Cambodia : Angkor Wat

The ruins of Angkor are one of the most striking monuments to the past glory of Cambodian civilization.

At Angkor Wat there is an overwhelming sense of history, both ancient and recent. The ancient is obvious with overgrown ruins of temples from the time of the Khmer Kings in the 11th Century. The legacy of the recent history can be seen in the faces and heard in the words of the survivors of the Killing Fields in the 1970's.

During that time as many as three million of the seven million people in Cambodia were murdered by the despotic Khmer Rouge let by Pol Pot. Any person with education, even those with glasses were killed by the cadres of soldiers so young that they were almost children.

Many of those soldiers and the families of the victims are living side by side in this nation still suffering. The feelings and memories will take another generation to become part of the past that is gone, like the days of the ancient kings.