Carry on camping at Preah Khan

More info on the overnight camping.
 
So we arrive at what is the most spectacular campsite I've ever stayed at. Facilities may have been basic, but the view made up for it: the front of the Preah Khan temple. Right on the steps, in fact we dried our kit on the stones. Our tents' back windows looked out over what must be the moat. We have time before dinner to look around the temple ruins.


It's a big place, extending for about 500m back from the gate and it's all in ruins, with most of the towers toppled. But what remains is interesting, with intricate carvings in the stonework. I can't really imagine what it must have been like in its time, but there's so much stone it must have taken a huge effort to build it.
Mike, one of our team leaders (who taught Zeman to ride) tells us the place has been looted significantly in the last ten years. A friend of his visited in 1998 and back then the statues and carvings were largely complete. Now many of these have been hacked away. A few of our group know stone and building techniques and say there's both evidence of removal with pneumatic tools, even as recently as a few weeks ago. The temple is very remote and there are rumours that the army is responsible, or at least opportunist officers. Such a shame that they are ruining their country's heritage.

Our shower is a swim in a local lake and very refreshing it is. Large areas are covered in lily pads but there's a clear area near the edge where we jump in; that's fortunate as we discover the lily stalks are coated with small sharp spikes. My highlight is climbing aboard a floating tree trunk and pretending to 'surf' the lake - simple pleasures.

Dinner is a BBQ and the team have prepared steaks, salad and delicious potatoes. A local turns up with a deer that he has hunted in the forest. It's very fresh and he begins to butcher the carcass. Now there is also venison on the menu. We tuck into the food after coating ourselves with anti-mozzie spray and at the end of the evening a huge pile of empty drinks cans remains.


The night is interesting. Waking in the middle of the night surrounded by the sounds of wildlife, and trying to get back to sleep, is quite a challenge. A surround-sound system soundtrack of noisy insects, night birds and a herd of mating walruses conspire to make my counting of water buffalo jumping over rice paddy fields a pointless affair. I say walruses, but given we are a long way from the sea, it may have been at least five of my buddies sleeping 'soundly'. I don't fare so well. Ear plugs are a must on this trip!