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Cambodia's third-largest city and the capital of the province of the same name, KOMPONG CHAM , 120km northeast of Phnom Penh, is a busy port and transport hub, though with little atmosphere. The current construction of the Japanese-funded bridge across the Mekong will improve access to Cambodia's northeastern provinces, but in the meantime, the project has turned the town into an unattractive building site.

If you do find yourself in Kompong Cham for a few hours, be sure to explore Wat Nokor , about 2km north of town, just off Route 7, an unusual fusion of ancient and modern Khmer religious architecture, with new preahs built in and around the eleventh-century ruins. Approaching the main preah through the darkness of the crumbling east gate highlights the juxtaposition of old and new: luminous blues, pinks, oranges and greens from the paintings on the walls, columns and ceilings are framed by the ancient monochrome gopura. Elsewhere around the complex, though, the modern buildings sit rather more incongruously with their older, ornate predecessors, the newer facades less inspired in composition.

About 12km further out of town past Wat Nokor rise up the twin temple hills of Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei , Man and Woman Mountains. The legend goes that, in ancient times, it was the women who had to ask the men to marry them. Getting fed up with this, the women invited the men to compete against them to see who could build the best temple by daybreak - the winners would also win the right to be proposed to in future. They set to work, building their temples on adjacent hills. The women, realizing that they were lagging behind their male counterparts, built a huge fire, which the men took to be the rising sun. Exhausted, they headed for bed, while the women carried on building; they produced a magnificent temple, thereby winning the right to receive marriage proposals. Both Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei afford fine views - of Lake Boeng Tom to the west, and Kompong Cham town and the Mekong River in the east.