OUR FIRST VISIT TO PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE

This temple is located on the top of Dangrek Mountain, which is about 600 meter, above sea level. It is a his- torical and UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 2008), managed by Preah Vihear Authority.

We left Siem Reap at 7:45am and arrived at 11:15am without stop. The travel distance is about the same between Phnom Penh and Sihanouk ville. Before, it would take five days to travel the same distance, with dirty, muddy, bumpy roads and landmine dangers. We went there by using two cars and we did need two pick-up trucks to reach the top. We spent around three hours visiting the temple and came down to have lunch at 2pm. We have made some pictures and I got opportunity to talk to soldiers and policemen on duty. Preah Vihear is really a Jewel, very beautiful and a charming temple; There are still traces of the war, bunkers. We were accompanied by one soldier and one policeman, who explain us in detail on what happened during the fighting; Few hundreds of people have visited the temple on that day, mostly Cambodians with some western tourists; We will return again soon, so that we will have more quiet time for reflection, especially in the morning hours to catch the best scenery.

On the way back, we visited Anlong Veng and Ta Mok’s house on the Dangrek Mountain, 16 Km from Anlong Veng district town. It is important to note that Anlong Veng was one of the strongholds of the Khmer Rouge, home to many KR leaders including Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Son Sen etc. The district town itself has been developed a lot, in comparison to what I have seen dur- ing my last visit few years ago. At 5pm, we returned to Siem Reap and arrived at 7:45. It means, we were exactly 12 hours on the way. It was exhausted for us all, but we were happy to visit this wonderful temple 

Please note:

The road connecting Siem Reap provincial town to Preah Vihear temple was recently rehabilitated, with very good quality. It is still quiet along the way, not so many traffics. People live from place to place and in some districts it is crowded.

From Siem Reap to Anlong Veng, the distance is about 140 Km. From Anlong Veng to Preah Vihear temple is about 111 Km, passing Tropaing Prasath, Sra-Aem etc.

From the bottom to reach the top, we do need to ride the car or motorbike offered by the Preah Vihear Authority. It costs 10,000 Riel (U$ 2.5) for one person for one motorbike; one pick-up truck costs 100,000 Riel (U$ 25) for up to ten persons. Due to safety rea- son and mountainous road conditions, I would highly recommend that visitors should make use of this service.

The old road was constructed by the Engineering Regiment of the Arms Forces is being enlarged and re-constructed. We do not need to pay entry fee, but just need to register and getting tickets for statistics purpose.