The best temple in Cambodia

Angkor whaa? Nope, I'm not talking about Cambodia's most famous temple here. Angkor Wat was actually my least favourite temple in Siem Reap – despite being the largest, and having some excellent carvings, for me the temple simply did not inspire awe in the way the Bayon or Ta Promh do. Or, for that matter, Beng Melea, which in my view is the best temple in Cambodia.

Getting to Beng Melea involves getting a Tuk Tuk for about two and half hours. While this sounds daunting to those on a tight schedule, it's well worth the drive. It's not covered by the $20 temple pass, so you'll have to shell out a whole $5 for entry. At one point our Tuk Tuk – driven by trusty driver Keo (pr. Cow) – threatened to overheat, but fortunately it got there.

The first time I saw the temple I felt a wave of awe wash over me. It would have to be one of the most unique places I have been in my life.

Stone blocks, carpeted in a verdant green moss, lie scattered like lego-bricks thrown around by an irascible child. Gnarled trees, imbued with some kind of unknown spiritual motivation (maybe ancient disciples of Shiva), have undertaken the task of slowly ripping the temple apart. It's like watching destruction at the speed of grass growing.

There are also some highly atmospheric spots in the temple, such as this one – a tree, its roots casting a net-like mesh over the rock, has perched itself exactly at the apex of an arch:

I was amazed that I only saw one or two other tourists whilst there – I think this is a “must do” in Cambodia despite the distance.

Bangkok’s most underrated temple?

Firstly let me say, this hostel is playing Lil’ Wayne. I travelled halfway around the world to avoid that kind of crap. I have decided to get my scuba on, so unless you like pictures of fish and shit, my blog will probably be pretty boring for the next week or so. After thumbing through the LP, I picked a dive school and resolved to visit their office in Khaosan road.

In my quest to eliminate taxi drivers from the face of the earth, I have remained true to my strategy of taxi-avoidance and walked from my hostel to hua lamphong station to grab the sleeper train ticket, then to khaosan road, and back to the hostel. This turned out to be a bit longer than it seemed on google maps, as it was about 12km. Dear readers, you’ll be glad to know that despite aching soles, I did not cave in to the desire to hail a tuk tuk, despite nearly every tuk tuk driver asking me if I wanted a tuk tuk. One rather avid tout came up to me and tried to convince me to take a tuk tuk, and when my answer was negative, he then moved onto hotels. Despairing that I would ever be free to perambulate in solace, I brought out my secret weapon. “Actually, I’m filming a documentary,” I told him. “I’m travelling around the world for zero dollars relying on the generosity of strangers to pay for lodging and transport. Would you like to participate in the film?” I have never seen someone disappear so fast.

 

I wasn’t overly impressed with Khaosan road. I could barely walk a meter before being asked if I wanted a taxi, a suit, a woman, a tattoo, a restaurant or a hotel.

I’d been told multiple times to watch out for the “oh its closed, oh its moved” scam, so I didn’t actually believe the place I was looking for had moved until I found an outdated sign on a shop and they informed me it had moved. Bugger.

There are some benefits to walking though; namely, you see more random shit. One of the things I stumbled across was this cool temple complex called Wat Ratchanadda, home to a structure named Losa Prasata. Not only is this pretty cool looking, I found something unexpected at the bottom:

Confused? What you’re seeing is a high resolution display that is acting as a mirror courtesy of a camera, but rendering a 3d overlay of the temple in real time by performing image recognition and co-ordinate extrapolation on the board i’m holding. Still confused? Basically, you hold the board, and in the “mirror”, you see the temple in its place. Definately unexpected.

Also to note, there was literally nobody at the temple. I think I encountered one other person while wandering through the grounds. Either this is extremely underrated, or maybe I was going on an off day…