Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Introduction to
Cambodia
Cambodia is a small country with a big history. Now a modest player on the
world stage, this was once the seat of one of Asia's most magnificent early
civilizations, the mighty Khmer empire of Angkor, whose legendary temples
continue to provide a touchstone of national identity - as well as attracting
millions of visitors every year. Away from the temples, much of the country
remains refreshingly untouristed and, in many places, largely unexplored.
Cambodia's sleepy towns and cities are a delight, with their faded colonial architecture
and old-fashioned charm, while in the countryside a host of memorable landscapes
await, from the mighty Mekong River and great Tonle Sap lake to the remote forested
highlands of Rattanakiri, Mondulkiri and the Cardamom Mountains. Down south, in
complete contrast, the coast serves up a beguiling cocktail of party-lifestyle hedonism,
idyllic beaches and magical islands.
Much of Cambodia's appeal derives from its slightly anachronistic, faintly time-warped
character. Compared to the far more populous and economically developed countries of
Thailand and Vietnam that hem it in on either side, Cambodia remains an essentially
rural society, and something of a regional backwater. The country's provincial hinterlands
appear to have changed little in generations, offering a refreshing throwback to an older
and simpler era (from the outside at least), with beautiful stilted wooden houses set amid
a patchwork of rice paddies and sugar palms. And although living standards for most of
the population are basic in the extreme, Cambodians as a whole remain among Asia's
most friendly and welcoming people.
It's perhaps this warmth and hospitality which most impresses many visitors to
Cambodia - and which is all the more astonishing given the country's tragic recent past.
For many, Cambodia remains synonymous with the bloody excesses of the murderous
Khmer Rouge regime, whose delusional leaders succeeded in killing or causing the deaths
of perhaps two million or more of their fellow citizens - around twenty percent of the
population. Not until 1998 were the Khmer Rouge driven from their final strongholds,
ABOVE WEAVING NEAR BANLUNG; ROYAL PALACE, PHNOM PENH
 
 
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