VIETNAM - CAMBODIA

The name given to the Choeung Ek extermination camp, created by the Khmer Rouge (c.1975) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge killed an estimated one and a half million citizens during its 3+year rule. Records show that 17,000 were sent to Choeung Ek for execution. The remains of 9,000 men, women & children have been exhumed here.

The site now has an informative & tastefully managed visitor experience & a Memorial Stupa housing bones, skulls & clothing fragments.

Tourists can visit also the Toul Sleng Museum at the S-21 (Security Prison 21) former High School, where thousands of prisoners were held & tortured before being sent for execution. We declined that one.

The Angkor monuments are mostly concentrated in an area 5-10km radius, north of Siem Reap. Ideally, at least two days is required to see the main sites. Entry fee is USD20 for one day & USD40 for a 3 day pass.

On the approach to the South Gate of Angkor Thom, the Khmer walled city capital of 9 sq km, built starting from the 12th C.

The enigmatic Bayon temple is at the centre of Angkor Thom, with its most memorable face-towers, 216 faces in total some say...

A feature of Angkor are the marvellous giant trees, especially at temple ruin sites that have been carefully preserved in a 'state of glorious disrepair', eg. the Preah Khan & Ta Prohm (one of the Angkor filming locations for Indiana Jones & Lara Croft) temples.

Earlier temples were faced with brick, before the Khmer builders became skilled in working sandstone.
Many were constructed in 'pyramid mountain' fashion.

Nice landscape features...

Ladies in Khmer costume...

Soppaeak, our tuk-tuk driver for 2 days...

They say that 95% of visitors to Cambodia come to see the temples of Ancient Angkor. The airport at nearby Siem Reap receives more international visitors than the Cambodian capital at Phnom Penh.

Restoration & repair was pioneered largely by the French but is now a large scale international effort since Angkor became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Angkor Wat is the centre piece (but by no means the only highlight), there are numerous other temple complexes in the area, around the modern town of Siem Reap (thus named by the Cambodians after an historic defeat of Thailand (Siam)).

Sunrise at Angkor Wat, surrounded by a rectangular moat 1.5km x 1.3km (jostling elbow-to-elbow with other camera-toting tourists at 05.30am!).

One of the two causeway approaches to Angkor Wat, a pyramid of 3-levels of towers. 82 hectares within its outer enclosure, originally contained a small city. The world's largest religious monument.

However Lily made the mistake of dressing sleeveless & needed to borrow my shirt to be allowed entry to the top level...

Steps climbing to the top level...

There are 600 metres of carved narrative bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat...

And reportedly, 2,000 apsaras (celestial maidens)...

Hoi An, on Vietnam's East coast has a sheltered river estuary harbour & was a significant trading port in the 18th C, for ceramics especially. Hoi An Ancient Town today is a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site.
The architecture of its building fabric derives from Vietnamese-Chinese & French-European.

The townscape is small scaled, linear, parallel-aligned to the harbour-front, but full of variation in street frontage, shade, shelter & space.

Courtyard house interiors...

The 'Japanese Covered Bridge'...

Hoi An snapshots...

The friendliness of Vietnamese is legendary & indeed, with few exceptions, there are ready smiles to be had in every direction.

Our Sinh Cafe booking agent waits with us on a rainy street corner in Hanoi, to ensure that we rendezvous with the pickup for our night bus to Hue...

Sweet tofu snack lady near Hue Citadel, fresh tofu in sweet syrup...

Ladies in Hue...

Steamed Bun (Banh Bao) seller, evening time in Hoi An...

Baguette rolls lady in Hue, no Subway ever tasted like this...