Southeast Asia Travel News

Excellent to see the, in our opinion long overdue, recognition of Koh Ker ancient city by the UNESCO powers that be with its inscription onto their World Heritage list as of September 2023. These spectacular jungle ruins, located in Preah Vihear Province, represent the site of the Khmer capital during the early to mid part of the 10th century. As…

While the majority of the best-known and, of course, most frequently visited, Angkorean temples are situated in Siem Reap province and northwestern Cambodia, the well-preserved, hill-top sanctuary of Phnom Chisor, located in the opposite – southeastern – region of the country, is a reminder of the geographical extent of these fabulous ancient temples. Spectacular and often still intact, ancient Khmer…

Although far less well-known than the justifiably reputed cuisines of neighbouring Thailand or Vietnam, we reckon the rich and varied Cambodian, or Khmer, cooking more than holds its own amid Southeast Asian fare and local food is generally a serendipitous and tasty discovery on any of our Cambodian tours. Here then is just a short a selection of some of…

We’re delighted to see Cambodia gain a 3rd UNESCO World Heritage Site, after Angkor and Preah Vihear, with the granting of such status to the ruined 6th and 7th century Khmer capital at Sambor Prei Kuk.   These picturesque ruined temples, scattered through forest north of Kompong Thom in central Cambodia, represent the remains of the royal capital, Ishnapura, of…

Came across this nameless Angkor period ruined temple whilst poking around in some villages outside of Siem Reap recently: even the locals didn’t have a name for it and though these days the few remaining stones scattered across the grounds of a contemporary Buddhist watnf don’t really merit the term ‘temple’ it’s interesting to think that even these meagre remains…

That’s Preah Vihear Temple to the Khmers or Khao Preah Viharn for the Thais. The recently promoted UNESCO World Heritage site is situated smack bang on the border and yes….you may well have noticed in the news that there have been a few border ‘issues’ between the two countries in recent times. Note the disagreement has never been over ownership…

Hanging around the Phnom Penh riverfront or Siem Reap’s ‘Pub Street’ tuk-tuk drivers will flock to offer you massages with; fish, their sister, grannie, themselves as well as attempt to flog you the gamut of soft and hard drugs – some may even offer you a ride – but turn up in Kampot these days you’re more likely to hear,…

Not one of Cambodia’s most well-known tourist destinations but the small brick Neang Khmao Temple (or Prasart Neang Khmau) is well worth a peak if you’re passing and is conveniently located in the grounds of the modern Wat of the same name right on highway #2. (Approx 50 kilometres south of the capital and 30 kilometres from Takeo City.) That’s…

More pics from down the back of the sofa (or is that settee?). This time a selection of images of Kep sunsets taken during our last visit to the small Cambodian coastal town. We thought of Kep since we’ll be down there again in a couple of weeks on our next Beyond Angkor – off the beaten track Cambodia tour…

A favourite Phnom Penh Temple. If we’ve got this right, (and we’re not guaranteeing it!), the temple’s called Wat Kean Kleang. Situated a couple of kilometres after the Japanese Bridge with the Mekong bordering one side of the temple grounds and the main highway Number 6 the other. The temple is hard to miss with a large and elaborate, all…

Last time we visited this temple – Wat Kompong Pich, Koh Dach we believe it’s called, (just outside Phnom Penh) – we were kindly invited to lunch by the old ladies who were cooking food for the monks. They actually apologized saying that it was ‘only Khmer food and not ‘Barang’ (Western ) food since they didn’t know how to…

The tiny, but well preserved Prasart Phnom Ngok or Chnork in Kampot Province is probably the best candidate for Cambodia’s oldest temple (or at least reasonably intact oldest temple. It clocks in at some 1,600 – 1,700 years (estimates do vary). That’s nearly twice as old as Angkor Wat! A brief history With the expansion of the Chenla kingdom, from…

Travelling around Cambodia is never boring; – if you get tired of looking at the ubiquitous sugar palm, paddy-field, water-buffalo combinations then you can be sure that there’ll be some interesting/unusual/crazy sight right around the next bend. Just drove up from Kampot to Phnom Penh on the excellent and freshly upgraded, (give or take a couple of nearly finished bridges),…

The ruins of the so-called ‘haunted casino at Bokor, near Kampot in Southern Cambodia, certainly look creepy enough! (Apparently heavy losers at the casino frequently threw themselves off the conveniently placed adjacent clifftop!). Bokor Town, perched high on Bokor Mountain overlooking the Gulf of Thailand, was set up as cool, breezy kind of hill-station-come-resort for hot and sweaty French colonists…

Koh Tonsai or Rabbit Island lies just off the coast from Firstly, there aren’t really any rabbits whatsoever on the island but supposedly the island itself is actually rabbit-shaped if seen from a certain angle, though we reckon that depends on how many Angkor Beers you drink beforehand! The island is at present, pretty much unspoilt – i.e. there’s nothing…