Cambodia holidays Angkor Wat Phnom Penh make exotic cocktai

Instead I fly to Siem Reap – and soon discover that the treasures of Cambodia’s north are not limited to its most celebrated attraction. Archaeological analysis has hinted that Angkor may have been the largest city in the pre-industrial world, a metropolis built into the jungle from the ninth century on – where Angkor Wat was just one of 1000 temples.

Of course, there is no denying this astonishing structure’s magnificence – particularly not at sunset, when its delicate swoops and curves are reflected to serene effect in the pool at its feet. But it is not alone in its majesty.

Nearby, Angkor Thom is almost a city in itself, spreading out around the 12th century Bayon temple, where numerous faces are carved into steeples of rock – some peaceful, some quizzical, some that seem to follow me with their eyes as I pass. And Ta Prohm is a semi-ruined spectacle, thick tree roots swarming all over its maze of passages and chambers, where the forest has tried to reclaim the land.

A few miles away, Siem Reap is firmly lodged in the present, its hotels catering for the many tourists who flock to Angkor. In parts, it replicates the noisy flurry of Phnom Penh, motorbikes whirling, backpacker bars blaring. But there is gentle charm too – such as the Sugar Palm, a restaurant where the beef stir-fry goes nicely with a local Angkor Beer.

On the edge of the chaos, another colonial dame keeps her cool.

True, there are elements of the 21st century about the Raffles Grand Hotel D’Angkor – the giant swimming pool, the swish spa. But the wrought-iron lift in reception, the antique dial telephones in the corridors and the polished wood in the rooms are romantic relics of the French epoch in Cambodia.

There are plenty of sad moments to the country’s difficult past – but, nursing a gin cocktail of my own on the hotel veranda, I decide that, for now, the future can wait.

Sourced: cambodia.Org