Angkor Wat

Siem Reap is a bustling tourist attraction due to its proximity to the Angkor Temple Complex, the world's largest religious monument.

This magnificent example of classical Khmer architecture combines Indian and Indochinese culture and the accumulated experience of centuries in one of the world's most beautiful monuments.

This huge monument of palaces and temples was built on the sprawling alluvial plain to the north of Tonle Sap.

Banlung

Is the captial of Rattanakiri province and approximately 600 km north-east of Phnom Penh. The area is best known for its exciting ecotourism opportunities.

It is home to hill tribes like the Jorais, Tampuans and Kreungs, who live an isolated life carrying on traditions that have endured through time. Wildlife is plentiful, with manys varieties of flora and fauna. Tigers, which roam freely in the deep jungles, are a protected species.

Royal Palace

One block further south on Saigon Boulevard, which runs parallel with but inland from the Tonle Sap, stands the Royal Place. The present-day buildings were constructed earlier this century on the site of the Banteay Kev, a citadel built in 1813.

The ground plan and style of the palace building and of the temple area which is separated from them by a wall , are strongly influenced by the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

National Museum

The National Museum (formerly the Albert Sarraut Museum), north of the Royal Place on 13th street, was built of red brick by the French in 1917-1920, in a pseudo-khmer style. It is a rectangle, 210 ft by 170 ft, round a central courtyard.

In 1975, the Khme Rouge drove the museum's management out of Phnom Penh and the director was killed. The collections were decimated by the Khmer Rouge and left in total disarray. From the beginning of 1979 it was possible to carry out the most urgent repairs to the building and to rearrange the exhibits.