Adventuring in Beng Melea

On our last day in the Angkor area, we took a two hour tuk-tuk ride to a temple called Beng Melea.  Although we had already been to a few temples fighting a losing battle with the forest, Beng Melea promised to be the least restored and most adventurous ruin we would visit.  There's a wood walkway that allows tourists to easily walk over the rubble, but our guide from the first day told us there was an "easy way, and an adventure way."  Adventure way sounded good.

As we walked up to the temple, the gate looked just like a mound of stones.  To the right, we saw the wood walkway, and we weren't sure where to start the "adventure way".  "I guess we could just start climbing over that pile," I offered.  One of the locals who was hanging around sensed our desire for danger, and started pointing us towards a way into the main structure.  We would normally shrug the help off, because it usually isn't all that helpful and leads to being asked for money, but we figured it could be worth it this time.  We were right.  The man lead us over collapsed walls, through windows, under bridges and across dark halls into areas of the complex where we didn't see a singe other tourist.  I don't know how far we would have made it on our own without getting stuck, only to be found by archaeologists restoring Beng Melea in twenty years.  By the time we disappointingly linked back up to the main tourist walkway an hour later, I had made up my mind - other Angkor temples may be more impressive for their size and artistry, but Beng Melea is the coolest.

More pictures in the full post.

Minefields around the temple were only cleared three years ago

This temple has seen better days

Looking for the entrance

Here it is

Nice root structure

Most interesting playground ever?