Beng Melea

The temples of Angkor are stunning, but as well as the ones near Siem Reap there are many other old temples from the Khmer era in various states of abandon. We went on a day trip to look at temples and birds with a guide from the excellent Sam Veasna Centre, which does a lot of good work to protect vulnerable wildlife.

At Beng Melea, north east of Siem Reap, we saw the temple that was built 800 years ago as a prototype for Angkor Wat, but abandoned in favour of the new temple. It's collapsed now and huge piles of worked stone are all that remain of the five towers. The place is overgrown with jungle now and has a strong Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider feel about it.