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Published: March 3rd 2008
There really is a force of life that runs deep within the veins of Siem Reap province in North West Cambodia. The name of the city means “Siamese defeated”, corresponding to the first and only victory of the Khmer Empire over the Thai kingdom in the 17th century. The Cambodians appear to be remembered for two things, their ancient temples and their more recent civil tragedies of the last thirt...
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KP1958
non-member comment
It's really funny. Cambodia was a vassal state under the Siamese kingdoms most of the time from the 15th century to 19th century, when the country was finally swallowed up by the French. The Khmer were defeated by the Thais in almost all battles since the 14th century. The Khmer kingdom had long been an empire no more by the 17th century. They were constantly kept busy balancing the powers of the Siamese and the Vietnamese. Yet the Thais never thought of naming any of their provinces "Khmane Riab" or "Khmane Phinat" (literally Khmer Destroyed). It seems that the Khmer's once-in-a-while victories over the Siamese must have been very important to them.