Name me five interesting facts about Cambodia. Or even four. Or three of its major towns. Or two famous Cambodians without blood on their hands. Or one good reason to go there on holiday. Anyone with a complete set of answers can stop reading now and start mugging up on Mauritania and Mongolia. But if your knowledge begins and ends with distant memories of Pol Pot and The Killing Fields, it may be time for an update.
Late last year, the diseased, rag-tag remains of one of the 20th century's most brutal regimes hobbled out of the jungle in Cambodia's northern-most reaches and surrendered to the new government. Finally, the Khmer Rouge abandoned its 30-year campaign, which ripped this sad, splendid corner of Indo-China apart.
It is not hard to whistle up an imaginary picture of what Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh was like before the turmoil began: blanket-hot nights spent exploring wide-open boulevards buzzing with enterprise, splendidly solid colonial buildings and bobbing sampans overflowing with elephant fish plucked from the Mekong. That was in the time when Cambodia was a safe haven from that other madness, across the border in Vietnam.
And then, by 1975, there was nothing, a ghost town whose inhabitants had been force-marched into the countryside by bands of black-suited boy soldiers. For almost two decades, which saw assassination, starvation, invasion, civil war and isolation, Cambodia remained closed to the world. Only now, with a new government in place and stability creeping back, is it talking integration again.
But if this is Year Zero in tourist terms, how does a country with such a history market itself? Primarily as the land that everyone forgot, a piece of the Far East that is only just waking up to its tourist potential, which - judging from the success of Thailand and Malaysia - must be immense.
In theory, it has the lot: miles of unspoilt beaches, virgin rainforests, picture-postcard rice paddies and the most awesome temples in Asia. Now that it no longer has the Khmer Rouge as well, you sense that something big is about to happen.
Although Cambodians are naturally keener to discuss mobile phones and Manchester United than the lost years, there is also a new openness towards awkward questions. Those interested in understanding what went on - and some tourists prefer to opt for ignorance - should begin with a visit to the capital's Tuol Sleng museum, the high school which became a transit point for the thousands slaughtered in The Killing Fields.
I was shown round by a guide with faded eyes and limited English, but in one of those fumbling, bumbling conversations in which misapprehension is never more than a dropped consonant away, there was no doubt what she was telling me: this was where her entire family was wiped out. Twenty years on, the building that swallowed up her parents, and sisters and aunts, provides her with a living - extremely good in Cambodian terms - showing tourists its entrails.
It is a deeply shocking place, where blood remains splattered across ceilings, and walls carry photographs, neatly catalogued by the Khmer Rouge, of the thousands who died there. Alongside them are more images, this time of their torturers, young boys aged in the main from 13 to 18, who in turn were devoured by a subsequent generation.
Even now, this sad, stark building exercises a strange hold over visitors because each subsequent image of Cambodia is filtered through its memory. But all around there are signs of a country moving forward, bustling to make a new mark on the century.
The Phnom Penh skyline is an engaging mix of colonial, eastern invention and Stalinist orthodox. The stilted mud huts, where most of the population live, are tucked away from the main thoroughfares, which hum with activity. By far the most impressive site in town is the Royal Palace where King Sihanouk, now stripped of real power, still lives.
Elsewhere, the mass of temples that ring the city are either exquisite or exquisitely kitsch, depending on your taste. One statue I saw was pure Barbara Cartland, decorated with a frilly shirt, red lipstick and studded tiara.
Where Phnom Penh scores highly is in value for money - it is possible to eat out for a couple of dollars - and the quality of its hotels. The other attraction is the capital's three markets where not so long ago you could buy a couple of AK47s and still have change from £50. These days, they are doing a brisk trade in precious stones for around the same price.
At present, there is only one other destination effectively open to tourists, the traditional Khmer temples of Angkor, which are a 40-minute flight north of the capital. So long as the political situation remains stable, more places will be opened up, although 20 years of neglect means that the infrastructure inside Cambodia will need much bolstering.
There is also the problem of landmines, which pepper the countryside. Around nine million were laid by all sides in 20 years of conflict, and evidence of their effectiveness is everywhere. More than 35,000 Cambodians have lost limbs through mines, which gives the country the highest per-capita rate of amputees in the world - one in 246 of the population.
Huge efforts are being made to cleanse the country of this deadly legacy, and it is testament to the effectiveness of the Halo Trust and other Western support teams that progress is being made. The area around Angkor is now clear.
The 100 or so temples were built between 800 and 1200 BC, when the Khmer civilisation was the most advanced in South-East Asia, but were left to the destructive ravages of the jungle for many centuries before being "rediscovered" by the French in 1860.
Although Angkor Wat is the most awesome, and is set clear from the tangle of surrounding foliage, there is nothing quite to touch the atmosphere of Ta Prohm, which has been left in its original state. All around is a jumble of history: upturned buddhas and stuccoed fragments of dancing girls. Walls that were once watertight are now fissured and lichen-stained by time and neglect. Above, a cacophony of swirling parakeets and invisible cicadas make for a truly unforgettable experience.
It is not only the walls that are neglected: the temple overseer complained to my guide that he has not been paid for four months because the government is broke. But every day he has turned up, hawking pocket-sized golden buddhas as substitute income, in the hope that the economic squeeze will ease.
You can't help wondering what might be done when the tourist developers really get their hands on Angkor. Already there have been disturbing whispers of sound and light shows funded by Malaysian money and inspired by Disney's Pocahontas but, as yet, the area remains raw and beautiful. For many, it is the best reason to visit Cambodia. Tourists stay in the adjoining town of Siem Reap, where again top-quality accommodation is available. Depending on your schedule, the town and temples can sustain a visit of anything up to a week.
But for most visitors, travelling on package tours round the region, a week is more time than they will have in Cambodia as a whole. It is being promoted as a part of the South-East Asian experience, linked in with stopovers in Vietnam and Laos. And until the country gets fully back on its tottering feet, that is probably no bad thing.
I followed the Mekong river on from Cambodia into Vietnam where it splits into upper and lower parts, creating the stunning delta region around the country's southern tip. In tourist terms, Vietnam represents some of what Cambodia aspires to. Since welcoming back the dollar like a long-lost friend 10 years ago, the country has seen a steady increase in foreign visitors, curious to sample its stunning mix of ancient beauty and modern warfare. These days, they conduct battlesite tours for returning GIs and you can even buy gold-plated souvenirs of model American soldiers with Marlboro packs stuck in their helmets. They are seriously tacky.
Whether Cambodia will ever market its own suffering in such terms is open to doubt. The nerves are still too raw, and so they should be. But slowly, it seems, the pain is easing and a healthy forgetfulness is in the air. Cambodia wants a piece of the outside world and is offering itself in return. It has even got its own Internet site. That must be progress.