Cambodia may be small but it has a rich history. It was once the seat of one of Asia’s most magnificent early civilizations, the mighty Khmer empire of Angkor, whose legendary temples attract millions of visitors every year. However, much of the rest of Cambodia remains refreshingly unvisited by tourists and, in many places, largely unexplored.

Cambodia’s sleepy towns and cities are a delight, with their faded colonial architecture and old-fashioned charm. In the countryside awaits a host of striking landscapes, from the mighty Mekong River and great Tonle Sap lake to the remote forested highlands of Rattanakiri, Mondulkiri and the Cardamom Mountains. Down south, in complete contrast, the coast serves up a beguiling cocktail of party-lifestyle hedonism, idyllic beaches and magical islands.

Much of Cambodia appears slightly anachronistic when compared to the far more populous and economically developed countries of Thailand and Vietnam that box it in. It remains a basically rural society, a bit of a regional backwater. Its provincial hinterlands appear to have changed little in generations, offering a refreshing throwback to an older and simpler era (from the outside at least), with beautiful stilted wooden houses set amid a patchwork of rice paddies and sugar palms. And although living standards for most of the population are basic in the extreme, Cambodians as a whole remain among Asia’s most friendly and welcoming people.

It's perhaps this warmth and hospitality that most impresses visitors to Cambodia – and which is all the more astonishing given the country's tragic recent past. For many, Cambodia remains synonymous with the bloody excesses of the Khmer Rouge, whose delusional leaders murdered around two million of their fellow citizens – twenty percent of the population. It's now twenty years since the Khmer Rouge were driven out but despite that, many of their former cadres occupy positions of power and responsibility, not least premier Hun Sen, the nation's leader since 1985. Whilst the country is slowly emerging from that nightmare, Cambodia's government remains unstable. The rate of crime is high, so visitors should take sensible precautions, behave responsibly and make sure they stay up to date with the travel advice from the Foreign Office website.

Title Image Credit: Eric Hossinger (Image Cropped)