Beng Mealea and the Villages of the Tonle Sap - Full Day.

Beng Mealea and the Villages of the Tonle Sap                                                

This morning, we travel to the lost temple of Beng Mealea, the titanic of temples, a slumbering giant lost for centuries in the forests of Cambodia.

It is the most accessible of Angkor’s lost temples, a mirror image of Angkor Wat, but utterly consumed by the voracious appetite of nature. Constructed by Suryavarman II (1113-1150), the builder of Angkor Wat, the forest has run riot here and it is hard to get a sense of the
monument’s shape amid the daunting ruins.

Here it is possible to enjoy an Indiana Jones experience clambering about the vast ruin. For those who want a more gentle adventure, there is also a sturdy wooden walkway running right into the heart of the temple. It is also possible to visit a nearby Angkor-era quarry from where stone was cut to build these massive monuments.

We then continue south to one of the largest and least-visited villages on the Tonle Sap Lake, Kompong Khleang, which has a population of about 10,000 people, all of whom make a living from the fishing industry. We explore the canals (wet season) or streets (dry season) of this
incredible town. In the wet season, the houses appear to be floating, as water laps at the verandas, but in the dry season towering stilts are revealed, the houses almost like wooden skyscrapers. We visit one of the pagodas here, built on the site of an ancient temple, and see the wall paintings.

We travel by boat on the great lake to Kompong Pluk. Cruising down a narrow

waterway, we enter this medieval floating village, where the houses stand atop
stilts as much as seven metres above the water. Everything lives on the water,
pigs, dogs, crocodiles and people, all jockeying for space in this incredible
floating community. We explore the amazing flooded forest here before
continuing across the Great Lake to the floating village of Chong Kneas.
We reach dry land and return to Siem Reap by road.

What’s Included:

1. Car  

2. English speaking tour guide 

3. Drinking water during sightseeing 

4. Beung Mealea entrance fee
   

5. Boat trip 

What’s Not Included:

• Hotel accommodation

• Visa for Cambodia

• All domestic and international flight

• Any other services are not mentioned in the above itinerary.