Cambodia’s Angkor temples complex, with Angkor Wat as its crowning jewel, is the most extraordinary man-made structure I have ever seen. It captures your imagination like nothing else! Step inside, be in the moment, and marvel at its grandeur from afar or its intricacies up close.
When I visited Cambodia in October 1996, Phnom Penh was impoverished and creepy, Siem Reap was laid back, truely authentic and a lot of fun… none of that really matters as everything just melts away once you step into the Khmer Empire’s ancient boundaries of Angkor.
However, lets start at the beginning of this trip…
Oh, fuck…
Fuck…
Oh fuck. Bugger. Fuck…
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!
Did I set an alarm? Yes! what is going on…
Fuck it!
Watch the action replay here
As a 26 year old living in Hong Kong, 1996, working as the country lead for an Australian-based financial services business, I was making the most of it! A couple of drinks with friends after work on a Thursday night seemed harmless enough. A watertight plan was in place… a few harmless drinks, head home by 9pm, set alarm, six hours sleep, up at sparrows and taxi to Kai Tak Airport for a 7am flight to Cambodia. Somehow beers led to spirits led to shots and I don’t recall the taxi trip home. I woke on Friday morning around 9am lying sideways on the bed, on my back with arms spread eagled, still fully suited. ARE YOU SERIOUS!!
Made all the worse was the fact I was meeting three friends at the airport whom I was to travel with for the next five days. I didn’t catch up with them until day four.
Rushing to the airport, it was the era where I somehow was able to book a new flight to Phnom Penh for early afternoon – at no extra cost! Hung over and feeling terrible, I made it made it to Phnom Penh in time for the evening, found a basic $3/night hostel, and headed out to find some dinner.
To understand my experience in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, we need a whistle-stop tour of Cambodia’s history. It has a rich, sad and turbulent history which was most predominantly defined by the magnificent Khmer Empire. Every moment since then is anchored by that era. Then followed a period of French colonization, the devastating phase of the Khmer Rouge regime and following Vietnamese occupation. Today, Cambodia is ruled by an authoritarian regime which has held power for the past three decades.
Following is an overview of the major eras that shaped Cambodia:
* The Funan & Chenla Kingdoms (1st–8th Centuries): Early coastal and inland trade states heavily influenced by Indian and Chinese traders. These two states were united as one which became the precursor for the next era.
* The Khmer Empire (9th–15th Centuries): Cambodia’s golden age. Starting in 802 AD, politics centred on “god-kings” who built vast, temple complexes and a massive walled city, including Angkor Wat. The empire ruled much of Southeast Asia.
* French colonization (1863–1953): Facing the threat of invasion from Thailand and Vietnam, the Cambodian king sought French protection. France established a protectorate that eventually became a part of French Indochina. Eventually, this sparked modern Cambodian nationalism leading to the next era.
* Independence & the Vietnam War (1953-1970): Under King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia gained independence in 1953. The nation was later drawn into the Vietnam War, leading to widespread U.S. bombings and internal destabilization.
* Civil war and the Khmer Rouge (1975–1979): In 1970, a US-backed coup overthrew Sihanouk, leading to the Cambodian Civil War. Communist insurgents called the Khmer Rouge seized control. From 1975, the radical communist regime, led by Pol Pot and heavily influenced by China’s recent Cultural Revolution, orchestrated a horrific social engineering project. They forced city dwellers into the countryside to build a pure, rural communist society. The ensuing Cambodian Genocide claimed the lives of roughly a quarter of the population. To understand the Khmer Rouge genocide in greater detail read “Pol Pot lost the plot“.
* Vietnamese occupation (1979–1989): Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge. They installed a new communist government, while the Khmer Rouge continued to fight as a guerrilla force, hence the civil war continued through this era.
* The UN and Modern Politics (1991–Present): In 1991, global powers signed the Paris Peace Agreements to bring peace. The United Nations held democratic elections in 1993, returning Cambodia to a constitutional monarchy. However, former Khmer Rouge commander Hun Sen took effective control of the country in a 1997 coup and placing the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in power. He ruled as an authoritarian leader until passing power to his son, Hun Manet, in 2023. Today, power is heavily centred on the ruling the CPP with other parties strongly suppressed.
When I visited in October 1996, Cambodia was still officially in civil war. The Cambodian Civil War is generally recognized as ending on 29 December 1998, when the final remnants of the Khmer Rouge officially surrendered, bringing a definitive end to nearly three decades of continuous conflict in the region. This meant transport options were limited and travellers needed to be hyper aware and in the moment of up to date circumstances, especially as there weren’t smart mobile phones, reliable wifi and strained English spoken by locals. There were ongoing kidnappings and murders of foreign travellers in rural areas of Cambodia through the 1990s, including a high profile instance of a British national in 1996. Catching a boat across Tonlé Sap Lake, which many travellers like to do today, was absolutely not an option in 1996! It is also worth noting that the current political regime rose to power when Hun Sen led a violent coup d’état from 5-7 July 1997 – only eight months after my trip!!
Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia and in 1996 it was the political centre of a impoverished country trying to establish its modern identity. It was poor but beginning to experience growth, rising with the rest of Asia dragging it along. Thus the Cambodian civilisation, especially in its capital Phnom Penh, was raw and had a frontier-like energy to it.
In 1996, Phnom Penh had an estimated 950,000 people living in it. Cambodia had a total population of approximately 10.8 million people. The urbanisation rate for Cambodia was extremely low, at only 15% to 20%, relative to other countries in the region which were between 35% – 55%. This is a direct result of the horrific period between 1970 to 1990. Today, 30 years later, Phnom Penh has rapidly modernised with 2.5 million people, although urbanisation is still only 27%. The economy is primarily driven by export-oriented manufacturing, particularly garments and travel goods.
The city sits on the mighty Mekong River and has the Tonlé Sap River split off and run through the city to be a key feeder into Tonlé Sap Lake to the north. The rivers are deep enough to allow full sized cargo ships into the Phnom Penh port.
The average life expectancy for Cambodia in 1996 was about 50 years for men and 53 years for women. This is dramatically below other Asian countries, such as highs of 80 years in Japan and Hong Kong or 71 years in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. The national fertility rate in Cambodia was roughly 5.2 children per woman. The infant mortality rate was very high at 106 deaths per 1,000 live births. The national GDP per capita was very low, at only US$300 per annum (US$3,000 per annum in 2025), and the economy relied heavily on agriculture making up 51% of the total GDP.
The city struggled to support its growing population, as urbanisation had begun to take off. Many people were moving to the city looking for work. Since housing was limited, large slum settlements grew rapidly. These homes were built with scraps of wood and metal, and they lacked basic toilets or running water.
Unsurprisingly, Phnom Penh’s infrastructure was very basic for a capital city. After two decades of war, in 1996, the city had dirt or ruined potholed roads. When it rained, roads turned into thick, muddy swamps. When it was dry, thick dust covered everything. Crossing rivers was hard as there were very few modern bridges. People relied heavily on slow ferries to cross major waterways. Power outages were a daily part of life as the city did not have enough power plants to meet demand. Many businesses and homes relied on loud, smelly diesel generators for backup power. There was also a lack of proper sanitation, which made daily life difficult. Clean water was scarce and many poor neighbourhoods had no running water at all. Up to 70% of the water pumped by the city was lost through cracked and broken pipes. The city’s drainage systems were old and clogged with dirt and trash. During the monsoon season, streets flooded easily with dirty wastewater mixed with rain which spilled into the streets.
My first night in Cambodia, I was on my own in Phnom Penh and had a long hungover stressful day, so I found myself naturally on edge. Walking out to a main road I was able to hail a motorbike which happily doubled you into the restaurant area for a US$1. The trip was dark, bumpy and chaotic. As we rode along, surrounded by hundreds of other motorbikes and cars, the driver lent back and yelled over the wind in broken English “take you to lady friend?”. It wasn’t what I was expecting so when I didn’t answer he repeated it. Finally processing what he was asking me, I laughed it off saying “no”. Persistently, he followed this up with “you like. very cheap. very small. good. only 12 year old.”!!!
One of the more unexpected sides of Phnom Penh for me was that in your face child sex tourism. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords and the 1992 arrival of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), sex trade exploded in Phnom Penh. Brothels proliferated across the city servicing international personnel, tourists, and locals, with the number of sex workers surging dramatically. Women and children were highly vulnerable, with many pushed into the trade due to extreme poverty, rural land pressures, and debt bondage. In Phnom Penh, particularly the shanty town of Svay Pak, gained international notoriety as a hub for child sex tourism. Many brothels were owned or protected by local police and officials.
Phnom Penh has some interesting cultural heritage, bustling markets, but also very sad recent history from the Khmer Rouge era on display for visitors. The city is highly walkable, with most major sites clustered near the riverfront and city centre. Whilst interesting, Phnom Penh is not one of the great Asian cities to spend too long in.
Phnom Penh Central Market, locally known as Phsar Thmey (meaning “New Market”), is located in the city’s centre and its most iconic Art Deco landmark. A good starting spot for exploring the city. Built in 1937 and renovated in 2011, its massive pale-yellow central dome and four radiating wings feature an airy, well-ventilated layout where thousands of vendors sell everything from vegetables, wet and meat markets, local street food, clothes, electronics and jewellery stalls. Haggling is expected and a 50% discount should be your target!
The royal and cultural sites worth visiting include the Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda, Wat Phnom the city’s oldest temple, National Museum of Cambodia and French colonial architecture such as the old post office.
Remnants of the Khmer Rouge genocide between 1975-1979 can be understood visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21), a former high school used by the Khmer Rouge as their primary interrogation and detention centre, and Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (The Killing Fields), the harrowing site where victims from S-21 were executed and buried.
Early afternoon on my second day in Cambodia, I jumped onto the one flight a day from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap which is the nearest town to the Angkor temples. I was unsure what I would experience after Phnom Penh. Siem Reap was a small emerging frontier town and felt the polar opposite of Phnom Penh. It was laid back, welcoming and fitting for an adventuring backpacker without much tourist infrastructure in place.
I found a cheap hostel, the Garden House Guesthouse, for US$4/night on Wat Bo Road for four nights (see photos below). It was central being very close to the Siem Reap River and only 5 minutes drive from the Old Market. Given I had missed the group I was to be travelling with, I met two Japanese girls, Yoko and Chinami, staying at the same guesthouse. We travelled around together for the next three days to split the costs of taxis. It was great fun.
1996 was before the influx of mass tourism, hence Siem Reap was a typical quiet, remote Cambodian town with unpaved roads, sporadic electricity, basic Khmer-style housing, limited restaurants and one night club. The Siem Reap town had less than 50,000 people living in it (it has 260,000 people in 2025). It was largely cut off, so locals would heavily rely on boat access from the Tonlé Sap Lake and tourists relied on the infrequent small old white-knuckle flights available from Phnom Penh. There was also a deep-seated military presence resulting from ongoing conflicts with the Khmer Rouge in the surrounding countryside.
The Siem Reap River is the defining feature of the town and flows through the city centre and out into the Tonlé Sap Lake 15 kms to the south. In the heart of Siem Reap, the river is lined with shaded parks, walking paths, and bridges. It is just east of the Old Market area and the Pub Street (which didn’t exist back in 1996 but is a key feature of the town today), acting as a natural divider between the western tourist hub and the eastern residential zones.
Each of the nights, Yoko, Chinami and I ventured out to the local food scene primarily around the periphery of the Psar Chas (the Old Market) and along the Siem Reap River. Small, family-run food carts gathered serving traditional Khmer fare to locals. This was fantastic however I am not the most adventurous with new foods so found some of the options, such as spiced frogs and skewers of prahok (fermented fish paste), challenging!
We also had a late night at Siem Reap’s only night club at the time, The Martini Nightclub, on Sivatha Boulevard. It catered predominantly to UN personnel, passing journalists, random Cambodians (of questionable background) and the odd adventurous backpacker. It was pretty dark and dingy, cheap local alcohol, playing a mix of pop, rock and traditional Khmer melodies – a strange but super fun night was had! It truely reflected the pre-tourism boom era in Siem Reap. We later learned that it was surrounded by brothels and associated with the localized drug-trafficking networks and organized crime of the area. Around 2006, due to the old state of the building, it became a walk through “haunted house” but that didn’t last long and it then became the “Hip Hop Club” where a disastrous fire claimed the lives of many people in November 2014.
Sharing a tuk-tuk, we explored along the Siem Reap River and eventually to the floating markets and homes on Tonlé Sap Lake. In the 1990s, Siem Reap Province was still predominantly dependent on locals living out of the town as farmers for rice, fishing or other farming and water-based subsistence. It was only through the 2000s did tourism infrastructure and numbers significantly build hence the majority of locals were entirely disconnected from tourism. Boats functioned like cars where children would paddle their way to floating schools each day. However, life on the water is harsh; villagers deal with a lack of sanitation infrastructure, fluctuating water levels making navigation tough, and changing fish stocks.
Locals had to adapt to dramatic seasonal changes on the Tonlé Sap Lake by living in houses built on massive stilts or floating platforms. The Tonlé Sap Lake ecosystem acts like a “lung”. During the wet season (typically May to October), the Tonlé Sap River reverses flow, causing the lake to swell up to five times its dry season size. Thousands live in towering wooden homes elevated on 7 to 9-meter stilts along the river and tributaries. Whilst on the open lake, places like Chong Kneas and Mechrey, were villages completely floating, interconnected with homes, schools, and markets resting on fuel drums and bamboo frames.
The Angkor temples complex are a massive historical site, which is UNESCO World Heritage listed as the Angkor Archaeological Park, spanning over 400 square kilometres. Through modern day satellite mapping, it is now estimated the greater Khmer Empire covers an expansive area of approximately 3,000 square kilometres through mainland Southeast Asia. It was the largest pre-industrial urban complex in the world. The Khmer Empire rose to power in Southeast Asia through advanced farming, strong god-kings, and regional trade. These magnificent structures were built by successive Khmer kings from 802 C.E. to 1431. They served as the capitals and heartland of the Khmer Empire. Interconnecting these were an ecosystem of roads, water ways and irrigation networks to sustain the large population. At its peak in the 13th-century there were an estimated 900,000 people living in the Khmer Empire. It thrived at a time when Europe was still emerging from the Dark Ages and the city of London was home to only 18,000 people. Throughout Cambodia’s history since the Khmer Empire, the Angkor Archaeological Park has served as a symbol of pride, strength and marvellous heritage matching any of the other most impressive man-made structures around the world.
Living in Hong Kong during 1996, I was experiencing and learning so much for the first time in my life. Of all these experiences, however, my visit to Angkor was easily the stand out of not only my year living in Hong Kong and travelling around Asia but perhaps of all time. Being able to marvel at its grandeur, observe its detailed intricacies and absorb its ambience triggered the whole spectrums of emotions – I just did not want my time at Angkor to end!
The historic rise, centuries of expansion and ultimate decline of the Khmer Empire began in 802 CE when King Jayavarman II declared independence from Java (modern-day Indoneasia), proclaimed himself a universal monarch, and established the Khmer Empire in the region near the Tonlé Sap lake. The empire grew powerful through an advanced network of canals, reservoirs (barays), and rice fields that fed an increasingly large population. The peak of the Khmer Empire was through the 11th to 13th-centuries as its borders and control, aided by its military strength, expanded across modern-day Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and southern Vietnam. From 1122 CE, the crown in the jewel, Angkor Wat, was built by King Suryavarman II over a 30 years period. This massive temple is the largest religious temple, of Hindu-Buddhist devotion, ever built. King Jayavarman VII built the new walled city of Angkor Thom, in the late 12th-century, adding extensive new networks of roads, hospitals, and water ways. As well as shifting the state religion toward Buddhism.
From King Jayavarman II onwards, each of the successive Khmer Empire rulers proclaimed and presented themselves as god-kings. Kings leveraged a religious idea called the devaraja (“god-king”). By acting as a living god, the king would unite the people and made the government very strong. This belief helped the kings force thousands of people to work on grand Angkor temples and public projects. In turn, the temples, art and education they built reenforced the devaraja belief. These divine rulers of the Khmer Empire transformed Cambodia’s landscape into earthly reflections of the heavens. Designs of the Angkor temples matched cardinal directions and solar events to tie the mortal king’s directly to the movement of heaven.
The Khmer Empire was punctuated by many games and festivals. Every four months a festival would be held and in the final month of the year, they played competitive ball games. At these festivals, Angkorians witnessed firework displays, dancing, wild-boar fights and royal reviews. Dancers and music were a central source of amusement in the Khmer Empire. Each of the temples had their own dance troupes and musicians who preformed at rituals and for entertainment. At many of the Angkor temples, you can see depictions of Apsaras, who were celestial dancers (refer the photo below in Angkor Wat).
One of the core aspects of the expansion of the Khmer Empire was the development of an extensive network of raised earthen highways spanning over 1,000 kilometres. This road network connected the capital of Angkor to distant provincial hubs across modern-day Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. Key features included straight geometric alignments, laterite bridges, and roadside rest houses. The roads were constructed to be flat and raised via piled earth up to 10 meters wide and 5 metres high, allowing year-round dry travel even through the seasonal floods of wet season. Stone-arch bridges were built with laterite blocks, such as the famous Kampong Kdei Bridge. In addition, resthouses with sacred fires (dharmasalas) and medical outposts, spaced roughly 12 to 17 kilometres apart, were built to provide shelter and care for travellers, soldiers, and pilgrims.
Another critical element to their success through this period was that the Khmer built a brilliant water system to handle the region’s wet and dry seasons. The monsoonal climate of southeast Asia divided the year into wet (May-October) and dry (November-April) seasons. They made massive water reservoirs, called barays, and irrigation canals. The barays caught monsoon rains, storing the water and allowing the control of the redistribution across the farms in the empire through the drier months. Refer to the map of angkor area above for the Western and Eastern Baray. This let farmers grow rice three times a year, giving the empire plenty of food. They harnessed monsoon rains to feed millions. This wealth also fuelled their powerful armies, trade and capacity to built the Angkor temples. In particular, they used this abundance to trade with China, keeping the peace, growing wealth, and maintaining a strong army for regional control.
Whilst the Khmer Empire continued to dominate mainland southeast Asia through the 13th–15th centuries there was much greater external pressures from neighbouring Thai kingdoms who launched repeated military raids and disruptions. Ultimately, by 1431 CE, the Angkor stronghold fell after a devastating siege and sack by Ayutthaya forces (from modern day Thailand), and it was largely abandoned with ancient Cambodia’s political power retreating south toward Phnom Penh. Thus completing the 630 years cycle of the Khmer Empire as the dominant force of the region.
In more recent times, following decades of civil war and Cold War through the late 1960s to early 1990s, conflict left the region within and surrounding the Angkor Archaeological Park heavily contaminated with unexploded aerial bombs and hidden landmines. In 1996, it was said that there were still more mines in Cambodia than there are Cambodians. In the first half of the 1990s, there was a focused effort to remove mines from around the Angkor temples area. Over 25,000 mines were removed before the region was declared an Archaeological Park and opened to tourists. The temple of Banteay Srei, north of Angkor Wat, had only opened for tourists to visit within a strict area in early 1996. Deeper in the surrounding countryside and distant jungle temples, unexploded bombs and localized minefields still present a danger to local farmers and wayward foragers.
Looking back, I first visited Angkor at a time when there were negligible visitors. In 1996, it is estimated 65,000 tourists visited Angkor. This is 3% of the peak of 2.2 million tourists in 2019. This meant I could slowly wander through each temple and area, marvelling in my own undisturbed time.
The annual tourist numbers trace a distinct trajectory spanning several eras. As a result of the internal conflicts largely being brought under control, UNESCO gave the Angkor Archaeological Park its World Heritage designation in 1992. Cambodia then became to build the infrastructure necessary to open Angkor up to tourism. Being as impoverished and starved of know-how it took a few years to gain momentum to truely support mass tourism worthy of such a magnificent wonder. In the mid 1990s, access to Siem Reap and the temple complex was limited with restricted flights being the only safe option for tourists. Another turning point for historical preservation, the Cambodian government enacted a new Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in January 1996 to prevent the looting and destruction of the Angkor temples.
Numbers grew steadily from less than 10,000 visitors in the early 1990s to roughly 115,000 visitors by 1999. This is a major point when a spike in infrastructure spending was undertaken to support the potential of massive growth in the future. Driven by expanding international flights and the opening of the first Siem Reap International Airport, the park experienced exponential growth. By 2010, the site welcomed around 1.5 million visitors annually. In 2019, Angkor attracted its highest-ever recorded number of international tourists, with 2.2 million foreign visitors. Global lockdowns as a result of COVID caused arrivals to plummet. With the end of the COVID global pandemic, since 2022 tourism began a gradual rebound, supported by the opening of a new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport. In 2025, Angkor welcomed 955,131 international visitors.
Following are details of the temples and areas I got to explore over three days. There are more areas within the Angkor Archeological Park which are now open for tourists that were not back in 1996 due to landmines and a lack of tourism infrastructure.
One the first day of exploring with Yoko and Chinami we visited Angkor Wat. This is the jewel in the crown of the entire Angkor temples complex. I visited Angkor Wat each of the other two days as well to experience sunrise, sunset and through the day.
Angkor Wat
Built in the 12th-century by King Suryavarman II, this massive structure covers over 400 acres and is the largest religious monument on Earth. It was built in dedication to the Hindu god Vishnu. It is perfectly symmetrical and its five lotus-shaped towers represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the sacred home of the Hindu gods, encircled by a vast moat symbolizing cosmic oceans. The temple is aligned so that on the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun rises directly behind the highest tower. Angkor Wat took 30 years to build by an estimated 300,000 workers. Angkor Wat eventually became Suryavarman II’s tomb.
Unlike other Khmer temples, the entrance faces west in the direction associated with Vishnu. A person entering the temple first approaches an entrance causeway that takes him across the 200 metres wide moat. On the opposite shore is an entrance pavilion measuring 230 metres north-south. Its central bays include three passages that elephants could fit through for royal processions. Past the entrance gate is a long causeway that runs for over 300 metres, decorated with mythical snake-like animals called naga. On either side are isolated buildings called “libraries” though their true function is unknown. Near the temple are two small pools.
The temple proper sits on a sandstone plinth a meter above the ground. Its perimeter is decorated with naga balustrades. The outer wall of the temple is called the “third enclosure” and sits on a plinth 3.3 metres high. A continuous gallery runs along the outside face of the wall. The inner face is decorated with 700 metres of continuous bas-reliefs. Just inside the west gate of the third enclosure is a series of four rooms arranged in a cruciform. Each room is surrounded by a continuous gallery with a sunken floor which may have held water. The second enclosure rests on a base 5.8 metres high. It is linked to the cruciform cloister by a series of stairs. Inside this courtyard are still more “libraries,” smaller than the previous ones. The inner enclosure rests on a two-tiered pyramid 11 metres tall with 3 stairways on each side, each at a 70 degree angle. The upper terrace has a continuous gallery that encloses an inner cruciform of four rooms. Five towers jut from the upper tier in a quincunx arrangement (like five dots on a pair of dice). The central tower is 65 metres above ground level.
The bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat cover over 1,200 square meters of the outer gallery walls in continuous, shallow carvings. They depict eight primary narrative panels from Hindu epics, mythological cosmology, and 12th-century Khmer history, showcasing detailed figures of gods, demons, and royal processions. This includes over 2,000 graceful carvings of heavenly female apsaras and devatas adorn the pillars and walls, each featuring unique hairstyles, jewellery, and garments. The carved reliefs also feature many symbolic animals like garudas (divine birds), hamsa (sacred geese), elephants, lions, and serpents.
Amongst the major narratives depicted, these include:
* Churning of the Ocean of Milk (Samudra Manthan): Depicts 88 gods and 92 demons using the serpent Vasuki as a tug-of-war rope to churn the cosmic ocean and produce the elixir of immortality.
* Battle of Kurukshetra: A massive wall showing the fierce war from the Mahabharata, filled with infantry, chariots, and commanders.
* Army of Suryavarman II: A historical record showing King Suryavarman II holding court and leading his marching troops, including regional allies.
The second day of our visit was spent exploring the Angkor ruins area beyond Angkor Wat, including Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple, Ta Prohm, Phnom Bakheng and Preah Khan.
Angkor Thom, meaning “Great City”, was the final capital city of the Khmer Empire, featuring four grand stone gates for each point of the compass, the Baphuon pyramid, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. At its peak, Angkor Thom held an estimated population of up to 150,000 people within its walled royal city of 9 square kilometres. It served as the royal capital of the Khmer Empire built by King Jayavarman VII around 1200 CE, functioning largely as a civic-ceremonial and administrative core.
King Jayavarman VII built the Bayon Temple in the late 12th-century. It is the centrepiece of the ancient capital, Angkor Thom. It features 54 gothic towers carved with 216 giant, serene, smiling stone faces of the god-kings looking out over the empire. The Bayon is great fun to explore, weaving in and out, capturing the faces and carvings from different angles.
Ta Prohm was built by King Jayavarman VII for his mother in 1186. Today, giant silk-cotton and banyan tree roots wrap around the stone roofs and walls. The ruins look just as they did when early explorers found them, giving them a magical, lost-in-the-jungle feel. This was used as the key location of the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie.
Once you have explored Angkor Wat and are walking towards the South Gate of Angkor Thom, on your left is Phnom Bakheng. This Hindu-Buddhist temple was built at the end of the 9th-century, during the reign of King Yasovarman (889–910). It rises 67-metres above the surrounding plains was one of the first temple-mountains built in the Angkor vicinity. Preceding Angkor Wat by two centuries, historians believe in its day, Phnom Bakheng was the principal Angkor temple. It is a great spot for sunset.
Preah Khan, meaning ‘sacred sword’, was built in the 12th-century by Jayavarman VII to honour his father, Preah Khan is a large monastic complex and former university. It features a maze of vaulted stone corridors, delicate lichen-covered ruins, and quieter paths. The stone ruins feature a distinct flat design with successive rectangular galleries surrounding a central sanctuary.
Located about 25 kilometres northeast of the main group, Banteay Srei was built in the 10th-century. It is a smaller temple dedicated to the Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati, carved from pinkish sandstone and features some of the most intricate relief carvings in all of Angkor. The name Banteay Srei means “Citadel of the Women.”
It was closed to tourists visiting in the first half of the 1990s due to Khmer Rouge activities and landmines. By early 1996, the security situation had improved enough and de-mining efforts had progressed sufficiently that adventurous travellers were allowed to begin to visit it again. We visited Banteay Srei on my third day of exploring the Angkor area. The detail of the carvings and the tight accessible aspects of the temple were fantastic and well worth the trip out to it.
To support the mass tourism attracted to Angkor, Cambodia has been restoring and opening increasingly more sites in the surrounding area. These sites have opened post my visit in 1996 however are worth quick coverage as they are fantastic in their own right.
Lesser-known and quieter alternatives to the main crowds at Angkor include Ta Nei, Beng Mealea, and Koh Ker. Ta Nei is a quiet 12th-century forest temple tucked inside the Angkor Archaeological Park, completely un-restored and surrounded by large trees. Beng Mealea is a dramatic, completely jungle-swallowed temple located about 40 kilometres east of the main park where visitors climb over collapsed stone blocks.
Koh Ker, located over 100 kilometres northeast of Siem Reap, officially opened to tourists in early 1999, following the clearing of the area from years of conflict and landmines. It was established in the 10th-century by the rebel King Jayavarman IV and served as a short-lived rival capital. Its centrepiece is Prasat Thom, a striking 36-metre high seven-tiered step pyramid that breaks traditional Khmer design to mimic a majestic mountain altar to Shiva. It is shaped much like the ancient pyramids of the Maya.
A few fun facts about Cambodia:
* Cambodia’s national flag is the only one in the world that features a building. The stylized illustration on the flag is the famous Angkor Wat temple.
* The Tonlé Sap Lake and River is a rare geographical wonder as it flows both ways during each year. During the monsoon season (usually from June to October), the sheer volume of water forces the river to reverse its flow, expanding the lake up to six times its normal size.
* The Tonle Sap provides sustenance to nearly half of Cambodia’s crops and is a major source for fishing.
* Deep-fried tarantulas, crickets, grasshoppers, and silkworms are common street food snacks in Cambodia. This tradition largely stems from the famines of the Khmer Rouge era, where insects provided necessary protein, but they have since evolved into popular culinary delicacies.
* Historically, many locals in rural Cambodia do not celebrate birthdays. Instead, traditionally, everyone is considered to be one year old on the day they are born. Celebrated in April, Khmer New Year is a time when Cambodians with Khmer roots stop working for a whole 3 days and return to their homes to celebrate.
* Due to the devastating Khmer Rouge genocide between 1975-1979, Cambodia has a profoundly young population, with roughly 63% of Cambodia’s population is under thirty years.
* While the Cambodian Riel (KHR) is the official currency, the US Dollar (USD) is widely used and accepted alongside the local currency for everyday transactions.
* Cambodia has altered its official name multiple times depending on its ruling government. Past names include the Khmer Republic, Democratic Kampuchea (during the Khmer Rouge rule), and the State of Cambodia, before settling on the Kingdom of Cambodia.
* Long before modern kickboxing, Cambodians practiced Bokator, a violent and intricate ancient martial art designed for battlefield combat. It incorporates techniques that mimic fighting styles of animals like lions, elephants, and cranes.