Into the forgotten kingdom

"Please do not bring explosives into the temple"
Sign outside temple at Angor Wat

INTO THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOM
Angkor Wat is stunning, and any description makes you overdose on superlatives. It's difficult to get a sense of scale of this complex of temples. Its bigger than the Vatican, bigger than the Taj Mahal - in fact it is the worlds largest religious building. I started by walking round, then, realising my mistake, hired a bicycle
as otherwise it would have taken weeks to get around. There are huge stone sculptures of heads and faces.

The flora and fauna are pretty incredible as well. There is everything from elephants and monkeys down to butterflies - including, somewhat bizarrely, a herd of geese. Trees puncture through some of the stonework, and vines droop down. Bald Buddhist monks in bright orange flowing robes stroll around. It really is an
awe-inspiring sight, and what with the heat and humidity the whole experience is overwhelming.


* * * *

The other side to this area of Cambodia is the landmines. This really is a genuine problem decades after the last armed conflict here. Even now, landmines kill between 800 and 2000 people a year, just in this one tiny country. How often is that on the news? It really just isn't right that kids should be wandering round without arms or legs because of actions taken a quarter of a century ago.

I have also visited the killing fields, although I don't really want to dwell on the subject. I'm still slightly shocked that Pol Pot lived his entire life a free man, and died of old age in 1998. His conduct was clearly criminal, and he has rightly been described as the architect of one of the worst events of the 20th century. (It is perhaps worth bearing in mind however, that the US military killed at least twice as many people as Pol Pot did in SE Asia). It wasn't until the Vietnamese
invaded that the Khmer Rouge's tyranny was brought to an end.

Anyway, I'm headed off to Laos. Finally, one place that managed to escape the ravages of the Vietnam War. Sort of.