Angkor Wat / Cambodia-Special: Pictures & Information about the history of Angkor and the temples around Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Phrom, Bayon & about the country & the people of Cambodia.     Home / Languages   + Bookable Hotels  +   + More Hotels / Bungalows  +   + Ko Chang Information  +   + Beaches & Bays  +   + What to do?  +   + Real Estates & Property  +   + Ko Kood Special  +   + Ko Mak Special  +   + Islands near Ko Chang  +      Mainland around Trat  + Thailand Information  +      Angkor Wat / Cambodia  + Cambodia Tours  +   + Links & Banner     +      Your Advertisement here! Current Page: Angkor Wat / Cambodia-Special 1 Page back Angkor Wat / Cambodia (Ta Phrom Temple at Angkor Wat)   About us / Contact    Current Thailand Weather     Sitemap       Currency-Converter    Book your Angkor Wat and/or Cambodia Tour:                                   Angkor Wat Tours   Cambodia Tours Cambodia-Information: Political situation, Economy, Religion and more at the end of the page - or here:      Cambodia - Country & People      Temple Ruins Town Angkor with Angkor Wat - History and Information The ruins town Angkor was the capital city of Cambodia and centre of the Khmer empire from the late 9th up to the early 15th century. In the 13th century the total area of Angkor was approximate 400 square kilometre and at this time it was one of the biggest towns worldwide. The town was build around one temple on the top of a hill, which symbolic –up to the cosmically of the Hindus - the mountains of the centre from the earth. Step by step the Khmer kings build more and more temples devote to the Hindu gods. The temple buildings which today be considered to be architectural master pieces, were build in a period of 300 years. They show us how important the Hinduism and later the Buddhism have been for the society of Cambodia. Angkor consists of a lot of temples and Angkor Wat is the famous and best known of them. But also Angkor Thom with the Bayon temple or Ta Phrom, which was keeping for the most parts in the same condition, as French archaeologists found it in the 60th and 70th of the 10th century, shows the high culture of the Khmers. Angkor Thom is probably the considerable ruin of all temples in Angkor. It was bordered by a wall with 4 colossal gates which symbolic the god king who dominates the 4 directions of the wind. The centre of Angkor Thom is the Bayon temple. In it and also on the 4 gates, were work in the world-famous stone-faces. Angkor Wat, the biggest survived temple of the world, was build between 1112 and 1152. It was the tomb of Surawarman II (1113-1150), king at that time. It was rectangular constructed, the measurements are 850 metre x 1000 metre and it was made completely of stone, in which was work in pictures of scenes from Hinduism tradition. The centre is a 215 metres x 187 metres big pedestal with walls around it and 4 towers in it. The central tower in the middle of Angkor Wat has a height of 65 metre. This 5 towers symbolic the world-hill Meru with his 5 summits as be the Centrum of the universe in the Hinduism religion. Because of the invasion from Thailand in 1431 the Khmer moved their capital city in the south and Angkor with his temples was leaved to the tropical forest. Just in 1858 the French Explorer H. Mouhout discovered the temple ruins and in the following years they would be uncovered. In 1987 started the restoration of these unique ruin places.       (Ta Phrom Temple at Angkor) (Bayon Temple at Angkor) (Ta Phrom Temple at Angkor) (At Angkor) Cambodia - Country & People The Kingdom of Cambodia is situated between Thailand in the west and north-west, Laos in the north-east and Vietnam in the east and south-east. In the south-west the Gulf of Thailand formed the boundary of Cambodia. The total area is 181,035 square kilometre, from which 16.2 % be protected by nature conservation since 1997. Nearly the whole national interior was taken by a colossal low lying alluvial land plain, the fertile Mekong- and Tonle Sap basin. From the north, coming from Laos, the Mekong flow in the east plain, divide Cambodia and flow in the south to Vietnam. Also the Tonle Sap Lake in the east, with his surface extension between 2,700 square kilometres in the dry season and 10,400 square kilometre in the rainy season, is very important for the agriculture of Cambodia. The flowing off from the, the river called of the same name Tonle Sap, flow at Phnom Penh in the Mekong River. Big spaces of the plain in Cambodia will be flooded when in the rain Saison the River because of the high level from the Mekong River press back in the lake. This is the reason for the leaved fertile soil. The Kardamon hills (up to 1,700 metre high) in the south-west of the plain and in the north the Dangrek chain (up to 750 metre high) form the boundary. Capital city and place of the government is Phnom Penh. The form of government is a constitutional monarchy with King Norodon Sihanouk as head of the state since 1993. The leaders of the parliament are 2 prime minister. The parliament has 120 members and every 5 years has been an election. The total population of Cambodia is was approximate 12 million people. 20-25% of them lives in towns, the rest of them lives on the country, where they mainly works in subsistence economic (subsistence: methodology of economic which –without swap goods- serves the purpose to cover ones personal needs). The main cultivation is rice, India rubber and maize. Chinese and Vietnamese transact the most of service and trade. There's only a little industry in Cambodia and the main work is exploitation of precious stone. Also they produce cement and India rubber. The main problem for the only slowly development of the industry is the fault qualified personal and the antiquated power supply. Also the infrastructure endure still because of the destruction from the Khmer Rouge in the 70th and 80th of the last century. The growing wood industry brings important foreign exchanges in the country but the deforestation makes progress and brings big environmental damages. In 1995 starts an embargo of exports for wood, but the illegal wood business contribute to further damages of the forests. The gross national product of Cambodia consists of approximate 50% agriculture, 35% service and 15% industry. Cambodia still belongs to the poorest countries of the world. Main reason for this is certainly the brutal state of war, which Cambodia must endure in the past. The Khmer Rouge under the regime of Pol Pot (1928-1998), who wants to change Cambodia to an absolutely agricultural state, murdered altogether 1.6 million people – mainly male population. The intellectual élite nearly killed complete and the economy of the country has been extensive destroyed. Because of the many people who killed by war there’s a lot of orphans and widows in Cambodia. A lot of this woman lives with their children together in small communities for help them in mutuality. By Cambodian tradition the men was allowed to marry more than one woman, but because of the financial burden this will practised very seldom. 90-95% of the population are Theravada Buddhists, the official language is Khmer but partially they also speak French, English, Chinese and Vietnamese. The level of alphabetical is approximate 35%. Sample food is – like in the most other countries of South-East Asia – rice. There are a lot of different ways to prepare rice and he will be eaten by every meal. There are also vegetables, fish, seafood and fruits. Religion and manners are nearly like in Thailand. If you visit a family or a temple, you have to take off your shoes too. As well as in Thailand every young man has to live in one of the many temples for at least 3 month.       (River promenade at Phnom Penh) (Map of Cambodia made of bones at the Genocide Museum of Phnom Penh) (Village at the Tongle Sap River) (Beach at Sihanoukville) (Info how to get from Ko Chang to Angkor Wat you'll find here: Ko Chang / Trat - Cambodia / Angkor Wat)