Cambodia, part 12 – Beng Mealea
17 January 2012 at 03:34 2 comments
On Wednesday, November 23rd (one week into our trip), we checked out of our hotel in Siem Reap in order to return to Phnom Penh. On the way back, we stopped at Beng Mealea (about 40 km northeast of Siem Reap).
According to The Monuments of the Angkor Group by Maurice Glaize, published first in 1944…
A trip to Beng Mealea, which in itself demands an entire day, can be combined with a hunting party, since the region is rich in both small and large game and wild animals; tigers, panthers and elephants, herds of oxen and wild buffalo inhabit the forest as far as Prah Khan of Kompong Svay in the east.
Happily, we did not encounter tigers, panthers, or any other dangerous wild animals. We did encounter a relatively little-visited treasure of the ancient Angkor empire.
Entrance pass for Beng Mealea
Beng Mealea (meaning ‘lotus pond’) cannot be dated by any known inscriptions on the temple. However, based on its architectural style, which is the same as Angkor Wat, it is assumed that it was built during the reign of Suryavarman II. In fact, the layout of the two temples is sufficiently similar that some scholars believe that Beng Mealea was constructed first as a scaled-down model of how Angkor Wat was supposed to look.
-
- Beng Mealea
-
- Angkor Wat
(Note that the temples face in different directions. Other than that, they are very similar.)
However, there is one significant difference that the layouts above are not able to reveal: Angkor Wat was never abandoned to the whims of nature, while Beng Mealea was overgrown until relatively recently. For whatever reason, I just love the atmosphere at these temples where things are overgrown. My emotional reaction here was very similar to my initial response when I first encountered Ta Prohm. The air is full of secrets and history. It would be easy to believe that the place was haunted.
Really, I don’t have much more to say about this place, but I do have lots of photos to share. I just couldn’t stop taking them…
After exploring for a couple of hours, we were ready for some lunch, which we enjoyed locally.
If I recall correctly, this is the place where our table top was simply a cross-section from a very large tree – large enough to fit nine chairs with ease.
After lunch was done, it was time to get home to Phnom Penh. We got in after dark…
The sun sets on our excursion to Siem Reap
Next up: Thanksgiving
Like this:
Entry filed under: Travel, Vacation. Tags: Angkor Wat, Beng Mealea, Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Suryavarman II, Travel, Vacation.
1. Cambodia, part 13b – Thanksgiving in Cambodia « ordinary (mostly) | 17 January 2012 at 12:52
[...] swirling in my head. However, Thanksgiving Day turned out to be a low-key event for our family. We had returned from Siem Reap the day before, and we basically spent the day relaxing/resting/recovering around the home of The [...]
2. Cambodia – Our Extraordinary Trip « ordinary (mostly) | 14 February 2012 at 22:43
[...] Part 12 – Beng Mealea [...]