The Southeast Asia Travel Specialists Since 1999
Jayavarman IV – c. 921/928 to 941/942 Jayavarman IV is not usually considered one of Cambodia’s most revered rulers. His biography highlights would include: trashing Angkor, moving the capital into the back of beyond, doing away with several of his relatives and seriously upsetting the palace clique and aristocratic hierarchy. But, is that a case of early fake news and…
The slightly underwhelming ruins of Kapilapura at Angkor -probably the least-visited, least-known of any temple that actually appears on most maps of the Angkor Archaeological Park. Just look slightly above and to the right (northeast.) of Angkor Wat on any standard map and you’ll see a small spot marked Kapilapura. What’s interesting about it though, apart from being able to…
Well, both is the easy answer! There’s no denying Ak Yum Temple is a very unspectacular ruin and whichever way you look at it it doesn’t really amount to much more than a pile of old bricks with a couple of sandstone slabs scattered around for good measure. It’ll be a snowy day in Siem Reap before this remote little…
So, weird food of Southeast Asia!? Well, durian, rats, birds’ nests – fair enough, but there are a host of other weird and wonderful food and drink items to be found in S. E. Asia. Some that will have you asking where you can buy a kilo to take home, some that will leave you totally indifferent and others that…
Rajendravarman II c. 944 to 968 Even King Rajendravarman’s title itself is still a matter of debate, with historians opting for either Rajendravarman I or Rajendravarman II depending on their acceptance, or otherwise, of a certain Rajendravarman the 1st from Sambapura, purported to have been ruling in the Angkor area during the latter half of the 8th century. Since this…
The excellent Saray Water Hyacinth project is a community project in Prek Toal village, Battambang Province, Cambodia organized and funded by the NGO Osmose and the Australian Government Prek Toal, a large village – or small town – situated at the point where the Sangker River meets the Tonle Sap Lake is entirely constructed on rafts, floating on the water….
An English headmaster created something of a controversy recently when he ate fried tarantulas during a school assembly in Orpington, southeast London! See article… (They never did that sort of thing in my day.) The tarantula was already dead, (obviously) having actually been imported from Cambodia where it’s considered something of a delicacy, and was crunched in order to raise…
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…
Laos’ Four Thousand Islands, or Si Phan Don, region lies just to the north of the Cambodian border in the far south’s Champassak Province. Here the Mekong River widens and shallows dramatically before crashing over the spectacular Khone Phapaeng Falls. 4,000 is, of course, a guesstimate since islands appear and disappear with the dry and rainy seasons making it impossible…
Oh my god – they’ve put ice in my drink, I’m going to die a horrible death! Southeast Asian ice cubes are a short cut to a stomach pump in the nearest hospital! A commonly believed myth maintained by certain guide books, but these days, in much of the region, simply false. Firstly it’s well known that drinking very cold…