Where it sits
Banteay Meanchey occupies the north-west against the Thai border. Its name means “fortress of victory”, and the provincial capital, Serei Saophoan — usually still called Sisophon — sits at the junction of the roads to Siem Reap, Battambang and the frontier.
The province was created in 1988 out of what had been part of Battambang.
Banteay Chhmar
This is the reason to stop. Banteay Chhmar is a huge late twelfth-century temple complex built under Jayavarman VII, carrying face towers of the same kind as the Bayon and a remarkable bas-relief of a multi-armed Avalokiteshvara.
Much of it has collapsed, and walking through it means clambering over tumbled sandstone with trees growing out of the galleries — very much the impression Angkor gave visitors a century ago. It is on Cambodia’s UNESCO tentative list.
A well-run community-based tourism programme in the village organises guides, homestays and ox-cart trips, and the money stays local. It is one of the best CBT operations in the country.
Poipet and the border
Poipet is the busiest land crossing between Cambodia and Thailand, and a town built almost entirely around casinos and border trade. It is functional rather than pleasant, and it has a long-standing reputation for scams aimed at arriving travellers — arrange your own transport onward rather than accepting help at the border.
Ang Trapeang Thmor, a reservoir in the east of the province, is a protected wintering site for the sarus crane and worth a detour for birders between November and March.