So many reasons to love Cambodia

by Jenny Zarins

Cambodia

If you want to see South-East Asia at its most beguiling, you need to head to Cambodia. Go to watch dawn break over the jungle temples of Angkor, and for the authentic traditions of its villages and laidback capital, Phnom Penh. But also go for its immaculate beaches, and for a new resort that is leading the way in sustainable luxury. By Rodney Bolt.

The dancer raises her hands with exquisite grace, fingers flexing backward at a supernatural angle. A sequined fish tail curves up from the small of her back, strapped to her waist with a silk sash. Standing on one leg, slowly crooking the other until it disappears into the folds of her skirt, she becomes a mermaid. Hanuman the monkey god, in a terrifying mask, stomps up to woo her. A tumble of local children caper about as the monkey army. On stage, it is as if one of the bas-reliefs I had seen that morning at Angkor Wat has come to life.

The temples of Angkor have lured travellers to Cambodia for centuries. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, the most impressive of them all, stands alongside viewing the Taj Mahal by moonlight or a dawn visit to the giant rock of Uluru in Australia, in a catalogue of global must-sees, and it would make a rich prelude to my own tour. But my visit, also taking in villages, urban buzz andan island in the Gulf of Thailand, reveals that Cambodia has even more to offer than awe-inspiring antiquities.