LAND of SMILES

Its troubled history and extraordinary beauty makes Cambodia one of the most compelling destinations you can visit on a river cruise

- James Litston

A 4am start to the day is rarely an appealing prospect – but we’re promised that it’s going to be very much worth it. Our guide, Samnang, leads us over a floating pontoon in the inky darkness, then encourages us up a flight of stairs to sit in a line along a stone wall. Before long, the sky begins to turn rosy, gradually revealing a series of towers beside lily-filled pools as the new day brightens behind the stone temples of Angkor Wat. For a world famous, UNESCO-listed attraction, this is quite the introduction.

The temple complex that spent centuries lost to the forest is part of the much larger, but equally ruined, city of Angkor Thom, which in its 12th-century heyday was more than twice the size of contemporary Paris. Angkor Thom was the capital of an empire that, at its height, encompassed much of what is now Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its wooden structures were consumed by the jungle when the complex was abandoned, but the magnificent, stone-built temples – including Angkor Wat – survived. Now, standing proud of the vegetation that shrouded them for centuries, these temples are Cambodia’s most compelling attraction.