The traditional Khmer costume

The traditional Khmer costume consisted of a shirt or blouse and a skirt-like lower garment--sampot for women and sarong for men, a tube-shaped garment about a meter wide and as much as three meters in circumference. Made of cotton or of silk in many different styles and patterns, it is pulled on over the legs and fastened around the waist. On ceremonial occasions, elegant sampot as sarong, embroidered with gold or silver threads, may be worn with a long piece of material gathered at the waist, passed between the legs, and tucked into the waistband in back. Members of the urban middle and upper classes may wear Westernstyle clothing at work and more traditional clothing at home.
At home both sexes wear the sampot and the sarong. In rural areas, working men and women may wear loose-fitting pants and shirts or blouses. Many men wear Western-style pants or shorts. A third essential part of Khmer dress is the krama, or long scarf, that is worn around the neck, over the shoulders, or wrapped turban-style around the head. School children wear Western-style clothing to school. The boys wear shirts and shorts; the girls wear skirts and blouses.
The Khmer Rouge were noted for their unisex black "pajamas." Their typical garb was the peasant outfit of collarless black shirt--baggy trousers and checkered krama (a scarf knotted loosely about the neck). French anthropologist Marie Alexandrine Martin reported that the wearing of brightly colored clothing was prohibited under the Khmer Rouge and that women, young and old, wore black, dark blue, or maroon sampot with short-sleeved plain blouses. Women were forbidden to wear Western-style pants at any time. The conical hat characteristic of the Vietnamese has been adopted to a certain extent by Khmer in the provinces adjacent to Vietnam.

The traditional Khmer costume

The traditional Khmer costume consisted of a shirt or blouse and a skirt-like lower garment--sampot for women and sarong for men, a tube-shaped garment about a meter wide and as much as three meters in circumference. Made of cotton or of silk in many different styles and patterns, it is pulled on over the legs and fastened around the waist. On ceremonial occasions, elegant sampot as sarong, embroidered with gold or silver threads, may be worn with a long piece of material gathered at the waist, passed between the legs, and tucked into the waistband in back. Members of the urban middle and upper classes may wear Westernstyle clothing at work and more traditional clothing at home.
At home both sexes wear the sampot and the sarong. In rural areas, working men and women may wear loose-fitting pants and shirts or blouses. Many men wear Western-style pants or shorts. A third essential part of Khmer dress is the krama, or long scarf, that is worn around the neck, over the shoulders, or wrapped turban-style around the head. School children wear Western-style clothing to school. The boys wear shirts and shorts; the girls wear skirts and blouses.
The Khmer Rouge were noted for their unisex black "pajamas." Their typical garb was the peasant outfit of collarless black shirt--baggy trousers and checkered krama (a scarf knotted loosely about the neck). French anthropologist Marie Alexandrine Martin reported that the wearing of brightly colored clothing was prohibited under the Khmer Rouge and that women, young and old, wore black, dark blue, or maroon sampot with short-sleeved plain blouses. Women were forbidden to wear Western-style pants at any time. The conical hat characteristic of the Vietnamese has been adopted to a certain extent by Khmer in the provinces adjacent to Vietnam.

Empire of khmer dress

Empire of khmer dress

Empire of khmer dress

Empire of khmer dress

Forigner idea to Angkor wat

I'd been looking forward to checking out the Angkor temples for quite some time. The temples are known as the 8th wonder of the world for good reason. The whole area is massive. On my first day in Siem Reap myself and Niels rented mountain bikes and made our way to Angkor. We had no idea how huge an area the temples covered. It took us 45 minutes to cycle between some of the temples. The heat and humidity didn't help either. We still managed to check out 5 temples over the course of a long day that lasted from 10 in the morning until sunset. The most famous temple is Angkor Wat. It took us quite a while to walk around the biggest religous building in the world. Incredible to think some of these buildings are one thousand years old. After Angkor Wat we cycled out to Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. This temple has a number of huge tress growing inside and around it. The roots wrap themselves around the buildings like snakes. This temple was made all the more authentic by the fact that it was literally falling apart. There are huge stones piled in certain areas, just left where they have fallen. We checked out some smaller temples along the way which were equally as impressive. The sun setting on Angkor Wat as we cycled home is something I will never forget.
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat

The next day Chris from Boston arrived in Siem Reap. I wanted to give Angkor another visit so we rented a tuk tuk to take us around the temples. We got to see a few temples that were a little further away this way.
1-Angkor Wat
1-Angkor Wat

From Siem Reap I had planned on going straight into Laos. This is a particularly difficult route to take however so I decided to go through Thailand instead. I'm going to make my way to Bangkok before getting a train up north to Chiang Mai.