I did a double take when the small wooden ticket booth handed me the temple’s empty guest book. No, nobody had been there yesterday, and the day before that there had been just two people: a German and a Thai.
What a difference a two-hour drive can make! The previous day we’d spent at one of the world’s top tourist destinations, Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious temple, where our guide’s local tips had given us the best views before the crowds rolled in. But on our second day, we found ourselves with another temple all to ourselves, just 100 miles away.
I took a detour to the 12th century Banteay ChhmarIt was also built during the reign of the all-powerful Khmer king Jayavarman VII. It is thought to have been dedicated to the son of a Buddhist ruler who died in battle, but historians aren’t sure. It is one of the most mysterious of Angkor’s temples.
Cambodia’s tourism is centered around a few hot spots: the magnificent temples of Angkor. When Cambodia’s borders reopened in the 1990s after years of civil war, it welcomed just 100,000 tourists a year. By 2016, that figure had swelled to 5 million and is expected to rise again this year. Of those, only 2,000 visit Banteay Chhmar, but the paving of the main road between Sisophon and Siem Reap in 2015 has boosted numbers slightly.
Banteay Chhmar was abandoned for years – it was looted and nearly destroyed, its towers almost completely collapsed, and it was littered with landmines during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s. But the mines were eventually cleared and a team of archaeologists reconstructed what they could from the rubble, reopening the site in 2014.
Now trees are sprouting above the gallery walls, decapitated sculptures are speckled with lichen, vines hang between crumbling doorways, and one of the towers has been painstakingly rebuilt, from its summit a huge stone face looks down with a kind, almost fatherly smile.
I booked a homestay for £5.50 a night. Banteay Chhmar Community-Based Tourism (CBT). At night, CBT prepares dinner on the temple grounds, surrounded by blazing torches, whose resin is made from the local rubber tree, and listens to the thunderous chorus of cicadas. Chana Stritacommonly known as Snakefish. CBT’s torchlight dinner is available as part of a two-day package for $98 per person.
But a private dinner at Angkor can cost tens of thousands of dollars, our guide Bant told us: “I heard one family from Germany spent $125,000 on a meal and still woke up hungry the next day!”
My homestay was opposite the temple in a wooden house on stilts, with a hammock underneath and an open stove in the corner. Upstairs, on a spacious mezzanine, lined with heavy wooden furniture, was a simple but comfortable bedroom, with a mosquito net hanging over it and a rumbling fan in the corner.
My hosts, Som and Savawn, live there with their two children, both of whom attend university in the capital, Phnom Penh.
The next morning, after a big plate of breakfast noodles, Banto and I set off to another less-visited temple: Preah Vihear, the highest temple of the Khmer Empire, perched atop the Dangrek Mountains.
It’s more than a three-hour drive away, but has been off-limits for years because of a border dispute with Thailand that came to a head in 2011 when armies from the two countries clashed, leaving dozens of soldiers dead.
In 2013, the International Court of Justice ruled in Cambodia’s favour, Thai troops withdrew, and two years later the British Foreign Office deemed Cambodia safe to visit. There is still a military presence there, but a peace agreement has been reached and the area is slowly developing a tourist industry. There are luxury hotels nearby, Preah Vihear BoutiqueIt has an inviting pool and a stunning mahogany staircase (double rooms from £65 a night, breakfast included).
The temple itself is in an incredible setting: as we drove to the base of a mountain that rose abruptly from the plain, I craned my neck to look up and see the shrine sitting majestically at the peak.
Until three years ago there were no roads here and people had to walk through the undergrowth. Now open-top trucks and motorbikes can take you up the steep hill in 15 minutes.
While Banteay Chhmar was a secret hideaway surrounded by jungle, Preah Vihear stands tall and offers panoramic views. Preah Vihear also has a different origin: it was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in the early 9th century. Centuries later, the temple became a hideout for the Khmer Rouge, a brutal regime that claimed the lives of 2 million Cambodians.
As incense wafted through the air, it was hard to believe the turbulent history of this tranquil temple. Gopura From (the entrance pavilion) we explored the approach and carved gallery. Many of the statues were in good condition, but some had been decapitated (again, by looters) and there were bullet holes in the sandstone.
If the walls could talk, I don’t know where these ancient witnesses would begin. I’m not even sure how Bunt managed to condense so much into an immersive crash course. Cambodia is one of those places where you come home with more than a tan. And what I appreciated most about visiting the remote temples was the extra space and solitude that helped me begin to absorb it all.
well done
This trip Inside Asia Touroffers a six-night countryside Khmer temple tour including Preah Vihear and Siem Reap from £1,549 per person, including a private guide and transport but not flights.