The times, they are changing - fast
A question mark for years has lately turned into Southeast Asia’s great exclamation point, and eternally laid-back Cambodia’s temples and river life can now be reached by smooth roads and daily flights – if you haven’t been yet, hurry: it’s changing fast. The common starting point, Phnom Penh, is filled with French buildings and ancient Buddhist temples on the Mekong, but is more remembered for its grim recent past, when the Khmer Rouge massacred up to two million; sobering visits can be made to the nearby Choeung Ek "killing fields," where 8,000 skulls have been unearthed. Most of Cambodia’s past is far less grisly, most notably the world’s largest religious site at Angkor Wat (a five-hour bus ride north of Phnom Penh). Here, rent a motorbike and take a day or three to catch sunset views and wander through overgrown temples with jungle tree roots poking through 1000-year-old walls. Rushed itineraries stick to these two sites – others kick back at Sihanoukville’s beach or blaze through bumpy trails to see Kratié’s fresh-water dolphins, cannonball into the volcanic lakes at Virachey National Park, or ride the roof of the train to fun river town Battambang.
