Cambodia tourist information

The Kingdom of Cambodia (for the various names of the country in Khmer) is a state in Southeast Asia with a population of more than 13 million people. A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as Cambodian, although Khmer is also used. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the country also has a substantial number of Cham and small hill tribes.

Places to go in Cambodia ...

Battambang Phnom Penh Siem Reap Sihanoukville

Cambodia is the successor state of the once powerful Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the 11th and 14th centuries.

The country shares a border with Thailand to its west, with Laos to its north and with Vietnam to its east. In the south it faces the Gulf of Thailand. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong river (colloquial Khmer: Tonle Thom, i.e. "the great river") and the Tonle Sap (i.e. "the fresh water river"), an important source of fish.

Cambodia has an area of about 181,040 square kilometers (69,900 sq. mi), sharing an 800 kilometer (500 mi) border with Thailand on the north and west, a 541 kilometer (336 mi) border with Laos on the northeast, and a 1,228 kilometer (763 mi) border with Vietnam on the east and southeast. It has 443 kilometers (275 mi) of coastline along the Gulf of Thailand.

The most distinctive geographical feature is the lacustrine plain formed by the inundations of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake), measuring about 2,590 square kilometers (1,000 sq. mi) during the dry season and expanding to about 24,605 square kilometers (9,500 sq. mi) during the rainy season.

This densely populated plain, which is devoted to wet rice cultivation, is the heartland of Cambodia. Most (about 75%) of the country lies at elevations of less than 100 meters (330 ft) above sea level, the exceptions being the Cardamom Mountains (highest elevation 1,813 m / 5,948 ft) and their southeast extension the Dâmrei Mountains ("Elephant Mountains") (elevation range 500-1,000 m or 1,640–3,280 ft), as well the steep escarpment of the Dângrêk Mountains (average elevation 500 m / 1,640 ft) along the border with Thailand's Isan region. The highest elevation of Cambodia is Phnom Aoral, near Pursat in the center of the country, at 1,813 meters (5,948 feet) above sea-level.

Temperatures range from 10°C to 38°C (50°F–100°F) and Cambodia experiences tropical monsoons. Southwest monsoons blow inland bringing moisture-laden winds from the Gulf of Thailand and Indian Ocean from May to October, and the country experiences the heaviest precipitation from September to October. The northeast monsoon ushers in the dry season, which lasts from November to March, with the driest period from January to February.

The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of hard currency after the textile industry. More than 60% of visitor arrivals are to Angkor, and most of the remainder to Phnom Penh. Other tourist hotspots include Sihanoukville in the southeast which has several popular beaches, and the nearby area around Kampot including the Bokor Hill Station.

Angkor Wat (Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple") is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture from the Angkorian era, although hundreds of other temples have been discovered in and around the region. Out of bounds to tourists during the civil war, the temples gained particular worldwide attention after Ta Prohm and others were featured in the 2001 movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The Bayon, also at Angkor, is located at the center of Angkor Thom. It originally had 49 towers, although only 37 remain, each bearing four smiling faces.

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Cuisine ^*

Khmer Cuisine is another name for the food widely consumed in the country Cambodia. It is well known for its exotic and unique flavors. Khmer cuisine is noted for the use of prahok, a type of fermented fish paste, in many dishes as a distinctive flavoring. When prahok is not used, it is likely to be kapi instead, a kind of fermented shrimp paste. Coconut milk is the main ingredient of many Khmer curries and desserts. In Cambodia there is regular aromatic rice and glutinous or sticky rice. The latter is used more in dessert dishes with fruits such as durian. Almost every meal is eaten with a bowl of rice.

Cambodian cuisine also uses fish sauce widely in soups, stir-fried cuisine, and as dippings. Curry dishes known as kari shows its ties with Indian cuisine. Influences from Chinese cuisine can be noted in the use of many variations of rice noodles. Beef noodle soup known simply as Kuyteav is a popular dish brought to Cambodia by its Chinese settlers. Also, Banh Chiao is the Khmer version of the Vietnamese Banh xeo.

Typically, Cambodians eat their meals with at least three or four separate dishes. Each individual dish will usually be one of either sweet, sour, salty or bitter. Chili is usually left up to the individual to add themselves. In this way Cambodians ensure that they get a bit of every flavor to satisfy their palates.

Vegetables
Many vegetables used in Khmer cuisine are also used in Chinese cuisine. Unusual vegetables such as winter melon, bitter melon, luffa, and yardlong bean can be found in soups and stews. Oriental squash can be stewed, stir fried or sweetened and steamed with coconut milk as a dessert. Vegetables such as mushrooms, cabbage, baby corn, bamboo shoots, fresh ginger, Chinese broccoli, snow peas, and bok choy are commonly used in many different stir fry dishes simply known as chha. Banana blossoms are sliced and added to some noodle dishes like nom banh chok.

Meats
Fish is the most common form of meat in Khmer cuisine. Dried salted fish known as trei ngeat are a favorite with plain rice porridge. The popular Khmer dish called amok uses a kind of catfish steamed in a savoury coconut based curry. Pork is quite popular in making sweet Khmer sausages known as twah ko. Beef and chicken are stewed, grilled or stir fried. Seafood include an array of shellfish such as clams, cockles as well as crayfish, shrimp and squid. Lobsters are not commonly eaten because of their price, but middle class and rich Cambodians enjoy eating them at Sihanoukville. Duck roasted in Chinese char siu style is popular during festivals. Unusual meats include frog, turtle, and various arthropods like tarantulas, but would be difficult to find in Khmer cuisine abroad, but are enjoyed as everyday delights in Cambodia.

Noodles
Many elements of Cambodian noodle dishes were inspired by Chinese and Vietnamese cooking despite maintaining a unique Khmer variation. Prohok is never used with noodle dishes. Rice stick noodles are used in Mee Katang, which is a Cambodian variation of Chow Fun. Unlike the Chinese styled Chow Fun, the noodles are plated under the stir fry beef and vegetables and is topped off with scrambled eggs. Burmese style noodles is a vegetarian dish made from thin rice stick noodles and steamed cooked with soy sauce and garlic chives. It is served with pickled vegetables Jroak, julienned eggs, and sweet garlic fish sauce garnished with crushed peanuts. Mi Cha is sweet egg noodles stir fried with pork and cabbages.

History

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.

Culture ^*

Khmer culture, as developed and spread by the Khmer empire, has distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture which have strongly influenced neighbouring Laos and Thailand. Notable recent artistic figures include the singers Sinn Sisamouth, who introduced new musical styles to the country, and later Meng Keo Pichenda.

Bonn Om Teuk (Festival of Boat Racing), the annual boat rowing contest, is the biggest Cambodian holiday. The festival is held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong river begins to sink back to its normal levels. Approximately 10% of Cambodia's population attends this event each year. Popular games include cockfighting, soccer, and kicking a sey, which is similar to a hacky sack.

Rice, as in other South East Asian countries, is the staple grain, while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet. The Cambodian per capita supply of fish and fish products for food and trade in 2000 was 20 kilograms of fish per year or 2 ounces per day per person. Some of the fish can be made into prahok (a Khmer delicacy) for longer storage. Overall, the cuisine of Cambodia is similar to that of its Southeast Asian neighbours. The cuisine is relatively unknown to the world compared to that of its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, but has been described not as spicy as Thai cuisine and similar to other Southeast Asia cuisines.

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Terrain Mostly low, flat plains; mountains in southwest and north.

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Languages Khmer (official) 95%, French, English

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