Preah Vihear & the Northeast

The north was an important part of the Khmer Empire. Jayavarman IV moved the capital from Angkor to Koh Ker, then called Lingapura or Chok Gargyar, in the 920s, and built a city of brick and sandstone temples there before the court returned to Angkor in the 940s. On the Dângrêk escarpment, Prasat Preah Vihear grew from the 9th century and was expanded above all in the 11th and 12th centuries as a Hindu sanctuary to Shiva. Preah Khan of Kampong Svay, one of the largest Angkorian complexes, also lies in the province. Further east, Sambor on the Mekong in Kratie is linked with a royal capital of the pre-Angkorian Chenla period.

The highlands of Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri stayed largely outside royal control, home to indigenous peoples who traded forest products with the lowlands. In the 20th century the region was drawn into the Indochina wars: the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran through the east, American bombing followed, and the Khmer Rouge built early bases in the Ratanakiri hills in the 1960s.

The temple of Preah Vihear has been at the centre of a long dispute with Thailand. The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple lay in Cambodian territory, and its UNESCO listing in 2008 led to armed clashes over the surrounding land between 2008 and 2011; a further court judgment in 2013 found in Cambodia's favour. Armed clashes broke out along the border again in 2025, each round ended by a ceasefire. Koh Ker became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.

The north-east is the most culturally varied part of Cambodia. Lowland Khmer live along the Mekong and in Preah Vihear, but the plateaus are home to indigenous peoples: the Tampuan, Jarai, Kreung, Brao and Kavet in Ratanakiri, and the Bunong in Mondulkiri. They speak their own languages, many follow animist beliefs centred on spirits of forest, mountain and water, and they traditionally farmed rice in rotating hill fields. Among the Kreung, parents traditionally built teenagers their own small huts.

Rice wine drunk through long bamboo straws from shared jars marks every celebration, and buffalo sacrifices were traditional at major rites.

In the Mekong towns, life follows the Khmer Buddhist calendar, and Stung Treng, administered from Laos until 1904, keeps a small Lao minority. Visitors to highland villages are expected to ask before entering houses or photographing people and to respect spirit forests and graveyards.

This is Cambodia's least populated region. Kratie, a riverside town of French shophouses, Stung Treng near the Mekong, Banlung in Ratanakiri and Sen Monorom in Mondulkiri are the main towns, all small, and the town of Preah Vihear (Tbeng Meanchey) is the capital of the province.

The economy has changed fast. Large rubber, cashew and cassava plantations, many granted as economic land concessions, have replaced forest across Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri and Kratie, often causing disputes with indigenous communities over land. Logging, gem mining and hydropower on the Sesan river have further transformed the landscape, and conservation groups work to protect forests such as Prey Lang and Keo Seima. Tourism brings modest income to Kratie, Banlung and Sen Monorom.

Days follow the farming season and the market, with river fishing along the Mekong and slash-and-burn fields in the hills.

The Mekong towns eat freshwater fish, grilled or in sour soups, with prahok and rice. Roadside stalls sell krolan, sticky rice with sugar and coconut roasted in bamboo tubes.

In the highlands, cooking is simpler and uses what the forest and fields provide: bamboo shoots, wild greens, mushrooms, river fish and game, cooked with chilli and salt and eaten with upland rice. Rice wine from the jar, often home-made, is shared at festivals and ceremonies.

The plateaus also produce cash crops that reach the rest of the country: cashews, mangoes and tobacco from Ratanakiri, and rubber and cassava from the plantations.

In Preah Vihear province, the cliff-top temple of Preah Vihear climbs through a series of gateways along the Dângrêk escarpment to a sanctuary above a sheer drop, with wide views over the Cambodian plains. Koh Ker has dozens of temples in the forest, dominated by Prasat Thom, a seven-tiered pyramid, and the remote Preah Khan of Kampong Svay lies to the south.

On the Mekong, Kratie is the base for watching Irrawaddy dolphins in the stretch of river just north of town. Further north, Sambor has a large pagoda, Wat Sasar Moi Roi, and Stung Treng is the gateway to the braided channels and flooded forests of the Mekong near the Lao border.

In Ratanakiri, the crater lake of Yeak Laom near Banlung is a round pool ringed by forest. Waterfalls lie in the hills around, and Virachey National Park covers the forested far north of Ratanakiri and Stung Treng.

In Mondulkiri, grassy hills roll around Sen Monorom, the Bou Sra waterfall drops in three tiers through forest, and elephant sanctuaries lie in the surrounding forest. The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary protects primates and other forest wildlife.