There is much more to the ancient Khmer Empire than just temples and viharas, for example, there are the building types including libraries, hospital chapels, stele shelters, firehouses, staging places, ashramas, and of course bridges, then, there are all the constructions made of perishable materials which we will never truly know bar attempting to visualize … Read more
Battambang city, located about 160km by road to the southwest of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, is culturally rich and charming, featuring the best food in the country, several important ancient temples, beautiful heritage pagodas, and also French colonial heritage. We’ll focus on the Buddhist pagodas today, introducing a little of their heritage and the … Read more
This tour almost replicates my first big tour, the Red Dot Tour in early 2002 but this time I’d have Chanthim come along for the ride and this time, shifting focus from the ancient temples to more contemporary Buddhist wonders. To see all the sites visited on both tours and other shorter trips see the … Read more
Recently, I wrote an introduction to the Cambodian Water Festival (here) and I thought it’d be cool to do a little digging through the French archives for some historical notes and see what comes up. The first account I could track down was that by Louis Delaporte in his 1880 publication, Voyage au Cambodge. L’Architecture … Read more
The Terrace of the Leper King, located in Angkor Thom between Tep Pranam and the Terrace of the Elephants/Royal Palace, was first cleared by Jean Commaille, in 1911, which revealed the amazing reliefs of the internal wall. This clearing work was continued by Henri Marchal between 1917 to 1925, and followed by BP Groslier who … Read more