. to traverse. The forested trails ringing the temple provide peace and a place for contemplation. As the sun sets, Vothea drives past forests and farms. To the north, the summit of – Angkor’s quarry – becomes obscured by night. In just over an hour, Vothea is dodging tourists in Siem Reap. In three days, we’ve travelled from the dawn of the Khmer Empire to its modern incarnation: a bustling world of hotels, bars and restaurants awash in electric light.

GETTING THERE Khiri Travel arranged all transportation, accommodation and meals for this trip. For more information on this and other itineraries, e-mail them at [email protected]. Khiri Travel works in partnership with the Tourist Transportation Association Kampong Thom (TTAK) – a coalition of 20 Kampong Thom-based taxi, tuk tuk, and Contact us for Special Offers ! The ancient bridge: from ox carts to motorbikes, Spean Ta Ong has been traversed daily for nearly 900 years motorbike drivers. Photos: Daniel Otis heritagesuiteshotel.com

106 Discover 2013 The Essence of Cambodia