A couple of years ago, when I was on my world trip, I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia, well known for the Angkor Wat. Most travelers go and see the complex of Angkor Wat and surrounding temples like the Bayon with all the faces and the Ta Phrom with the trees growing over it. Of course I had to see all of them and spent a few days visiting the temples. My guide book also recommended another temple: the Beng Mealea. It is about 77 kilometres away from Angkor and, unlike the temples around Angkor, has been left pretty much as it was found: unrestored and overgrown with plants and trees. The distance from the touristy Siem Reap and the fact that not many people even know about it, means that not a lot of tourists visit it. But I’m so glad that it was recommended, it gave me goose bumps just reading about it and I immediately felt I had to go and see it.
Together with another girl from the Netherlands I hired a tuktuk with driver for the day. It was only $15, if he could drop us off at some souvenir shops at the end of the day. He would get a commission, even if we wouldn’t buy something. On the way out of Siem Reap, we stoped at a small petrol station – read: a little hut where they sell petrol in old coke-bottles – just so that the driver would have enough to take us to Beng Mealea and back again. After putting the coke bottles in the back of the tuktuk, and some photos taken of the charming little family who runs this place, we went to our first stop of the day, a lovely small temple with soft pink stones and beautiful carvings: Bantaey Srei. 
We wandered around for about half an hour there and then continued to Beng Mealea. The first hour on the road was very bumpy, but after that it got a bit better. We arrived around 1pm and decided to have a little picknick lunch outside the complex before going in.
After finishing our sandwiches we walked to the entrance of Beng Mealea, a friendly old man approached us and asked if he could guide us around ‘for just one dollar’. That was pretty much the only English he spoke, but it was useful to have him showing us the way and letting us see all the little corners we should see. 
The beginning of the walk was over manmade paths, with wooden walking bridges and walkways, but soon we were climbing and balancing over stones, went through window frames with just enough space between the little pillars to get to the next chamber, got into a room where the ceiling had fallen down and we had to walk over the stones that were still lying there on the floor, left exactly as it was found. It was amazing to see how time and nature had found its way with it. 
Twigs, plants and trees grow through the cracks of the complex and over the walls that are still standing.
Being there it gave me even more goose bumps than just reading about it. I felt like Tomb Raider, like Indiana Jones, like an adventurer seeing places where (almost) nobody goes. With beautiful golden sunlight towards the end of the day I took a lot of photos and wished I could stay there… It’s really worth it to go off the beaten track!
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