Foreign concept is all about daily adventure, and doing it right. New experiences, and the things we need to do them well. I was living in Cambodia until last week, and tried my best to take full advantage of it. A couple weeks back, I spent a weekend exploring a place called Beng Mealea, a place that is almost impossible to describe. Everything I've ever read about it tries had, but falls short. Not setting myself up for success here, am I?
Here goes: Beng Mealea is an ancient hindu temple in the Cambodian jungle, about 60km from the rest of the Angkor Wat temple complex. While most of the other Angkorian temples have been rebuilt, restored, and are an easy, pedantic visit with a package tour group, Beng Mealea is an entirely different story. Isolated for years by terrible access over washed-out dirt track, minefields only cleared within the last two years, and dense jungle rumored to still contain wild tigers, this place is still untouched. Beng Mealea looks much as it did before the Western world became aware of Angkor Wat and other remnants of ancient Khmer civilization in the 1860s. Built around 900 AD, and left to crumble after about the 15th century, the temple is a mix of limestone rubble, ancient carvings, and jungle. During the 80s, this place was used as one of the final holdouts of the Khmer Rouge. Spiders as big as your hand, snakes, bullet holes. Suffice to say, this place is biblically spooky.
I saw less than 10 other people, and I was exploring for hours. Contrast that with the 1-5000 visitors per day at Angkor, rolling up in giant buses, kitted out with zip-off pants and vests and sunhats, and you can imagine how different this place feels. You can climb under, through, and on top off all the ruins. No rules, no fences, no waivers. Watch out for stray landmines.
