Khmer Highway

This is the Ancient Khmer Highway, a road dating from the 11th-12th centuries. It connects Angkor Wat Temple complex with Phimai. In the 12C, Phaimai was part of the Khmer Empire, but now is Thailand. The total length of the route is 240km, parts of it which still can be found. This area, 30 km north west of Angkor Wat, is easily seen. However, the area was a stronghold of the Khmer Rouge and land mines are still a serious problem. Walking the route or straying off marked paths requires advice from the locals. The isolation and lack of mobile phone coverage means this is not the place to loose a leg, or two. Few of the rest house chapels or hospital chapels survive (only the chapels remain as they were the only buildings built of sandstone or laterite, and all wooden constructions rotted away long ago). The only part of the road which is still driveable is at the entrance to the town of Phimai