Along The Roads To Angkor

Yoshiaki Ishizawa, photography by Hitoshi Tamura

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Review

Angkor Wat is one of the most alluring destinations for the international traveller and, in spite of more than a decade at the centre of appalling violence, it has emerged as the symbol of modern and unified Cambodia.

Created in the 12th century it was the heart of the great Khmer kingdom which, from the 9th until the 15th century, was the most powerful and sophisticated civilization in South East Asia, reaching from the coast of Laos and Vietnam to much of what is now Thailand and the Malay peninsula.

At the core of this empire, god-kings ruled from city of Angkor Thom with the nearby temple at Angkor Wat, testimony to their ingenuity as builders and engineers.  They created an elaborate system of irrigation, fed by the Mekong River, which allowed year-round prosperity and they built a network of roads connecting the capital to all the major outlying cities.

This volume is a photographic journey following these royal roads, and though this may not be the most beautiful of the clutch of books centring on the sublime symbiosis of temple and jungle which is the overriding image we have of Angkor, (that honour must go to Freeman and Warner’s Angkor: The Hidden Glories ), photographer Tamura has recorded the lives of Cambodians today, which broadens the scope of the work and makes it a fascinating testament to the antique sites and the regeneration of this remarkable country. - review by Stewart Grimshaw