Great read, Brian. Cambodia is definitely in my top three favourite countries visited. I have a funny story about a visit to the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh if our paths ever cross again.
Great to hear from you Chris! I would love to hear your story, knowing you, I bet it is a doozy. You should create a substack account and write about it (and that crazy story about India I vaguely recall from almost 40 years ago!). I will be there first to subscribe!
I have been to Cambodia twice and fell in love with it. An amazing country with a tragic recent past and the kindest people. Angkor Wat is a magical place!
Yes indeed! It has that effect on people, doesn’t it! It certainly exceeded my expectations the first time I visited and the affection grows with each visit.
Funny you should mention Ayutthata. I booked a tour to go there a month ago when I was staying in Bangkok but caught a bad cold the day before and had to cancel. Until a few months ago I had no idea that at one time it was the largest city in the world - amazing!
Ayutthaya had embassies from France, Japan and I believe a number of other countries.
It was destroyed by a huge Burmese Army - I've heard a million soldiers - who besieged it for a year before breaking in. The Burmese captured the Thai royal family as hostages, took many as slaves and slaughtered others. They also stripped out the gold and sent it back to Yangon to make a gold temple, which I've seen.
About 50,000 Thais and a general escaped and retreated to what is now Bangkok, which had just been a customs port, and founded what is now the capital.
Great read, Brian. Cambodia is definitely in my top three favourite countries visited. I have a funny story about a visit to the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh if our paths ever cross again.
Great to hear from you Chris! I would love to hear your story, knowing you, I bet it is a doozy. You should create a substack account and write about it (and that crazy story about India I vaguely recall from almost 40 years ago!). I will be there first to subscribe!
I have been to Cambodia twice and fell in love with it. An amazing country with a tragic recent past and the kindest people. Angkor Wat is a magical place!
Yes indeed! It has that effect on people, doesn’t it! It certainly exceeded my expectations the first time I visited and the affection grows with each visit.
Enjoyed that. We went to Siam Riep in 1997 while working in Thailand.
It was interesting and also depressing to think the entire population were basically slaves and huge numbers died building the royal monuments.
It reminded me of Ayutthata in Thailand, the capital before Bangkok, before it was destroyed by a Burmese Army. Did you go there?
You've inspired me to dig out some old photos and write about our experiences. Look forward to your next episode.
Funny you should mention Ayutthata. I booked a tour to go there a month ago when I was staying in Bangkok but caught a bad cold the day before and had to cancel. Until a few months ago I had no idea that at one time it was the largest city in the world - amazing!
Ayutthaya had embassies from France, Japan and I believe a number of other countries.
It was destroyed by a huge Burmese Army - I've heard a million soldiers - who besieged it for a year before breaking in. The Burmese captured the Thai royal family as hostages, took many as slaves and slaughtered others. They also stripped out the gold and sent it back to Yangon to make a gold temple, which I've seen.
About 50,000 Thais and a general escaped and retreated to what is now Bangkok, which had just been a customs port, and founded what is now the capital.
The history is amazing.