Day 1: Phnom Penh

Upon arrival at Phnom Penh you will be greeted at the airport and transferred to your hotel. Following this there will be a city tour including the Silver Pagoda, the National Museum, the Toul Sleng Museum of Genocide, and Wat Phnom. The Silver Pagoda, also known as the Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha, named after the statue housed there, was created by King Norodom in 1892. The floor is comprised of more than 5,000 silver blocks, weighing a total of 6 tones. The National Museum, built in the Khmer style in the 1920's has an extensive collection of Khmer art. The highlight of the exhibit is a 6th century bronze figure of the Hindu god Vishnu. The Tuol Sleng Museum or Museum of Genocide is testament to a more recent and bloody past. Originally this building used to be a high school, until in 1975, it became the Khmer Rouge's main torture and interrogation center, gaining the acronym 'S-21'. From here the victims were taken out and executed in what is now known as the Killing Fields.

Day 2: Phnom Penh - Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

This morning you will be transferred to the airport for the short morning flight to Siem Reap. Once in Seam Reap you will tour Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Bayon. The Angkor Complex is perhaps the most stunning temple complex in the world. Rediscovered by the French in 1860, this huge site has over 400 temples in total, spanning a period of 500 years. Founded in the 9th century, the complex flourished for centuries; its zenith culminating with the creation of Angkor Wat in the first half of the12th century. The builders of these awesome creations likened themselves to Gods, or Devaraja and indeed several of the temples are dedicated to former monarchs.
Angkor Wat was built between 1112 and 1152 by King Suryavarman II and dedicated to Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation, although some people believe it is actually dedicated to the king himself as the temple faces west, representing death. It is the best preserved of all the temples. Its layout and its scale are simply breathtaking: the wall surrounding the enclosure measures 1,000 by 800 meters in length and the moat, said to represent the oceans of the world is 200 meters wide. The five towers that dominate the scene are said to represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the mythical home of the omnipotent Hindu deity Shiva. Beautiful bas beliefs and carvings adorn the inner sanctuaries depicting various Hindu mythological epics, including the longest continuous bas relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls. From here we visit the fortified Royal City of Angkor Thom, constructed by King Jayavarman II at the end of the 12th century, not long after the completion of Angkor Wat. It is surrounded with a massive perimeter wall and a moat with five monumental gates and covers an area of more than ten square kilometers. The most important monuments are located in the centre of the city, namely the Bayon, Baphoun and the Terrace of Elephants. The Bayon in particular is a fascinating piece of architecture and one of the most photographed. It is a bizarre structure, with a total of 54 towers elaborately decorated with over 200 enigmatic smiling faces.

Day 3: Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

Today will include visits to several sites within the Angkor complex including Ta Prohm temple, whose principal attraction is that it has not been rescued from the thick jungle, as the rest of the Angkor Complex has. It looks much the same as it would have done when the French explorers came here 140 years ago, shrouded in undergrowth and the huge roots of old Banyan trees. Also included today are the Temples of, Takeo, Chau Say Tevoda, Thammanon, Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang, and Prasat Kravan. In the afternoon following lunch there will be a boat trip on Tonle Sap Lake, Asia's largest inland lake, which swells to ten times it’s normal size during the wet season.

Day 4: Depart Siem Reap

This morning there will be a transfer waiting to take you to the airport for your connecting flight out of Cambodia.