An Intro to Cambodia - General information and IdeaThe Kingdom of Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy situated in Southeast Asia and counting a population of more than 13 million people. Many Cambodians escorts are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, however the nation is home likewise to a considerable number of Cham and little hill tribes.
The country borders Thailand to its west, Laos to its north, Vietnam to its east, and the Gulf of Thailand to its south.From the 9th century to the 15th century, Cambodia represented the center of the Khmer Empire, with Angkor as a capital. The Angkor Wat, the empire's main spiritual website, is a symbolic tip of the time when Cambodia was a major powerrulung most of the Indochinese peninsule, and continues to be the nation's leading traveler attraction.From 1863 the nation was a protectorate of France, which lasted till 1953, when the country got self-reliance. Cambodia covers an area of about 181,040 square kilometers. It has 443 kilometers of shoreline along the Gulf of Thailand. The most distinct geographical feature are the lacustrine plains formed by the inundations of the Great Lake. It measures about 2 500 square kilometers during the dry period and broadens to about 24 000 during the rainy period. This densely inhabited plain, devoted to wet rice growing, is the heart of Cambodia. Most of the country's territory lies at elevations of less than 100 meters above the water level, the exceptions being the Cardamom Mountains (1,813 meters of elevation) and the high escarpment of the Dângrêk Mountains situated along the border with Thailand's Isan region. The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of hard cash in Cambodia after the textile industry. More than 60 % of visitors go to Angkor, and most of the remainder to Phnom Penh. Other traveler highlights include Sihanoukville (Cambodia's only port), whits its popular beach, and the area around Kampot, consisting of the Bokor Hill Station. The well known temples of Angkor make up the Cambodia's greatest traveler attraction. The almost 100 temples represent now the sacred remains of exactly what was as soon as a much bigger management and spiritual centre, and were constructed in between the 9th and 13th centuries to glorify a variety of Khmer kings. The three most splendid temples are Bayon, Ta Prohm and the enormous Angkor Wat. The majority of Angkor was abandoned in the 15th century and it was gradually cloaked by jungle. Efforts were undertaken to eliminate the abundant greenery which threatened to totally destroy the monuments, and restoration of the temples still undergoes. The Angkor Wat complex is the most charming example of Khmer architecture. Integrateded the early 12th century for king Suryavarman II as his state temple, it stayed an important spiritual centre for centuries-- first Hindu, and afterwards Buddhist. Out of the reach of travelers throughout the civil war, it has restored around the world attention after being displayed in the 2001 film Lara Croft: Burial place Raider.
The Bayon is the other highlight of Angkor. Integrateded the 13th century as the state temple of the king Jayavarman VII, it was the centre of the then capital and bears 54 towers, each decorated with 4 grinning faces. The biggest and most populated city of Cambodia (about 1 million residents), Phnom Penh was known in the 1920s as the Pearl of Asia. Renowned for its traditional Khmer and French influenced architecture, it is a significant tourist location in Cambodia, as well as in Indochina as a whole. The main tourist attractions in Phnom Penh are the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace. They sit side by side on the Sothearos Blvd and, being two separate complexes, are though seen as one. Integrateded 1866 by the French, the Royal Palace comprises numerous structures, the Throne hall ranking as the most important. Adjacent to the Throne Hall is a 59 metre high tower. South of it is the Royal Treasury and the Vlla of Napoleon III, built in 1866 and given afterwards as a present to Cambodia. At the northern part of the palace grounds is located the Silver Pagoda. The original pagoda, constructed in 1866 by King Norodom, was mostly made from wood and, in 1962 was expanded by Sihanouk. It owes its name to the fact that its floor is made from more than 5 000 silver blocks with a total weight of more than 6 heaps. The most crucial Buddha statue of the temple is, likewise to Bangkok's royal temple, an Emerald Buddha, which is in this case not made of emerald, but of Baccarat crystal and dates back to the 17th century. On the Museum scene, well worth checking out are the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center- among the primary killing fields of Pol Pot and the Toul Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crime (the infamous jail of the Khmer Rouge), both displaying horrific artifacts from the dark age of Pol Pot, as well as the National Historic Museum. |