Biggest city in the world...

... around 1200 A.D. was the Khmer city of Angkor with about 1 million inhabitants. The city was the centre of the Khmer empire for much of its existence ( 800-1431). The empire covered Cambodia and large parts of Laos and Siam ( Thailand). For most of its existence, it was a Hindu state, but towards the end, it became Buddhist

Like all empires, it fell apart, though historians are not sure why. The city and its temples were abandoned, and the jungle took over, and that, of course, is
the unique attraction here. The mix of vast areas of quite well-preserved ruins is partially overgrown by huge jungle trees with gigantic overground roots.

It's well known for scenes in the film Tomb Raiders, but not so many non Asian tourists come here as it's off the beaten track and requires a special effort to come here. That said, there are normally innumerable Chinese tourists, as we experienced already in 2007, but luckily, right now, there are next to none, since post Covid Chinese tourism is only just restarting.

We asked the locals how they survived the 3 year tourist drought, and part of the answer was a massive infrastructure investment that the government moved forward. 38 new roads, a new airport for bigger planes, and more. The downside of this is that prices and land prices have dramatically increased, and so many new places are owned by Chinese. In 15 years, land went from $10 a square meter to $500! The price per night of the hotel we stayed in in 2007 is up 150% in real terms, so unaffordable for us now, but luckily we found a very nice place that is moderately priced. I'm not sure how long that kind of option will be available .

It's a must-see place , so I recommend that if you don't have piles of spare cash, not to wait too long to come here.Læs mere