It would seem that some awesome ancient civilizations liked the area that I now live in… Between Banteay Chhmar, which I’ve written about, about 16 km from my home, the little temple ruins in my own town (complete with Hindu elephant) and this other temple, Banteay Torp, about 13 km from my home, there is a lot to see. They are trying to rebuild part of Banteay Chhmar and turn it into a UNESCO World He
ritage Site, therefore putting it on the heavily toured areas of Cambodia, granted they will need to fix the road first. But Banteay Torp is pretty cool as well, and far more remote.
So I started out in the
morning for a nice bike ride up to this temple. I was determined to find it. I rode north, on the road of hell (this isn’t an exaggeration… and you need to experience it to believe me) for about 10 km before I saw the typical gateway proclaiming a temple to the right. I turned and kept going for another 2-3 km, finding a pagoda, a primary school, a massive lake, and very interested rice farmers as I went on. I barely saw the turn off for the temple because it is old and well disguised at the base of a hill, but I turned, and rode a bit more, and all of a sudde
n I saw this pile of rocks rise up out of nowhere.
It was incredible – a silent temple, somewhat destroyed like Banteay Chhmar and much smaller, yet still structurally intact. There are still carvings intact, and the different colored stones shimmer in the sun. I climbed around the 4 different towers and even got followed by some young boys investigating the foreigner.
Amazing. And I must say, the people there were great. I got hellos from a group of women transplanting rice and went down to greet them - very lovely farming folk! What was less amazing was when I got a flat tire in the middle of the ride back to the main road
. The roads down to the temple and back from it were a little bumpy and steep, so I can’t say I’m that surprised, but it was mighty inconvenient. But, I went to the nearest repair shop where I paid a whopping 25 cents to get my tire fixed before I went on home to have pineapple stir fry with my grandma.
ritage Site, therefore putting it on the heavily toured areas of Cambodia, granted they will need to fix the road first. But Banteay Torp is pretty cool as well, and far more remote.So I started out in the
morning for a nice bike ride up to this temple. I was determined to find it. I rode north, on the road of hell (this isn’t an exaggeration… and you need to experience it to believe me) for about 10 km before I saw the typical gateway proclaiming a temple to the right. I turned and kept going for another 2-3 km, finding a pagoda, a primary school, a massive lake, and very interested rice farmers as I went on. I barely saw the turn off for the temple because it is old and well disguised at the base of a hill, but I turned, and rode a bit more, and all of a sudde
n I saw this pile of rocks rise up out of nowhere.It was incredible – a silent temple, somewhat destroyed like Banteay Chhmar and much smaller, yet still structurally intact. There are still carvings intact, and the different colored stones shimmer in the sun. I climbed around the 4 different towers and even got followed by some young boys investigating the foreigner.
Amazing. And I must say, the people there were great. I got hellos from a group of women transplanting rice and went down to greet them - very lovely farming folk! What was less amazing was when I got a flat tire in the middle of the ride back to the main road
. The roads down to the temple and back from it were a little bumpy and steep, so I can’t say I’m that surprised, but it was mighty inconvenient. But, I went to the nearest repair shop where I paid a whopping 25 cents to get my tire fixed before I went on home to have pineapple stir fry with my grandma. 
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