Travel Virus

I’m exploring Cambodia, an amazing Country with striking contrast. A incredibly rich past with the immense and beautiful Khmer temples of Angkor, and an incredibly sad recent history of cruel tortures and killings by the Khmer rouge (see CNN report). In the 70s the population of Cambodia when from 7 million people to 4 million! An immensely sad number of people dead by the Khmer rouge (est. 2 millions), U.S. secret carpet bombing during Vietnam war and consequent famine and starvation.

Cambodia is now a safe and slowly developing country with 50% of the population under the age of 18!! It’s still very poor but with big hope for the future (I think). It’s the land of the beautiful Angkor temples, and many other beautiful and immense temples of the Khmer empire, about 1000 years old, with well preserved carvings. The temples are spread in an area of 160 km, and they are really astonishing.

Cambodia also offers beautiful scenaries always featuring water: the Mekong river,  floating villages in the many big lakes, boat rides between the main cities… and very friendly (but sometimes desperately poor) people.

I like Cambodia way much better than Vietnam, it’s a place that will touch your hearth, a place that you have to see once in your life (but hurry up, before mass tourism arrives). My suggestion is to dedicate at least a week or better 10-15 days to explore the deep contrasts of this land: don’t go just to Angkor Wat, you would miss so much!