Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers, whose Angkor Empire extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries. Subsequently, attacks by the Thai and Cham (from present-day Vietnam) weakened the empire ushering in a long period of decline. In 1863, the king of Cambodia placed the country under French protection; it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia became independent within the French Union in 1949 and fully independent in 1953. After a five-year struggle, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in April 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns; at least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, enforced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT. A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, led to a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, which was not fully respected by the Khmer Rouge. UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy and the final elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability. The July 2003 elections were relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. Nation-wide local elections are scheduled for 2007 and national elections for 2008. To be updated
May 15th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Sen Monorom Relieved to leave Phonm Penh I headed to Snoul by bus where I was told I could get a share taxi to Sen Monorom as buses no longer ran that route. Five and a half hours later in Snoul “service st ... 20 photos[full story]
May 13th 2008Asia » Cambodia Cambodia! six hours on a bus later from Bangkok we were at the border and teamed up with another couple to take a taxi for another four hours on some of the worst roads I've ever seen (and I've been t ... 52 photos[full story]
March 15th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Phnom Penh Entering Cambodia overland from Loas in the North East was a doddle, despite some scepticism on the Internet this really was the easiest of border crossings with Visas available. I heard from another ... 12 photos[full story]
May 15th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Siem Reap hey peeps...
sorry for the disappearing act! were back on the planet now!
flying into delhi from goa was interesting... spice air (indian domestic airline) were great except for that they didn' ... [full story]
May 8th 2008Asia » Cambodia The 3rd class $1.00, 5 hour, train ride from Bangkok to the Cambodia border town of Poipet was luxury compared to the rest of the ride. The Thailand side of the border is developed and looks just like ... 14 photos[full story]
April 30th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Phnom Penh We manage to make it through a 6 hour bus journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh despite the bus driver insisting on putting on a Cambodian karaoke DVD at full volume for the entire journey. We did make ... 20 photos[full story]
May 12th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Kampong Chhnang Not much more than a few weeks have passed since the General and I found ourselves happily sucking down sub-standard Singaporian swill and stuffing our faces with Roti Cani, in the capital city of Ma ... 13 photos[full story]
May 12th 2008Asia » Cambodia » Siem Reap » Wat Po Village Cambodia is a kingdom with some corrupt but "democratic" elected politicians. Where there are a lot of kings, queens, princes, etc. there are a lot of national holidays:
For example, we don't work on ... [full story]
May 3rd 2008Asia » Cambodia » Kratie After a brief stop back in Phnom Penh (most journeys in Cambodia have to be done via the capital) we were on the road again headed to the town of Kratie on the Mekong river. Our purpose, to search out ... 6 photos[full story]
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