Cambodia

The largest religious monument on earth, Angkor Wat was built by Khmer Emperor Suryavarman II in the 12th century as a Hindu mountain-temple and astronomical calendar — its alignment is precisely calculated to the solstices. At dawn, the temple's five lotus towers are reflected in the moat's still water in an image so iconic it appears on Cambodia's national flag.

The state temple of King Jayavarman VII, built around 1200 AD at the centre of Angkor Thom, Bayon is famous for its 54 towers carved with 216 enormous faces — believed to represent either the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or the king himself smiling serenely in every direction. The faces emerge from the jungle canopy as you approach, creating an unsettling and unforgettable entrance.

Left largely uncleared since its rediscovery, Ta Prohm is the temple where the jungle has won — enormous strangler figs and silk-cotton trees have wrapped their roots around the stone galleries and towers, creating a scene of dramatic natural reclamation that is unique among the Angkor temples. It was chosen as the filming location for the original Tomb Raider precisely because it requires no imagination to feel its wildness.

Cambodia's capital carries a complex and essential history that honest travel must engage with — the extraordinary Royal Palace with its Silver Pagoda, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Choeung Ek memorial together present a complete portrait of a country that survived one of the 20th century's great catastrophes and rebuilt itself. The Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers meet here, and the evening light on the water from a riverside bar is one of Southeast Asia's finest views.

The largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and one of the world's most productive fisheries, the Tonle Sap expands from 2,700 square kilometres in the dry season to 16,000 during the monsoon — a seasonal phenomenon that drove the entire economic and agricultural system of the Khmer Empire. The floating villages on its shores, where entire communities live on the water year-round, are among the most extraordinary human habitats in Asia.

A former French colonial beach retreat of crumbling villas and sea-salt air, Kep is famous for its exceptionally fresh crab, cooked with the region's wild-grown Kampot pepper and eaten at wooden tables over the water. The offshore Kep Archipelago and nearby Rabbit Island offer completely undeveloped beach experiences in a part of Cambodia that sees almost no foreign tourists.