Khmer Kitchen, Siem Reap, Cambodia

We did so love the food in Cambodia...

In Siem Reap, there is a little alleyway near the market lined with inexpensive restaurants that cater to foreigners. We selected one, the Khmer Kitchen, on our first evening in town. The food was so delicious that we returned again the next night, and the next. We were never disappointed.

Our favorites included the vegetable dumplings, the amok, and the "Khmer curry" (similar to a southern Thai yellow curry). We also enjoyed a couple of the potato dishes. The Angkor beer was pleasantly cheap, and the mango smoothies were refreshing.

At the end of a hot day of sightseeing, Khmer Kitchen was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the evening.

Bayon

There are many smaller temples scattered around the area of Angkor Wat. You could easily spend a week visiting them all – if you could stand the heat – but we only had three days, so we tried to choose carefully.

One popular favorite which we were sure not to miss is Bayon, the “faces” temple. More than one hundred giant faces have been counted carved into the stone around this temple, with a variety of different emotional expressions.

You enter Bayon by crossing a bridge lined with demons on one side and “good” gods on the other. They are having a tug-of-war.













Then you have to pass through a huge gate. Can you see the faces?


















Much of the temple is filled with extensive, detailed carvings, showing scenes ranging from fantastic battles to ordinary, daily life.













You can see some places where the temple has definitely turned to ruins.













Happy? Or something else?

One piece of info: at Bayon, and at a few other temples, we found that if we wandered away from the large groups of tourists to less crowded areas, often at the back of the temple, we would encounter local youth who spoke very good English and tried to get us to give them money. They would usually say they were raising it for their English school. Sometimes they would start giving us a “tour” of the temple, and then would expect us to give them money in return. We had no idea if they were legit or not, and didn’t want to be pulling out our wallets in the woods with no one else around, so we didn’t give any money, but it was often difficult to walk away, as they would continue to follow us, talking. I doubt we were actually in any danger, but it did make us uncomfortable, and after the first couple of times we opted to just stay near other tourists.

Angkor Wat

So much has been written about the temples of Angkor Wat that I’m not going to go into too much detail about everything we did. Instead, I’ll focus on some of our highlights and favorites.

To start, a summary: the temples around Siem Riap in Cambodia were constructed during the reigns of several kings approximately 800-1200 years ago. They are remarkably well-preserved, for the most part, and attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world every year. We spent two full days plus an extra evening visiting the temples, which is certainly not enough time to see them all, but plenty of time for a heat-sensitive person like me to spend wandering around in 100-degree-plus temperatures!

Our first evening, we headed out to the main temple, Angkor Wat, to see the sunset. [Three-day passes are available for $40, but if you purchase your pass after 5pm, you can add an extra evening. Having your own passport photo will speed the process.] We spent a couple of hours roaming the walkways and climbing the steep stairs, admiring carvings and bas-relief. Here are some of our favorite photos:
We did this steep climb, too! It’s pretty scary, but worth it to see what’s up there.
We made it. Great views of the treetops! That is definitely southeast Asia.
I love stone pillars.
Sunset is a great time to see the temples. Some people don’t like the crowds, but I enjoy hearing the different languages and watching people have their temple-viewing experiences.
These bas relief went on for what felt like miles...
Robert enjoyed studying them and using the guidebook to understand the stories.
I preferred sitting in shady windows to read about Cambodian history when it got too hot to walk around!
The moon was bigger in real life than it is in the photo, but I still like the photo.

Bou Savy Guest House Review

We traveled in Cambodia and Malaysia for a total of 17 days, staying at 8 different guest houses. One of these was by far and away our favorite, and we want to highly recommend it to any travelers to the Siem Riap area.

Bou Savy Guest House is a fairly new guest house, run by a very friendly family. We found it online by searching the Siem Riap and Angkor Hotels Directory website, and selected it because it was given high marks for caring for the customer and caring for the destination. We were able to reserve our room online without having to give credit card information – an important criteria for me as I wanted the security of having a room in advance without having to worry about identity theft or fraud.

Upon our arrival at the guest house, we had to wait a little while as they looked for our reservation, but that was no problem because we had time to enjoy our “welcome drinks” – tasty banana shakes – while sitting in the shady patio area. Finally, we were led up to our lovely, air-conditioned, 3rd floor, $15-per-night room.


We enjoyed three nights of cool, quiet sleep at the Bou Savy. I also took advantage of the book trade and the 3rd floor porch. We had laundry done twice, both times for an affordable price. Perhaps best of all was the excellent breakfast – included as part of our room rate – of eggs, baguettes, fresh fruit, and juice, tea, or coffee.


The atmosphere at Bou Savy was completely relaxed and friendly. I felt very safe there and was sorry to leave. On our last morning, before we left for the airport, we asked one of the staff if we could purchase a couple of extra baguettes for snacking on our flight to Malaysia. When the manager found out we wanted to pay for the bread, he refused, and insisted that we take it for free. We were touched. I hope that more travelers stay at the Bou Savy so that such excellent service and staff can be rewarded!

An Afternoon and Evening in Kampong Cham

With only six days to spend in Cambodia, we planned to focus on its major destinations: the capital city of Phnom Penh, and the Angkor Wat area around Siem Riap. When our friend Vanessa, a former Peace Corps Thailand volunteer and current Cambodia resident, told us she’d be in the small town of Kampong Cham during our visit, however, we decided it was worth making a short detour to a less-visited spot. It was well worth the effort.

We arrived in KC hungry after spending hours on the bus, so we rushed out to one of Vanessa’s recommended restaurants on the river road. There are two places along the river, both owned by foreigners, that serve a combination of Western and Cambodian food. We went to the one closer to our hotel.

I think we shocked the owner a bit with our appetites, and then we were shocked ourselves by the amount of food that arrived at our table. We feasted on vegetarian spring rolls, amoc, and stir-fried vegetables with tofu.
I also enjoyed a mango shake. Yum!

Dining on the Mekong River was pleasant as usual, and some excitement occurred when a political parade suddenly came along. Dozens of trucks and hundreds of motorcycles, all filled with cheering, singing, laughing Cambodians in light blue shirts, streamed by. We were impressed by both the enthusiasm of the political expression and the relative calmness of the parade as a whole, as in Thailand such events are usually marked by excessive drunkenness. We waved and clapped for the riders.

Vanessa was working a temporary contract with Peace Corps Cambodia, which just started in January (hooray!), as a trainer for the newly arrived volunteers. We met her and one of her fellow trainers, a long-time Peace Corps international staff person from Nepal, at the riverside park across the street from our hotel. Over Angkor beer, they told us some of the stories of the new Cambodia volunteers.

Despite the size of our earlier meal, we were hungry enough to wander down to the second of Vanessa’s two favorite restaurants with her after dark. Robert tried one of the traditional Cambodian beef dishes, which he reported was delicious, while I had a simple vegetable curry. Vanessa told us more about Cambodia and its problems, which we appreciated learning because as tourists it’s often difficult to see behind the outer facade of daily life.

Among some of the issues we discussed were the relative dangerousness of life, in particular at night; the astounding corruption that occurs at all levels of government and business; the marked gap between the extremely wealthy and the rest of the population; and the continuing effects of the Khmer Rouge regime and genocide.

Of all her stories, the ones about corruption were most disturbing to me. Because she had been working closely with the new volunteers and their Cambodian counterparts, she had many stories about how corruption was manifested at the school level. Teachers make just $45 per month in Cambodia, which is an astonishingly small amount, even in this poor country. As a result, teachers spend a majority of their time trying to make money from activities other than teaching, such as attending paid workshops, doing paid tutoring, or working at other jobs. Students are charged for the paper on which they take tests, because the teachers have to buy it out of their own pocket. School is closed far more often than it’s open – in the two months that the trainees had been in Kampong Cham, school had only been open for four days. And summer break was still weeks away.

I thought the school system was bad in Thailand, and it is, but Cambodia made Thai education look like a stellar example. I was constantly frustrated when classes were cancelled on a weekly basis in Thailand, but I can’t imagine the frustration I’d face if they were cancelled every day! It’s hard to know what hope there is for a country in that situation. You’ve got to have a critical mass of people who are interested enough in making things different for it to actually happen. Because of the way that corruption works in Cambodia, enabling people who take advantage of the system to be better off than those that want to make it work, it looks like there won’t be much improvement any time soon. We’d never have known all this about Cambodia just from being tourists. It is really worth it to spend time talking with someone who knows what going on, down on the level of the real people!

Mekong Hotel, Kampong Cham, Cambodia

We spent one night in Kampong Cham, Cambodia, on a short detour between Phnom Penh and Siem Riap. Choosing a hotel was easy – only one had our desired combination of air-conditioning, private bathrooms, and a location on the river. All that was made even better by the utterly affordable price of $10 per night.

The hotel is located not far from the bus stop, but with our bags we opted to take a tuk-tuk anyway. After checking in, we trudged up the giant staircase to the spacious halls of the second floor. Our corner room had windows over looking the river, plenty of space, and a hot shower.


Just across the street from the hotel is a quiet riverside park, with a few vendors selling beverages at sunset, and tables to sit at while the night falls. We found it to be a quiet spot, even on a Friday night. In the morning, I watched fishermen starting their day’s work on the water.

On the Road in Cambodia

We made two bus trips in Cambodia: one from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham, and one from Kampong Cham to Siem Riap. On the whole, I would say that bus travel in Cambodia is relatively easy, somewhat comfortable, and extremely cheap.

Our first bus was late, slow, crowded, and hot. Aside from feeling stuck to the seat, however, it was not an unpleasant ride. The scenery was interesting, and the comedy show playing on the TV was not obnoxious. (See Brian's blog for a funny description of some of the obnoxious bus entertainment in Thailand!) The second bus was spacious, cool, and quick. I think it just depends on luck. I’d advise travelers to have morning departure times when possible. Nighttime bus travel isn’t safe in Cambodia.


Many of the locals can’t afford the air-conditioned buses, of course, or they might not live near a route. They might instead ride something like this:Or this:

Watching vehicles go by on the highway was better than a movie!

One Last Phnom Penh Photo

Everybody needs gas!

Tuk-Tuks in Cambodia

Two of our favorite people that we met in Cambodia were our tuk-tuk drivers in Phnom Penh and Siem Riap. Riding tuk-tuks in Cambodia was surprisingly enjoyable, and I’d recommend it for all visitors.

First, the vehicles: tuk-tuks in Cambodia are rather like carriages pulled by motorcycles. The seats are very well cushioned (even poofy) and there is a good view out each side. I never enjoyed riding them in Thailand, partly because of the recklessness of most drivers, and partly because they are completely open to the traffic exhaust and pollution. In Cambodia, there isn’t so much air pollution, so the breeze always felt wonderful as we rode along.

When we arrived at the airport in Phnom Penh, Nin was waiting there to meet us. Our guest house had arranged for him to pick us up. I was immediately impressed by his careful, slow driving through the morning traffic. I was even more impressed when, as I handed him the $7 I had been told was the price for a car pickup from the airport, he returned $1 to me, explaining that the price for tuk-tuks was only $6.

The next morning, as we deliberated over breakfast about the best way to get to and from the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum, Nin appeared out on the street. We quickly hired him for the day, and continued to enjoy his safe driving and friendly manner. In Thailand I often felt I had to play defense with drivers – tuk-tuks and taxis alike – in order to not get ripped off. Not so with Nin.
Two days after leaving Phnom Penh, we arrived in Siem Riap – the site of the Angkor Wat temples. Our original plan was to save money by riding bicycles around the temples each day. After a few days in Cambodia’s extreme heat, however, we knew that this would not be an option for us! It was an easy decision to try to hire tuk-tuks again. They are all over in Siem Riap, so finding one is not difficult.

Naht had just dropped off another couple at our guest house late in the afternoon of our arrival in Siem Riap, and we were headed out in hopes of catching the sunset at Angkor Wat. He offered to take us out for $4, which seemed reasonable to us, so we agreed. At the end of the evening – yet again impressed by excellent, safe driving and friendly, helpful manners, we hired him for the following day ($12). Pleased again, we added a second full day, and on our final morning in Cambodia, it was Naht who took us to the airport.

Over the course of almost three days, we got to learn a little about Naht. Like most others in the Cambodian tourist industry, he spoke English excellently. He told us that he had learned it not in public school but by taking special courses at a private school that he paid for himself. He also gave classes to other tuk-tuk drivers and tourism industry employees. He wasn’t from the Siem Riap area, but had moved there because of the opportunities to make good money from tourism. He was married, with one daughter, and was hoping for a son. We were quite fond of Naht and have his email address for anyone who’d like to hire him in the future!
On the whole, I would say that riding tuk-tuks in Cambodia is a great way to relax in the heat, see the sights, and get to know some nice people.

Phnom Penh: Royal Palace and Surroundings

Our last afternoon in Phnom Penh, after taking a break from the heat, we decided to venture out to see the Royal Palace and its surrounding area. The Palace is located near the river, just south of the main tourist strip.

There’s a small admissions fee, and an extra charge for bringing in a camera, but we thought it was worth it. The grounds are very lovely – well-landscaped gardens and tended lawns, and beautiful Khmer architecture. It was similar to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, but on a much smaller scale.

The palace grounds include the Temple of the Silver Pagoda, in which photos are not allowed. We spent some time walking around the perimeter of the inside of the temple, looking at assorted artifacts from Cambodian’s Buddhist past, before sitting on the rugs to reflect under a fan’s breeze. The previous evening, a fellow American tourist we met had commented on the Silver Pagoda and its collection of objects.

It’s not the most impressive collection, she noted, if you are judging by size or shininess. There are hundreds of tiny Buddha statues and other items, but many are faded or dull. But consider that in the 1970s the Khmer Rouge regime tried to destroy Buddhism in Cambodia: knocking down temples, smashing statues, and killing monks. The objects in the Temple of the Silver Pagoda are the ones that survived, and were slowly collected, all across the country, hidden by people who defied the regime. Their worth is more than what it appears.

The area around the Royal Palace also includes the National Museum, which we didn’t have time to visit. We did enjoy taking a photo from the outside, though.

Food in Phnom Penh

As I have mentioned on my Peace Corps Thailand blog, I’m a vegetarian. However, I’ll occasionally eat fish when traveling if it seems like the best way to enjoy a particular local cuisine. This was certainly the case in Cambodia!

Our first dinner in Phnomn Penh was eaten at the Khmer Boran Restaurant on the river, which had been recommended in the Lonely Planet. The recommendation was well deserved – that was some of our favorite food from the entire trip! We started with a light pomelo salad, which was very flavorful in a delicate way.

That was followed by two fish dishes – amok and fish with palm sugar. Amok is a Cambodian specialty featuring fish cooked in coconut milk with assorted flavors (lemongrass, basil, etc). It came served in a banana leaf wrapper and was fantastic. We vowed to eat as much of it as possible during our stay in Cambodia. The fish with palm sugar was almost as good, with a not-quite-sweet flavor.

We were each given a free serving of dragonfruit at the end of the meal, and the entire dinner was nicely accompanied by a shared bottle of Angkor Beer.

Our second day in Phnom Penh, between tourist activities, we decided to splurge on some amok for lunch. There are plenty of small restaurants in the neighborhoods along the Tonle Sap river, so we chose one near our guest house. We shared a plate of amok along with a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and both were quite good. This time the amok came on a plate in a curry form instead of in a banana leaf wrapper.

That evening, having slightly overspent our budget for the day, our dining goals included affordability and Tonle Sap River experience. North of the Grand Palace, there are a number of bars and restaurants lining the riverside park advertising amazingly cheap happy hour specials. We chose one that had 2-for-the-price-of-1 Angkor Beer on tap, with a good view of the activity along the river, and settled in to watch the sunset.

On the walk back to our guest house, we stopped at a noodle shop that appeared to be doing a good business with the locals. We tentatively approached the cook, an older woman positioned above a giant wok with piles of vegetables nearby, and Robert gave our orders in Cambodian. The food arrived just as ordered! We found two spots at a table, the locals showed us which sauces to add, and we were set. It was so good, and so cheap, that Robert went back for a second plate. Three big plates of noodles for just $1.25.

Tuol Sleng Museum and The Killing Fields, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In the 1970's, Cambodia was taken over by the Khmer Rouge, a totalitarian Communist regime that conducted a massive genocide, killing an estimated 1-2 million people. The stated goal of the Khmer Rouge was to turn Cambodia into an agrarian society, eliminating social classes. After taking control of the government and expelling the population from the city of Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, began killing anyone and everyone who didn’t fit into their plans. This included the wealthy, the educated, people of Chinese or Vietnamese ancestry, people who had worked for former governments or had participated in other political parties, and people with eyeglasses.

Those targeted people who weren’t killed directly were made to live in small villages or camps where they worked in fields for long hours and were given little food – sometimes just one meal of rice soup per day. Many died of starvation and disease during this time. Before we traveled to Cambodia, Robert and I both read First They Killed My Father, a moving description of life under the Khmer Rouge written by Luong Ung, a survivor who was able to settle in America. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about this topic.

We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, where “political prisoners” were taken to be interrogated and tortured during the Khmer Rough regime. The buildings were first constructed as a school, but the classrooms were turned into prison cells and torture chambers. Today, you can walk through those same classrooms and see photographs of the people who came through there as prisoners. Some of the torture devices and cells are also on display.

Photos of some of the youngest “political prisoners”:
A sign showing an English translation of the “rules” that prisoners at Tuol Sleng were expected to follow:
One of the more difficult rooms for me to experience at the museum was one focusing on people who had worked at the prison, and were interviewed years later about their time there. Many claimed that they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but they felt forced into it out of fear for their own lives. For me, this raised the question: At what point can someone be considered a victim? Is someone who conducts torture because they are fearful of the consequences of not following orders a victim in the same way as the person they are torturing? Is there a difference between believing in AND participating in a genocide, vs. participating without believing? I’m still unsure how I feel about these questions, and I’m not sure there’s an easy answer.

After being interrogated or detained at Tuol Sleng, prisoners were usually transported to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh, usually within 30 days of being arrested. The Killing Fields are located about 13 kilometers south of town, next to a school. Here, prisoners were executed and buried in mass graves – men, women, and children alike.

It’s a quiet place, though the sounds of kids playing nearby is a constant reminder that life goes on in Cambodia today. Visitors can walk around viewing the mass graves, many of them labeled. Some are not yet excavated completely.


A tower has been constructed on the site and filled with the skulls that have been recovered. The skulls are sorted by age and gender onto shelves that fill the center of the tower and rise at least ten levels into the air.


Our entire time in Cambodia, as we moved between cities, interacted with locals, and watched life going by, I could not get over how anyone that I saw who appeared to be my age or older would have lived through the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. They might have been part of it themselves, or they might have been among the victims – we were told that every family in Cambodia lost at least one or two members to the regime. How does an individual, and a community, move on from such a horror? What does it take to pick up the pieces and start over again? When I looked at Cambodian children, I wondered how much they know about what happened to their parents, their aunts and uncles and grandparents, and how it affects them as they grow up in this so recently devastated country. I had a great deal of admiration for the generosity and kindness of the people we met – that they could be so warm and open-hearted to us, strangers, after having lived through such pain and terror not so long ago.

I was also impressed that the people of Cambodia do not seem to be afraid of labeling the genocide for what it was. Perhaps they’ve realized the economic benefit of doing so, as tourists pay money to see the sites that we did, but I think that many countries would not be willing acknowledge such a black period in their history in such a short time period. I think that anyone who wants to understand Cambodia must go and see these places.

Visiting the museum and the Killing Fields: Consider hiring a tuk-tuk for the day – it will take you to both locations for a reasonable price ($10-15 per vehicle), and wait for as long as you want while you are inside. Each site has its own entrance fee of $2-4. You can hire guides just inside the entrance of the Killing Fields, and they seem to be very knowledgeable.

Last Home Guest House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

For our two nights in Phnom Penh, we stayed at the Last Home Guest House not far from the river. It was a nice little place in a residential neighborhood, an easy walk from some of the main attractions in town (Royal Palace, National Museum) and from the riverside park area.


We paid $15 per night for an air-conditioned double with attached bathroom. The room itself was fine – no windows, but a nice size and very quiet. We had to walk up a steep flight of stairs to get to our spot on the second floor, but the fine balcony down the hall overlooking the street made up for it – we spent time both evenings sitting out there reading, journal-writing, and listening to the sounds of the neighborhood. Because the power goes out from time to time in Phnom Penh, we were occasionally without AC for a couple of hours, but not so much that it made a difference in our enjoyment of the place.

The staff at the guest house was very friendly and helpful with our questions about touring the city. We ate breakfast there both mornings – a baguette with eggs was both affordable and a welcome treat after months without decent bread in Thailand! I would recommend the Last Home Guest House for the traveler who wants an affordable but comfortable place to sleep in a quiet neighborhood.

Phnom Penh: First Impressions

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, early on a Wednesday morning. The sun was still low enough that the air was not too hot, and the first thing we noticed after getting off the plane was how clear the air was compared to Bangkok. Everything felt much cleaner than what we had left behind in Thailand.

The ride from the airport into town takes about twenty minutes, and we enjoyed every moment. From the back of our comfortable tuk-tuk, we could see all sorts of people going about their Wednesday morning activities. Shops were opening. A few kids were walking or riding bicycles to school. Others played by the side of the road. Goods were transported on the backs of motorcycles or trucks. People lined up to buy baguette sandwiches sold out of glass cases.

Streets seemed wider than what I was used to in Thailand, and I was impressed by how slowly and orderly the traffic moved along. Phnom Penh doesn’t have the population of Bangkok, of course, so there are fewer people on the roads to begin with. There seemed to be a lot of new construction happening. There was a lot of trash in some spots, but not too much air pollution.

This man appears to be making an important chicken delivery!
Here are some students on their way to school.
Many roads were unpaved, which meant there was a lot of dust in the air. There were some random piles of dust, too. A mellow street not far from our guest house. Tuk-tuks wait for passengers on the side of the road.

We arrived at our guest house with the feeling of excitement that comes from being in a completely new place!