Beng Mealea                                      

Beng Mealea:  is a  spectacular jungle temple around 60 Kms drive to the north east of Siem Reap. It is one of the "new "highlights of Cambodia; having only been cleared of mines at the end of 2003. 

 

Built by Jayarvaman VII; in the style of Angkor Wat; its scale is huge; being well over one square Kilometre within its moat.  Approached by a four causeways; Beng Mealea appears to be a huge pile of rubble partially hidden in the trees. Once you get closer the high walls, the ancient Khmer Architecture reveals itself. Cloaked in vegetation and with few concessions to tourism; this temple looks like it would have done when  the early French explorers found it.

 

A new road linking Siem Reap to  Beng Mealea was cut through the jungle in 2003 and is now mostly paved. It takes around one and half hours to drive here.

 

Beng Mealea is not yet on the main tourist trail  but word is spreading fast;  so come here now as this fabulous place will not stay like it is for too long!

Panorama of central Sanctuary (July 2004)

Beng Mealea surpasses even the famous Ta Prohm for atmosphere. The whole site is bathed with dappled light from the jungle canopy making it a fabulous temple for adventurous photographers. There are many intricate carvings here; some just appear amongst the rubble.

Beng Mealea has  the most beautifully decorated Naga (serpent Head)  balustrades and some impressive lintels. The natural decoration is best seen from May to November.

19th Century drawing by Louis Delaporte; showing  what the temple originally looked like.  

click to enlarge

The Moat (1200x 900metres)

Lightning Tree at south entrance

Destroyed in storm in 2005

SE Corner in dry season

Blind Lady at Beng Mealea

South side with entrance ramp

 walls nr South entry point

Beng Mealea is my favourite of all the accessible outlying temples. It  is a spectacular sight. To get the best out of it; agility and a head for heights will be needed for some sections. There is a lot of climbing on walls and over huge piles of rubble; from the many parts which have collapsed. Only a small part of this ruin can be seen without some degree of climbing. There are steps and ladders in a few places and to the south, access ramps built for the “Two Brothers” film gives easy access to the central sanctuary.

We usually enter by a little used path which few visitors know about. It  is partially overgrown and mysterious. One can get a real sense of discovering a real jungle temple this way. Scraps of stone and partially hidden naga balustrade line the route. The huge ruin is concealed from view until the spectacular West tower and cruciform terrace appears. A giant buttressed sponge tree grows out of the upper level.

We breach a collapsed gallery and enter the western enclosures which are thick with vegetation. Our route into the central area passes under a stone causeway and up tumbled blocks to a narrow passage with impressive root formations lining the walls.

From the end of this passage a head for heights is needed. There is a lot of climbing and descending as we pass the two remaining concentric galleries to the central sanctuary and tower which forms a rocky hillock with a tree growing out of the summit.

Beng Mealea South passage using 10mm wide angle lens                                                 window

Some parts of the temple are so overgrown to be hard to reach and potentially hazardous so take care!

There are a number of different routes from here; but the most entertaining involves climbing through a window and up a pile of large blocks to a viewing platform then dropping down a ladder; over yet another high wall to a dark passage once reputed to be the home of a tigress

I wondered whether the tiger story was a legend or fact until recently when a friend working at a hospital told me of a hunter in the jungle 30kms away was attacked by two tigers in July 2005. The man survived; but only after killing one of the attackers. Don’t worry there is no risk of seeing a tiger now as the last sighting of the tigress was over 10 years ago.

A spectacular colonnade is hard to reach

There are some impressive  trees here too

Churning of the Ocean of Milk with Turtle

All images and text © Dave Perkes 2007 www.peaceofangkor.com

Peace of Angkor Villa  0133 Slorkram Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia    PO Box 93125      Email us ( 855 (0)63 760 475