Angkor Wat – What Did You Say, Angkor What?

Phnom Penh is the capital and most populous city in Cambodia. It was once known as the "Pearl of Asia", and is considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina. Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, is a significant tourist destination in Cambodia.

I flew to Cambodia from Malaysia and spent a few nights in the capital, Phnom Penh, near the Mekong River. If you’re in a city for just a few days, I recommend something that’s a must-see, namely the Royal Palace, which is situated in Preah Sisowath Quay and, for a bit of history to learn more about the country, such as Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields.

Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is the memorial site of the S-21 interrogation and detention centre of the Khmer Rouge regime. Located at the heart of Phnom Penh, it preserves evidence of a tragic period in Cambodian history with the aim of encouraging visitors to be the messengers of peace.

I visited the genocide museum in Phnom Penh and another one outside the city, called the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields (Choeung Ek) are located about 12 kilometres outside the Phnom Penh city centre. It was where the prisoners from S-21 were brought to be killed.

The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime (the Communist Party of Kampuchea) during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975). The mass killings are widely regarded as the Cambodian genocide. The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Cham, Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monks were the demographic targets of persecution.

But beside of that, this was a history and the modern capital is nice and lively and a big city with lots of other things to do. Beside the Royal Palace, you can see Wat Phnom Hill, which is a Buddhist temple, and is actually a pagoda that symbolizes the name of Phnom Penh.

Cambodia is a country which offers a lot of positivity. And my next stop was a cute little village, Siem Reap.

Angkor temples near Siem Reap

Siem Reap is a very lively village. Here you can sleep in hostels with many rooms for no more than one euro per night. So, for a budget traveller, it’s a very affordable country. In Siem Reap, there are also plenty of western-style restaurants since it’s a touristy place, so you can also enjoy the food, not just the village.

I bought a three-day ticket to enter the Kingdom, as I said to myself that one day just wouldn’t be enough for all the temples. And just for your information, there’s also a seven-day ticket available, just so that you know how big the whole place is. I took a tuk-tuk with a driver, and we headed towards Angkor from Siem Reap.

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites of Southeast Asia. It was the capital city of the Khmer Empire. The city and the empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The city houses the magnificent Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia's most popular tourist attractions. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara, meaning "city". It extends over 400 square kilometres and consists of 72 major temples or other buildings. In three days, I visited many of them, but few are worthy of dedicating extra time.

The main temple in Angkor is named Angkor Wat and is the largest religious building in the world as well as the most important temple in this archaeological park. The Wat looks mighty in front of the spacious pond that impresses everybody on their first visit. This is also a wonderful site for watching the sunset. And the towers of this iconic temple appear on the flag of Cambodia. Angkor Wat, built during the early 12th century, is a typical Hindu temple, expressing the king's devotion to the Hindu deity Vishnu. The temple was built as a palace of Vishnu, who was enshrined there to allow the founder to receive his beneficence. When the King built a new capital nearby, Angkor Thom, he dedicated it to Buddhism. Thereafter, Angkor Wat became a Buddhist shrine, and many of its carvings and statues of Hindu deities were replaced by Buddhist art.

One of the other nicer temples for me was the Bayon temple. This beautiful 12th-century temple was designed with 54 towers; each tower was carved with faces of Buddhists, and it looks like somebody is watching you from every angle.

It wasn’t by chance that Ta Prohm was made the base for filming “Tomb Raider”. What’s special about the temple is that it’s partly covered by ancient trees. The magnificent Ceiba pentandra or kapok tree has been hugging the temple with its “strong hands” for decades, which created the quaint shapes and the “lost world” scenery. There will be moments that you ask yourself how this amazing structure was formed and how it’s managed to survive the test of time.

Ta Keo temple is located near the famous Bayon and together they constitute a charming temple zone that waits to be discovered. Set amid the large trees and placid areas, the ruin seems to bring the feeling of being forgotten, but make sure you don’t forget to also check out this temple.

Until the 13th century, the capital of Cambodia was Angkor, but then, because of repeated invasions by the Thai from the west, pressuring the Khmer, it moved from Angkor to Phnom Penh which has remained the country’s capital.

What you also can do around the village of Sien Reap is visit the Tonle Sap Lake. It’s the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It’s located about 15 kilometres south of Siem Reap, so you can make your journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by an express boat crossing the lake and docking at the village of Chong Khneas. The latter is the name of the famous floating village at the edge of the lake, where people live in floating houses. Houseboats need to be moved with the changing levels of water in the lake. The journey across the lake will take two hours and is a lovely thing to add to your Cambodian itinerary.

Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Som, is a coastal city in Cambodia and the capital of Sihanoukville Province, located in the country's south-west in the Gulf of Thailand. Sihanoukville is a lovely end of every trip to Cambodia and you should dedicate it at least a day or two. White sandy beaches and warm waters combined with a laidback, beachy atmosphere provide a great little tropical getaway. Sihanoukville is a place to unwind at the beach, enjoy fresh seafood, take a snorkelling or scuba trip, and generally slow down, lie back and enjoy your holiday.

Cambodia, despite some of its bad history, receives many visitors from all over the world and is a lovely country. And, what’s important, it’s not an expensive place to travel. With its lovely villages and friendly people, it makes for a perfect stop when wandering around Indochina. My next stop was Thailand, but more about that in my next article.