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 Cambodia was largely out of bounds to
tourists until recently, but now, areas that were unsafe because
of Khmer Rouge guerrillas and bandit groups have been returned to
the control of the Cambodian army, and virtually the whole of the
country has become accessible. For many travellers, lured by the
prospect of little explored and unspoilt regions, Cambodia has become
a top destination on Southeast Asia's otherwise well-trodden tourist
trail.
The Kingdom of Cambodia, with a population of ten million, occupies
a modest wedge of land, almost completely hemmed in by its neighbours,
Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Its glory days began in the early ninth
century, when the rival Indian-influenced Chenla kingdoms united
under King Jayavarman II to form the Khmer Empire , a powerful
and visionary dynasty, which, at its peak, stretched from Vietnam
in the east, to China in the north and Burma in the west. Recent
history has been less kind to the country. French colonization
was followed by an extended period of turbulence and instability,
culminating in the devastating Kampuchean holocaust instigated
by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in 1975. The brutal regime lasted four
years before invading Vietnamese forces reached the capital in
1979 and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot and his supporters
fled to the jungle bordering Thailand, from where they continued
to wage war on successive governments in Phnom Penh. Pol Pot's
death in 1998 finally signalled the demise of the Khmer Rouge,
and their subsequent surrender has given Cambodia a real chance
for peace for the first time in thirty years. There are indeed
many signs that Cambodia is at last shaking off the shadows of
its past and looking to the future with a cautious confidence.
International investors are beginning to back business ventures,
there is increasing evidence of development and modernization in
urban areas and foreign aid is flowing in. |
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