Cambodian History

Cambodian history consists of two significant eras. The first is coined by the remarkable medieval Angkorean empire with it’s ‘crown jewel’ Angkor Wat. It set cultural standards for whole Southeast Asia.

The second is the time of the communist terror of the Khmer Rouge over Cambodia, with it’s genocide and the ‘killing fields’.

The Khmer empire of Angkor was the most important, powerful, sophisticated, longest-lasting, largest and in long-term most influential empire in Southeast Asia‘s history. It had it’s best times from the early 9th century on until the early 15th century.

Due to internal strife, in 1177 AD Angkor’s then capital Yasodharapura was for the first time captured by foreign troops, an army from Champa who came up the Mekong River with a great fleet. The Khmer prince and later king Jayavarman VII gathered troops and fought the Chams back in land battles as in a big sea battle on the Tonle Sap (lake) in about 1180 AD. On the spot of Yasodharapura he ordered to build his central temple, Angkor Thom (also known as the ‘Bayon’).

Read the whole, richly illustrated article on Cambodian History…

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Kampong Cham / Cambodia

The old colonial city of Kampong Cham is placed 125km southeast of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on the right banks of the Mekong River. It’s the fourth biggest city in Cambodia (about 120,000 inhabitants), what does not mean much. The only really big city is Phnom Penh and all the others are rather towns. Nevertheless it’s developing and growing fast. There is not much tourism in Kampong Cham; it lacks major tourist sights and does not offer much touristic activity for visitors.

The name of the place gives a hint to the local ethnic group living here, at least of the past. ‘Kampong’ means village (very similar to the Malayan word ‘kampung’, also for village) and ‘Cham’ refers to the Champa People. The Champa empire was one of the first empires in Southeast Asia and a long-term rival of the Khmer empire of Angkor.

A bit outside of Kampong Cham is an medieval Khmer temple, Wat Nokor Bachey to visit. Wat Nokor is one of the small cultural treasures of Cambodia.

Have a look for the whole, richly illustrated article on Kampong Cham…

Keep yourself up-to-date

Check the list of recently published articles on a great variety of Southeast Asian themes. All of them are richly illustrated: Asienreisender

Kratie / Cambodia

The province town of Kratie is also the province capital of Kratie Province. It’s placed on the easter banks of the Mekong River in east Cambodia. Some 60,000 people are living in the town.

The main reason to visit Kratie is the nearby place of Kampi, where presumably the highest number of the Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Mekong River live.

Read the whole, richly illustrated article on Kratie…

Movies: Rescue Dawn

Filmmaker Werner Herzog’s second approach to the story of Dieter Dengler, a German born American bombardier (*1938 – 2001) who got shot over Laotian territory in the early Vietnam War in 1966. The movie is based on Herzog’s own documentary ‘Little Dieter needs to Fly’ (1997) and Dieter Denglers book ‘Escape from Laos’. The movie is based on a true story.

Read the whole review on Rescue Dawn…

Ratanakiri / Cambodia

The northeastern province of Cambodia, bordering Vietnam and Laos is widely covered with tropical rainforest. It is one of the last refuges of the Cambodian rain forests and for many animal species. Among them are wild elephants, gibbons and tigers who still live in the remotest parts of the jungle. The biodiversity here is among the richest in Southeast Asia.

Read the whole, richly illustrated article on Ratanakiri…