Tonle Sap lake – Beng Mealea temple

The Tonle Sap Tour – Beng Mealea is a full day tour, a truly unique blend of nature, countryside, local Cambodian lifestyle, and Angkorian temples. Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia with a rich array of wildlife that was listed by UNESCO as biosphere reserve in 1997. Its size fluctuates dramatically between the dry and the wet season changing from 2,500 km2 (depth: 1 m) to 12,000 km2 (depth: 9 to 12 m) respectively.

We will begin by visiting a remote fish market in the middle of the Cambodian countryside before arriving at the Tonle Sap lake. We will practice there portrait photography and I will guide you how to approach best and with composition ring as well with camera settings.

We will take a boat with driver to go on the river leading to the entrance of the lake and enter the village of Kampong Phluk with its stilt houses to see how the local people are going about their life and we make few encounters.

Depending on the water level, we will have the option to stroll into a mangrove flooded forest in a pirogue or take a walk inside the village.

After a lunch in a local restaurant, we will hit the road following the ancient royal highway to reach Beng Mealea, one of the most mysterious and atmospheric temple in Angkor, 60 km from Siem Reap. Despite being one of the largest temple of the Khmer Empire, little is known about this temple built by king Suryavarman II (following a similar blueprint than Angkor Wat) in the early 12th century.