Lost Soul Fish in Siem Reap (Day 4 & 5): Banteay Srei & Beng Mealea

Day 4 (23/12/2016) : Banteay Srei & Beng Mealea

Taking a tuk tuk ride

I initially arranged for the tuk tuk driver to pick me up at 8am, but fearing that the journey might actually take longer than the estimated one hour, I decided to ask the driver to come at 7am. As Banteay Srei is also part of Angkor Archaeological Park, we once again needed to pass by the security guard who checked my temple pass and validated it by punching a hole on it. With the third punch on my 3-days pass, I’ve now fully utilise it and therefore, any further re-entrance will be denied. The entire journey to Banteay Srei took approximately 1 hour 15 minutes by tuk tuk.
   

On a tuk tuk ride

Personal thought: 

I’m glad that I decided to take a tuk tuk ride for this, because, oh man, the temples are so far away, that even taking a tuk tuk doesn’t make the journey very fast. Renting a car and driver would be too expensive for solo traveller and cycling is almost impossible. E-bike would be risky since there is no charging point along the way. A motorcycle would be the second best alternative if only I know how to ride one and actually own a license. Therefore, tuk-tuk is the best option to go for.

Scenic view along the way

Banteay Srei

Opening hours: 7.30am until 5.00pm

Visited: 8.30am to 9.30am

Beating the crowd strategy: Fail!

About Banteay Srei:

Banteay Srei

About 36km away from Siem Reap town, and approximately 20km northeast of Angkor Wat, lies Banteay Srei, a Hindu temple completed in the year 967, some 150 years before Angkor Wat. Banteay Srei, never a royal temple, is thought to have been built by a guru of the king and it is believed that this lack of a royal go-ahead is one of the reasons why it is so small. The temple is also miniature in scale, unusually so when measured by the standards of Angkorian construction. The doorways are hardly high enough for an elementary school kid to pass through. 

Though small in size, Banteay Srei shines with its outstanding carvings. The carvings cover an incredible amount of the temple’s surface and the reliefs are often deep. This is because the temple is made of red sandstones. As with many Khmer temples, the main sections of Banteay Srei were built of laterite, but instead of the carving being done into a plaster coating normally layered onto the stone, the temple was faced with red sandstone and the carvings done into that. As red sandstone is relatively soft, it is as good as carving on wood, making carving much easier. This resulted in elaborate, detailed, decorative wall carvings which are still observable today, as compared to other temples.

Finest carvings on the pediment

Almost every available space on the temples walls are carved with relief carvings. The pediments which are larger in comparison to entrances are also carved with whole depicted scenes from ancient Hindu tales. For the first time in the history of Khmer architecture, whole scenes of mythological subject-matter are depicted on the pediments. The temple is extremely popular with tourists, and is widely praised as the "jewel of Khmer art”. It is said that the reliefs on this temple are so delicate that they could only have been carved by the hand of a woman. This could be the reason it is called Banteay Srei which means “citadel of the women”. 

Carvings on the pediment

Fun fact: When the French came across the site in 1914, it was totally covered by forest and partly buried by earth. It didn’t take them long to realise they’d stumbled upon an outstanding find, so outstanding in fact that French author Andre Lalraux decided to take a chunk of the temple home with him. He cut out over a tonne of the finest apsaras and other carvings and carted them back to Phnom Penh where he planned to surreptitiously freight his plunder back to France. Fortunately, he was arrested and sentenced to a couple of years in prison and the carvings were saved. Oddly, he never serves his term and was even later appointed Minister of Culture under Charles de Gaulle.

My thoughts: 

I have heard so much rave about this place prior to my visit, which got my expectation sky-rocketed. Knowing beforehand that this place is a tourist hotspot, I even arrange my transport to an hour earlier than originally schedule. However, it turned out that I wasn’t early enough. I reach the site around 8.30 in the morning and the place is already jam-packed with tourists.



Every spot stands a tourist waiting for their travel companion to take a photo of them. I could hardly get a photo without being photobombed. And, I didn’t even intend to take photo of myself. In addition to that, it was difficult to manoeuvre without crossing paths with another tourist, and that took away my viewing pleasure, despite being surrounded with beautiful carvings. 

In the center of the temple, lies three towers with short corridors. The six stairways leading up to the towers’ platforms were each guarded by two kneeling statues of human figures with animal heads. The figures are now replaced with replicas, with the originals having been stolen or removed to museums. However, this entire section is closed for tourist, possibly to prevent any damages that could possibly been done due to overwhelming crowds. Ropes were in place to guard off this section and visitors can only view from afar. This is my favourite part of Banteay Srei, and I was lucky that I brought along my kits lens which enables me to zoom in for a snap. 

Restricted area with human figures with animal heads

I think I would have enjoyed my time there better if I had come much earlier to beat the crowd and have the whole place to myself. After spending an hour there, I took off and hurried to Beng Mealea, dying to escape this overcrowded temple, praying hard that Beng Mealea wouldn’t turned out like this.

An overcrowded spot is an ideal place to be lonely

Beng Mealea

Opening hours: 7.00am until 5.30pm

Visited: 11.00pm to 2.30pm

Beating the crowd strategy: Somewhat success!

Beng Mealea

 About Beng Mealea:

77km away from Siem Reap town, and 50km away from Banteay Srei, the journey to Beng Mealea took me approximately 2 hours. Beng Mealea, which lies about 40km east of the main group of Angkor temples, is not considered part of the Angkor complex, and a separate admission ticket is needed at an affordable price of $5. Previously, it was difficult to reach, but a road was built to the temple complex of Koh Ker which passes Beng Mealea. A ticketing counter is located along the road where you can get a ticket either to Beng Mealea ($5) or Koh Ker ($10). 

Entwined roots

The history of the temple is unknown but since its architectural style is identical to that of Angkor Wat, scholars had assumed that it was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. Smaller in size than Angkor Wat, Beng Mealea nonetheless ranks among the Khmer empire's larger temples. The temple was built as a Hindu temple, but there are some carvings depicting Buddhist motifs were also found.




Unlike the other temples in Angkor complex, this one is unrestored and is not rehabilitated. The temple used to be utterly consumed by jungle, but some of the dense foliage has been cut back and cleaned up in recent years. Despite that, getting in and around the temple is a hands-on activity. The entire site looks as if it was struck by an earthquake, as piles of stones blocks from what once used be tall towers piled up haphazardly all over the courtyard. The sandstones were covered with mosses and trees and roots grow out of the cracks in the walls, with roots and branched entwined with each other. 

The crumbling structure makes traversing the site an adventure in itself as you climb over piles of fallen rubbles, clambering over collapsed walls and edging your way along a ledge, only to stumble upon a new section of the temple. Be prepared to be amused with the intimidating size of this ruin as it is as large of the central part of Angkor Wat. One can easily spent hours here. It’s such a joy to explore the temple, and there is definitely no rush to return to civilisation.

Collapsed rubble 

At some point, you will feel like you are on a treasure hunt or an India Jones adventures as you occasionally come across sandstones blocks among the fallen debris, each of them carved of Hindu or Buddhist motifs.

Trees growing out of walls

A guard approached me during my visit, offering to lead me around, but I politely declined his offer since I wanted some me-time after being “mentally harassed” at Banteay Srei. This is however good news to those who needed someone to guide them through the temples, not confident to do them by their own.

The guard who approached me

These guards hang around the entrance to the temples and will certainly lead in you even without you having to ask for it. Just politely decline them like I did if you prefer to have some solo Indiana Jones experience. And if you do engage their help, please remember to tip them.  

My thoughts:

I arrived at Beng Mealea at 11am and was blessed to have the entire place almost to myself, with only a few other visitors in the temples. Though the sun is still high up, the sunlight was struggling to break through the trees. As nature took its course on this “abandoned”, unrestored ruins, The entire complex, as a result, gives off a mysterious, rustic vibe.

Consumed by jungle

This is something that Ta Prohm, the famed jungle temple at Angkor, was supposed to offer. However, Ta Prohm has now been an overly commercialised temple in Angkor complex, with an endless sea of tour bus passengers checking in every day, and long queues forming at the most photogenic spots where the roots intertwine around temple columns. Due to both nature and human impact, many of the galleries in Ta Phrom now have metal braces and supports on them, and access to some areas is prohibited. 

Prior to my visit, some of my friends had mentioned to me that this is their favourite temples. I did some googling and was immediately sold to put this place into my itinerary, willing to travel 1.5 hours just to get here. I had high hopes for this place, and the outcome truly didn’t disappoint. 

Seeing is believing

The journey on the tuk tuk was not boring despite taking 1.5 hours from Banteay Srei. Passing through the countryside of orange dirt roads and endless farms and paddy fields, I was entertained throughout the entire ride. So if you loved the Ta Prohm then don’t miss Beng Mealea while it is still secluded and hidden far away from tourists buses. Inevitably, sooner or later, they will come and Beng Mealea may turned into another Ta Phrom. But let’s hope that nature triumphs in the end, as the jungle continues to consume the temple, blending the temple and jungle into one and keeping this place mysterious. 

Last night in Siem Reap

Leaving Beng Mealea after a good 3.5 hours in there, the journey back to the hotel took a little over 2 hours. It was almost 5 by the time I reached. After taking a shower, I headed out for an early dinner with Khiem, another hotel guest who is also from Singapore, riding on his rented bike to a nearby local restaurant. The owner doesn’t speak English and we don’t speak Khmer, but fortunately for us, they provided us with English translated menu and we ordered by pointing to the menu. We ordered two dishes to share which costs us US$6 in total. 

Stir-fry chicken with pineapple

Despite being a restaurant away from the bustling Pub Street, the food here was priced similarly. Khiem and I had a theory where all the restaurants (even roadside stalls) had an agreement to charge tourists at such a price range. We were pretty sure the locals are given different set of menu, priced differently. Otherwise, how would the local people afford such expensive meals? 

Potato in salted plum soup

After dinner, Khiem dropped me at the hotel, where I continue to walk on my own, towards Pub Street and the Night Market, while he, on the other hand, headed back to the room to get some rest. It was my last night in Siem Reap and I didn’t want to waste my remaining hours in the hotel room. But there isn’t much to explore, so again I head over to Pub Street. Remembering that I have not tried some of the street snacks, and I still have some money with me, I decided to buy the Num Kruok, a kind of coconut rice cake. It costs US$1 and comes in 7pieces – 4 savoury, 3 sweet. 

Num Kruok

I’m not sure what was put into the savoury ones, but I dislike the taste of it. The sweet ones come with canned sweet corns, which the taste was bearable but still too sweet for my liking. There’s really nothing much at Pub Street since I’ve roamed around since Day 1, and so I made my way to the Night Market, to look for some Christmas gift. There’s nothing much there at the Night Market, except for street snacks, local souvenirs and really cheap basic t-shirts that costs only US$1 per piece. I ended up not buying those shirts even though I was tempted to do so. Ended up with only a mango shake while browsing through local souvenirs, before heading back to the hotel to call it a day.

Lost Soul Fish Incident

(Remark: In Cantonese, “lost soul fish” is used to describe a scatterbrain, whom carelessness and forgetfulness causes a series of misfortune to oneself and others)

Just as I thought that I was doing just fine for the day without any unfortunate incident, something happened. And of all the places I went that day, it decided to take place at my favourite secret hideout --- Beng Mealea.

It doesn’t take long for me to “lost my soul” after minutes of stepping into this ancient temple. As I climbed over heaps of stone blocks, towards a narrow alleyway, I took out my camera to snap some photo of my surroundings, simple because I was mesmerised by the beauty of this ruins. I took a quick snap before I tried covering my lens with the lens cap, and that’s when nightmare happened --- I lost grip of the cap, it fell off my hands, and slipped through the boulders. *gasp* There were no one around and I was not able to move those heavy blocks by myself. It was deep inside, and I was also afraid to find any creepy creatures if I were to retrieve that cap, so I decided to leave it there instead. *cries bucket*

Lost my lens cap here

Lesson learnt: Never ever play with your camera when you are climbing over heaps of collapsed stone blocks. I’m lucky that I only dropped my lens cap and not the whole camera. I’m not so positive that I would still enjoy exploring the temple if that were to happen.  

Day 5 (24/12/2016) : Oasis Capsule Hotel – Siem Reap International Airport – KLIA2

It’s time to say goodbye

My flight back to Kuala Lumpur the next morning was 8.35am. I booked the same tuk tuk through hotel at the rate US$6 (midnight/early morning rate) since it is early morning. I woke up at 6 in the morning and by the time I was ready by 6.30pm, the tuk tuk driver had arrived. The journey to the airport again took 30minutes and I reached the airport at 7am. By the time I cleared immigration, I still had one hour before scheduled departure, but it is always better to be late than risk missing your flight. The plane took off at 8.34am and I reached KLIA2 at 11.40am, officially ending my secret solo backpacking trip to Siem Reap. 

Epilogue:

I’ve heard a lot about both Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea prior to my visit and I’ve had high expectations. However, when I finally did get to see the temples with own eyes, one fell short of my expectation, while the other exceeded it. It’s amazing how your mood can be destroyed for the day just because a place you heard so much about was swarmed with crowds leaving you turned off, and how your mood can be subsequently lifted up again when you come across a beautiful place, even if you have already heard about its rave, oh well… because it exceeded whatsoever expectation you had.  After all, expectation is the key of one’s satisfaction or disappointment. 

It’s good when your low expectations are met, but it’s greater when your high expectations are exceeded

Read more about my Siem Reap trip:

• 4 Days Siem Reap Itinerary In Less Than USD160
• Lost Soul Fish in Siem Reap (Day 1): Old Market, Night Market and Pub Street
• Lost Soul Fish in Siem Reap (Day 2): Angkor Small Circuit
• Lost Soul Fish in Siem Reap (Day 3): Angkor Grand Circuit