I would like to share some photos of Beng Mealea taken in May 2017. I must apologize, but I do not know very much about Beng Mealea itself. Originally, my plan was to visit Preah Vihear and stop by the Koh Ker complex on the way back, and I asked the hotel to arrange a car for that itinerary. However, the hotel staff told me that such a schedule would be too difficult, and suggested visiting Preah Vihear on a separate day and using the remaining time after seeing Koh Ker to visit Beng Mealea. That is how I ended up going there.
From what I had seen online, I imagined Beng Mealea to be similar to Ta Prohm, but it turned out to be a much larger site. I am not sure if it is still the same today, but at that time the ruins were heavily collapsed, and each piece of the former temple structure was enormous. Because of that, the site was very powerful and visually striking. The scale was far beyond what I had expected, so although I originally planned to spend about an hour there, I eventually walked around the site for more than three hours.
Since I visited Beng Mealea on the way back from the Koh Ker complex, I do not know the exact travel time when going directly from Siem Reap, but I assume it would take around an hour and a half by car. Although Beng Mealea is located a fair distance from Siem Reap, I remember that there were more visitors than I expected. However, most of the visitors stayed only around the entrance area and the elevated walkway. The back side and central parts of the ruins were almost deserted, and felt somewhat frightening.
According to what I heard later from the hotel staff, the driver had been worried because I did not return for a long time, and he called the hotel several times asking what he should do. I suppose the less-visited areas of Beng Mealea are actually quite dangerous due to the poor footing and other factors. I feel sorry for causing trouble for the driver.
I have a large number of photos from Beng Mealea, so I hope to share more of them on another occasion.
