Temple Hike near the Angkorian Highway 66

The ancient road that ran East from Angkor Wat and Prasat Batchum to Beng Melea is now a sandy track that passes lesser known and seldom visited temples hidden in the Cambodian countryside. Banteay Ampil is a couple of kilometers across paddy fields from the nearest dirt road and hidden in a patch of dense vegetation, which makes it easy to miss. The temple consists of a substantial central tower decorated with carvings and lintels surrounded by a large laterite wall. Silk cotton trees flow over the ruins. The 5km route West towards Angkor leaves the dirt road a kilometer before the temple and weaves through the vegetation to the East Gate of Chau Srei Vibol, a small 11th century hill top temple about which little is written.