Today you'll travel from Phnom Penh to the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields with your local guide. In 1975 the Red Khmer invaded the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Pol Pot became prime minister of Cambodia and made a very cruel and bloody attempt to turn Cambodia into a communist agricultural state. Currency, education, religion and private property were abolished. Anyone who did not cooperate was executed. Intellectuals and graduates were also executed - even wearing glasses or speaking a second language was enough to make someone a suspect. Pol Pot did not believe in their ideas and regarded them as annoying nuisances.

The Tuol Sleng Museum is incredibly moving. It confronts visitors quite directly with Cambodia's brutal past by means of photography. For instance, you'll see pictures of an old elementary school that was used as a prison for torturing political enemies during the rule of the Red Khmer. For many this was their last stop before they were taken to the mass graves of the Killing Fields, located just outside of Phnom Penh in an orchard. Over 17.000 people were killed.

At the end of this thought-provoking day, you'll spend the night in a small-scale hotel in town before your Cambodia travels tomorrow.
 

This morning, you'll travel by hydrofoil over the Tonle Sap Lake and on to Phnom Penh. The trip should take about 5 hours, so it's best to count on the journey to Siem Reap taking most of the day. During the trip, you can sit on the roof and enjoy the view of life on the lake passing you by. In some areas the lake is kilometres wide, in other areas only dozens of metres. You drift past villages on poles, floating islands, boats, rafts, cormorants, playing children on the banks of the lake and river and pigs in floating cages. On arrival in Siem Reap our local guide will be waiting for you., He'll take you to your hotel in the centre of town with spacious air conditioned rooms and friendly staff. You'll be able to get a good night's rest before your Cambodia trip continues tomorrow.

On the fourth day of your travels from Phnom Penh you'll visit a part of the Angkor temple complex with your guide. To see the entire complex, you would need to spend several days here since the dozens of temples are spread out over an area of about 25 kilometres. You can wander endlessly through the statues, temples and historic reliefs. Just be sure to stay on the marked paths, as there are still a few mines about! Each ruler built his own temple, giving every one a unique character. The most famous temple, Angkor Wat, features Hindu influences while the Angkor Thom temple features Buddhist influences. After a day of cultural exploration, you'll spend another night in your hotel in Siem Reap.
 

Today you'll visit Angkor independently. Angkor is the name of the ancient capital of the Khmer-empire that was established during the 8th century and included territory all the way down to Southern Vietnam and China. Later on the Thai ruled this territory during the Siamese empire and introduced many Buddhist influences. "Siem Reap" literally means "victory by Siam". It was very generous of the Khmer to allow the city to keep its name.

The Angkor temples were once surrounded by a lively city full of wooden houses. Unfortunately the houses did not stand the test of time, however the temples alone more than warrant a visit to this area. For centuries this city was buried in the jungle until a French expedition discovered the ruins early in the 1900s.

Several of the Angkor temples have since been restored. Several others still show how the jungle swallowed the temples from sight. The Ta Prohm temple has not yet been completely restored, but it's beautiful in its current state as towering trees have taken the temple prisoner. The tops of the trees shoot up into the sky, through the temple roof and the roots of the trees have wrapped themselves around the walls of the temple... truly an impressive sight. Tonight you'll spend another night in Siem Reap.