Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bathroom, p
lus
larger en-suite rooms with optional a/c
for $6 extra.
$3
Home Vattanak Guesthouse
A14 St
T
064 636 3000
or
T
012 730600.
Bringing a welcome splash of luxury to
dusty Tbeng Meanchey, with smart, modern a/c rooms
complete
with
flatscreen TVs and well-appointed
bathrooms.
$18
Promtep Guest House
Head north from the market
and then east at the next block
T
012 964645.
More of
a hotel than a guesthouse, with
spa
cious but uninspiring
fan rooms (optional a/c $6 extra).
$6
Soksan Motel
Off Mlou Prei St
T
012 564405,
W
soksanmotel.com.
Attractive “boutique motel” with
neat bungalows arranged around a pretty garden - all
come with a/c, hot water, minibar and
wi-fi
. Decent little
restaurant attached. Breakfast included.
$19
EATING
Across from the transport stop, a couple of restaurants do fried noodle and rice dishes, plus coffee. There are also
food
stalls
on the west side of the market.
Dara Reas
Beside the Vishnu Circle about 200m west
of the tra
c circle and 1km south of the market.
The
name may be off-putting, but this is the town's only
restaurant with an English-language menu and it actually
serves up pretty good soups and stir-fries. Shame about the
inconvenient location.
3
Preah Vihear
Dedicated to Shiva in his manifestation as the mountain god Shikhareshavara, the
magnificent temple of
PREAH VIHEAR
makes maximum use of its spectacular setting
high up on the Dangkrek escarpment overlooking the plains of Cambodia and
Thailand far below. The temple was built between the ninth and the twelfth
centuries. Most of the work is attributed to Suryavarman I (r. 1011-50) who
enlarged an old religious centre founded here by a son of Jayavarman II and
installed one of three boundary linga defining the extent of his territory (the others
were placed at Phnom Chisor and at the hitherto unidentified site of Ishanatirtha).
Both Suryavarman II (r. 1113-50) and Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1218)
subsequently made further additions to the temple.
Constructed entirely of sandstone, Preah Vihear has an unusual
layout
for a Khmer
temple, with four enclosures laid out in a row, rather than concentrically, as is usually
the case, with each successive enclosure taking you higher and higher until you reach
the summit, from where there are spectacular views along the jagged line of the
Dangkrek Mountains
.
Around 30km by road south of Preah Vihear, the formerly modest village of
SRA
EM
(or Sa Em) has experienced a massive boom over the recent years as a result of
military and tourist developments at Preah Vihear and now provides a useful
jumping-off point for visits to the temple, with public transport, accommodation
and places to eat.
The site
Note that large numbers of
land mines
(see p.37 & p.297) were laid all around Preah
Vihear right up until the end of the civil war in 1998, while further mines may have
been laid during the subsequent Thai-Cambodia border dispute, although both sides
deny it. Do not under any circumstances stray from well-marked paths.
WHAT'S IN A NAME: PRASAT PREAH VIHEAR
Preah Vihear is often (and more precisely) referred to as
Prasat Preah Vihear
(Preah Vihear
Temple) in order to distinguish it both from Preah Vihear Province and the provincial capital of
Tbeng Meanchey, which is also commonly referred to as Preah Vihear, or sometimes Preah
Vihear City.
