Destinations: Cambodia

Angkor Wat. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake. Lush countrysides and frenetic markets in town. Phnom Penh, a city re-awakening.

Stand on the terrace where the Leper King addressed his followers. Stroll the overgrown grounds of the world's largest temple complex, Angkor Wat nearly twice the size of Manhattan. Venture farther into the interior to see 12th-century bas-reliefs and labyrinthine corridors where monks bustled to the day's tasks. Re-discover Ta Phrom, never restored and standing abject in the middle of the jungle—imagine the surprise of the French explorers when they parted the dense foliage and saw the marvelous and ancient temple. The Silver Pagoda, with its gold and diamond-encrusted Buddha figure, set on a floor tiled in silver. Tuol Sleng Museum, once a Khmer dungeon and torture chamber, now displays the sordid and the beautiful in Cambodia's history. Here is a country anxious to be seen by the rest of the world. Here is a place few venture into, but the lucky ones who do visit Cambodia never forget.

Kipling & Clark has opened the bridge to Cambodia, and she is waiting for us to cross. See what the rest of Southeast Asia has known all along—Cambodia is one of the jewels of Asia, poised on a velvet cushion waiting to be set into a shining band of gold, waiting to be worn. Waiting to be gazed upon.