In 1296 AD, Chinese traveler Zhou Daguan visited Angkor-capital of Cambodia's powerful Khmer Empire-as a member of a diplomatic mission sent by Emperor Temur Khan. Today, Zhou's written record of his residency is the only surviving eyewitness account of that extraordinary and mysterious time and place. Zhou shared intriguing aspects of the country's complex society, blended with subtle details of its customs, religion, flora and fauna. Today, his words offer the most credible glimpse of Cambodian life at the end of the 13th century. This illustrated color edition offers an original translation of one of the earliest records of Zhou's voyage. Based on their personal knowledge of Chinese and Cambodian culture, language and geography, Solang and Beling Uk's insights clarify linguistic puzzles that have been unresolved for centuries. For the first time, unidentified places, titles, plants, animals and other details come to life, giving readers a more accurate vision of the ancient Khmer Empire through Zhou Daguan's eyes.  Renowned author Amir D. Aczel contributed the foreword. An early translation of Zhou's text led him to Cambodia, resulting in his best-selling book "Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers." "Your knowledge of the geography of Cambodia and its culture, and mastery of the ancient Chinese language, are great assets when compared to other translators. You have created a work of historical significance that will be useful to those who are interested in XIII° century Cambodia, especially we Cambodians of the present and future generations. On their behalf, I thank you." Boun Suy Tan, Deputy Director General, APSARA Authority, Cambodia "A most impressive translation of Zhou Daguan. I find your footnotes and comments a huge improvement compared to other versions." Prof. Charles Higham, University of Otago, New Zealand As recounted in my book, "Finding Zero," I set out to Cambodia knowing I would follow the footsteps of an unusual fellow traveler from 13th century China: Zhou Daguan. This is why it is such a pleasure to endorse this new translation by Solang and Beling Uk, which for generations to come will serve as a valuable tool for scholars of Cambodia, as well as an entertaining guide for all visitors to the renowned ancient city of Angkor. Foreword by Amir D. Aczel ORIGINAL AUTHORBorn in China circa 1266 AD, Zhou Daguan was a 30-year-old adventurer who accompanied an official Chinese diplomatic mission to Zhenla, as the Chinese called the capital of the Khmer Empire. His written record of that kingdom in 1296 AD--regarded as the earliest available--hints that he lived with a Khmer family during his stay. After returning to China, contact between the two kingdoms ceased for 29 years until Cambodia send a new diplomatic delegation to China in 1329.  TRANSLATION AND ANNOTATION AUTHORSSolang Uk is a native of Touk Meas, Cambodia. In the 1950s, Madeleine Giteau--renowned French historian on Khmer culture and member of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient--was his history teacher for two years when he attended Lycée Sisowath in Phnom-Penh. Since completing his Ph.D. in biology at the University of Georgia, USA, Solang worked as a senior research scientist at Cranfi eld Institute of Technology, England, then at Ciba-Geigy Ltd. and Novartis AG, Switzerland. Solang authored and co-authored 50 scientific papers that were published in 12 scientific journals and 17 books and monographs.  Beling Uk, his wife, is a native of Hunan, China. She graduated in biology from Th e National Taiwan University and North Carolina State University. She worked as a microbiologist in the Carlsberg Group in Switzerland. Solang and Beling are now retired and living in Switzerland where they enjoy working on cultural research projects like this translation. FOREWORD AUTHOR Amir D. Aczel, Ph.D. was inspired by an early translation of Zhou's text that led him to Cambodia. This resulted in his best-selling book "Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers."  He also authored the international bestseller Fermat's Last Theorem, which has been published in twenty-eight languages. A past recipient of a Sloan Foundation grant and a Guggenheim fellowship, Aczel was a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 2005 to 2007 and was a research fellow in the history of science at Boston University. He was a regular contributor to Discover magazine.