Chhmar Temple Complex

A great mini trip if you want to get out of town. Has many temples & even when there is tourists hardly any go there, you have the place to yourself. Can't recommend it enough. It is just fascinating.

Many videos on my channel for more ideas for trips away, with videos coming out twice a week & now backlogged until November, so plenty more to come.

Very nice video. It would be useful to mention that Banteay Chhmar is in Banteay Meanchey province some 200 km north-west of Siem Reap by road off Highway 56. I wonder if you have to pay for admission?

Didn't used to, but once they paved the road there's a fee. Pretty sure they get (or used to get) whole bus loads of people. Nice carvings there. Ticket needed, though at the moment I'm sure you could get away with the old "no ticket please" 10 000r fee or something. There's also the longest Angkorian bridge not too far away, a bit off the main road. Well, it's not super close but doable same day.

Video link below
DocFilm
The Forgotten Temple of Banteay Chhmar
Deep in the jungle of Cambodia lies a jewel from the Khmer Empire: the temple of Banteay Chhmar. Half devoured by plants and long forgotten by most people, the 800-year-old complex is being rediscovered, slowly.

The village community of Banteay Chhmar is taking charge. Far from the well-trodden tourist trails, the rice farmers of this small village are trying an experiment unknown in Cambodia: with almost no outside help, they are fighting to preserve and restore their temple using nothing but their own strength.
The filmmakers meet a young couple, Sreymom and Sopeng, who are enthusiastically involved in the village’s project. For them, the temple is a sacred place, and they teach their two young daughters to respect Buddha. Sreymom does not want to confine herself to the role of housewife and mother: she has professional ambitions, and applies for a job as teacher at the village school. Her husband, Sopeng, is a rice farmer and works part-time as a temple guide for the few travelers who visit the village.

There is a lot to discover, including ornate Khmer reliefs documenting daily life in the ancient civilization, eerie temple tunnels and larger-than-life faces carved into towers that rivall those at the world-famous Angkor Thom. The village’s annual cultural highlight is Bon Om Tuk, the water festival, traditionally held on the water surrounding the temple.
Watch video 42:31
https://www.dw.com/en/the-forgotten-tem ... v-60071819

Restoring Banteay Chhmar temple
Cambodia News (Banteay Meanchey Province): Lok Chumteav Oknha Akka Moha Upasika, and HE Ke Kim Yan, deputy prime minister and chairman of the national authority for combating drugs, are the major donors for the current restoration of the Banteay Chhmar temple. Work has started on restoring 100 meters of the outside wall; it is expected to take more than a year and 1.5 million USD to complete this massive task.

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 4:33 pm beautiful temple and each time i have been there, ( been twice)
We had the place to ourselves

.....Work has started on restoring 100 meters of the outside wall; it is expected to take more than a year and 1.5 million USD to complete this massive task

Thats one expensive wall

Surely the money could have been put to a better use ( like feed x amount of poor people for a year)
or build 100 homes for the poor

on the pictures above I see at least 20 different people working on that site. They sure dont like millionaires..not even in Riel terms. And it gives a strong signal to the locals that culture needs to be preserved. Sure some of the money goes into inappropriate pocktes, but that aint no different here in Italy.