Kampong Khleang Village and Beng Mealea Day Tour

Head south from Siem Reap toward Tonle Sap and the stilted village of Kampong Khleang, where homes rise up to 10 metres on stilts above the lake's seasonal floodplain. Sail out along the shoreline, water levels permitting, past petrified mangrove forests and hidden waterways in Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake. A local lunch at a village home offers a close look at daily life here before the afternoon turns to Beng Mealea, the 'Lotus Pond' temple built in the early 11th century by Suryavarman II. Clamber over collapsed sandstone blocks to reach its jungle-swallowed inner sanctuary, one of the few temples of its kind still open to this kind of exploration. Return to Siem Reap by early evening, having traded Angkor's more familiar circuit for a day of rural Cambodia. A full day pairing lake life with one of the region's most atmospheric ruins.