A major but less talked about feature of the ancient Khmer Empire is the road network that spanned out from Angkor (present-day Siem Reap) to the remote reaches of the empire including deep into what is now Laos and Thailand.
In my mind at least, the Angkor <> Preah Khan of Kampong Svay route, sometimes referred to today as Route 66, was perhaps one of the most important of all the ancient routes featuring substantially more constructions than others and linking three major sites Angkor Wat, Beng Mealea, and Preah Khan. Along the route, there are beautiful ancient laterite bridges, a special type of temple known as a “firehouse” that is only found along the ancient road network, and a special type of temple, “Temple détape”, that is only found along the Angkor <> Preah Khan route that is believed to have acted as a staging place/resting place.
This journey extends on the route from Angkor to Beng Mealea covered here and continues from Beng Melea to Preah Khan of Kampong Svay. This road appears to only be maintained from Beng Mealea to the village of Khvav after which it becomes a local trail that deteriorates rapidly with bog holes and bridgeless creek crossings before almost fading out entirely as it crosses the border into Prei Vihear province.
I’d previously travelled the Beng Mealea <> Khav section a few times visiting the bridges and temple sites and as mentioned the road here is a maintained red gravel road that follows the ancient road exactly with the ancient bridges still currently in use. From Siem Reap to Beng Mealea takes around 70-90 mins and from Beng Mealea to Khvav directly about 60-80 mins adding at least 2 hours if you wish to stop and check out the bridges and temples.
There are numerous temples and bridges between Beng Mealea and Khvav Village with the highlights being Chrei Temple, Spean Ta Ong, and Prasat Toap Chey Thom. The road was fine at the time of writing but it may be challenging mid-wet season. There are stalls along the way to buy gas and even for tire repairs.
The temples and bridges between Beng Mealea and Khvav Village
Khvav Village is small and centers around the junction of the old road to Preah Khan and a sealed bitumen road running north-south with the southern section sealed all the way to Kampong Kdei. Around Khvav there are several temples including Ta En (a firehouse), Pram Temple (a Temple d’etape), and Spean Khvav. The two temples are very overgrown internally and I am not clear as to whether they are “open” although local people there were happy to point me in the right direction. Spean Khvav is a small bridge but in very good condition and still in daily local use.
Continuing along the ancient road after Khvav the dirt road is OK and there are two more small ancient bridges (at least), Spean Tradev and Spean Phum O
After Spean Phum O and roughly where the road forks and the ancient road heads southeast, the road deteriorates substantially and it’s passable only by moto (trail bike preferably)/bike+foot. It remains flooded in parts even weeks past the wet season and last rain. It is bushland from hereon in, with no homes, no stalls, no gas, and no phone reception.
There are two ancient bridges along here, Spean and Spean Ron Tra Dev with both being mostly buried. The road clears for a stretch and there is Spean Rolom Ta Cet pictured below
After the bridge, there is a massive bog hole that is best avoided by crossing a field, and the road from here on is a string of deeply rutted bog holes.
The current trail starts to deviate from the original road with the next bridge located north of the current trail, these photos from ontop the bridge and from its southern side
From Khvav Village until this point had taken two hours, there are temples in this area (firehouse and temple detape) to which there are no trails still existing and overgrowth is heavy. Weighing up the possibility of snakes, being so far from anywhere, and not knowing what was ahead (onwards to Preah Khan), I skipped the temples and decided to head onwards to Preah Khan. The temples will still be there and safer to visit in summer.
Continuing, the road is mixed, with some fine stretches indicating the road was maintained at some time. Then there are parts that are not so great but will be fine come summer. There are several forks, some leading back onto the original road, some leading to farmers’ huts.
On crossing into Prei Vihear province, the road disappears in places and becomes challenging without a net connection as Google Earth won’t load, google maps won’t load satellite imagery and its usually helpful direction indicator was a bit whacky. Then there are the bog holes, one after the other.
What’s next I wondered… Next was a foot-deep sloppy mud decline, shrouded in thorn bushes, that led to a bridgeless creek crossing with a slippery incline on the other side! That one took some time and effort to get past.
After this, the trail starts to head southward that forks into a trail going towards the west entrance of Preah Khan around 7 km away and a trail leading south.
Sadly the trail leading directly to the west entrance is blocked by a purposefully laid log and is impassable further along, and as amazing as the bike has been to get this far, it’s asking too much to push it through the scrub, a trail bike would be great but there is probably a good reason for that log. I took the south road which leads down and around the southern side of Preah Khan with bog holes all the way and eventually into the village of Ta Seng.
Getting from the Siem Reap/Prei Vihear border to Ta Seng Village took 7 hours. That last stretch is a challenge, best completed on a trail bike, or even better, in summer.
After staying in Ta Seng for the night at “Home Stay” it was time time to check out all the beautiful temples in the Preah Khan complex. I did try to reach the west entrance from the trail that follows the southern side of the Bakan wall but it too turned out to be impassable on this bike any further beyond Cham Temple. I returned to Siem Reap via Stoung and Kampong Kedei, and bar 10 km of rough road south out of Ta Seng the rest of the way is wonderful sealed bitumen roads.
I was completely exhausted by the end of the journey, thoroughly enjoyed it, and cannot wait to return in the summer to visit the temples there.
Most of all, I hope that this ancient road is not forgotten and that its historical importance and the amazing opportunities it offers in terms of becoming a heritage tourism route are one day realised.
References
- Bruguier Bruno. Les ponts en pierre du Cambodge ancien . In: Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. Tome 87 N°2, pp. 529-551; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/befeo.2000.3490 https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_2000_num_87_2_3490
Update 20/12/22
After visiting again and exploring the temples near the western gate of Preah Khan, this time with my colleague Chanthim, we followed the general path of the ancient road heading west towards the village of Khvav (ឃុំខ្វាវ). This time it was passable and fallen trees (or purposefully placed) blocking the route had been moved.
This time it was possible to visit Spean O Chheu Teal, O Chheu Teal Toch Temple, O Chheu Teal E Tbong Temple, and Vat Kokir Temple before exiting what would have been the complex’s outer perimeter as defined by its moat. Chanthim was not so keen on staying the night in the forest of Preah Vihear so, it was onwards to Khvav and then to Kampong Kdei before nightfall.
At this time, it was mostly dry but still a challenging trail for its loose sand in parts and deep ruts left by farm tractors. One water crossing is completely dry and the creek crossing, with steep muddy slopes on either side, was also dry enough to pass easily. Some parts of the trail are hidden in deep grass. I did notice someone had been through here placing orange markers so perhaps there was a trail run or bike ride through here recently which is inspiring.
We were both on 100cc local Honda Waves, and apart from one brief section, we were in second gear most of the way taking around 4 hours to get from the west side of the temple complex to the village of Khvav which is only around 25km in distance. It’s hard work for an air-cooled bike and I think they would have really struggled if it was summer, luckily this day was quite cool.
As for the bridges seen on the last visit, it was good to see that one is no longer in use and a newly formed trail leads around it, as for another nearer to Khvav, it’s in constant use and is wearing down substantially.
It was about 5 pm by the time we reached Khvav and from there it was around an hour’s travel on a beautiful sealed road all the way south to Kampong Kdei staying at Mey Bo Guesthouse which was simple, clean and very peaceful. I did notice that there is a guesthouse in Khvav here’s their phone # 092960746/0886634960 if it’s useful to you.
There are still several temples yet to visit that are located south and north of the route, although, much more time is needed to explore those which will hopefully happen soon perhaps on a camping trip or stay at the newly noticed guesthouse in Khvav. Some photos below of the trail from the western side of Preah Khan to Khvav.
Update 02/23
Chanthim and I have been circling around Ta Seng village a lot in the last two months and had the chance on two separate occasions to visit temples along the section between Khvav and PKKS. On the first occasion, we camped at PKKS (with permission from the local Heritage Police) then headed from the west gopura of PKKS to Trapeang Chambak Temple and then Toek Khuob. The trail to these deviates from the current westward trail and it would appear possible that Trapeang Chambak may have had its own dedicated raised earthen road leading from PKKS, regardless, the original ancient route is recorded as running westward a little north of both the sites. Trapeang Chambak Temple is recorded as being a Temple d’Etape and It’s the only site outside Angkor that features Apsara of Angkor Wat style (apart from those at PKKS itself), it also has unique niches in the inner walls of the sanctuary. I really think this site has a lot to reveal about the Angkor Wat period. Toek Khuob (or Au Tuk Haub) is also interesting as it appears to possibly be a “Palais” while also featuring a Post-Angkor Thervadin Buddhist ritual area.
On the next occasion when heading past Khav from the north, we decided to stay at Khvav Guesthouse and it’s quite fine, there are 10 or so rooms available, small, simple, clean, and some feature AC for $10. The next morning we headed to Phnom Banteay which is atop a broad hill on the south side of the ancient road and then the “firehouse” Supheap Cheung and south of that, Supheap Tbong which is recorded as a Temple d’Etape, or resting place. For all three of these sites, as of 02/23, there were no trails and the sites are heavily overgrown, but, very much a joy for us to visit.
