Travels in Siam, Cambodia and Laos, 1858-60

Henri Mouhot rediscovered the ancient Khmer civilization for the Western world. The means whereby he made known his astonishing finds was a journal of his travels, which forms the basis of this book.

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Henri Mouhot rediscovered the ancient Khmer civilization for the Western world and was the first explorer of the 19th century whose writings about the ruined Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom fired people's imagination. The means whereby he made known his finds was a journal of his travels which, recovered from the forest near Luang Prabang in Laos where Mouhot died at the age of 35 in 1861, forms the basis of this book. Apart from his sketches and observations of Angkor, other episodes in his journal remain of interest. His description of monkeys teasing crocodiles in the jungles, his impressions of the Cambodian Kings and their palaces, the way of life in the Thai and the poignancy of the end of his diary are evocative passages . Mouhot's "Travels" depicts scenes from Indo-China exploration. Henri Mouhot has the spirit of adventure and inquiry, and the work that was posthumously put together relating his travels in mainland South-East Asia is a classic of its kind. It is republished for the first time since its original publication in 1864 and is introduced by Michael Smithies, well known for his own writings on Thailand.