Cambodia Travel Guide

Just outside Siem Reap, this collection of magnificent temples of Angkor – some well preserved, others dreamily overgrown and consumed by gigantic trees – once supported the largest pre-industrial city in the world. Unfortunately, catching the sunrise over the five towers of Angkor Wat is on everyone and their mother’s bucket list, so prepare to brave a dark forest of selfie sticks. Alternatively, head for blissful tranquillity at the lesser-known temples first, and return to the main temple by midday. Highly recommended are the tours by Belgian bioengineer, cartographer and photographer Stéphane de Greef, who focuses on the hidden aspects of the site, covering not just the wealth of temples everyone ignores, but also the stunning biodiversity around them.

Cambodia’s brief golden age between independence from the French in 1953, and the arrival of the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s was marked by a great cultural revival. The most tangible legacy of this heyday is the work of visionary architect Vann Molyvann. His style, branded New Khmer architecture, brilliantly merged Le Corbusier’s principles of High Modernism with the layout, building and water management techniques of his Angkorian forefathers. Miraculously, many of the buildings survived the destructive Khmer Rouge regime. Some are in a terrible state of neglect, with trees sprouting from walls like they do at the temples of Angkor. Others are still in use – conference halls, private residences, university buildings. To get a sense of this largely forgotten era, visit the ’Olympic’ Stadium and watch as refrigerator-sized speakers are wheeled in to energize a mass workout at dusk. Even better, book a guided tour by tuk-tuk (three-wheeled auto rickshaw) led by young local architects.

In Phnom Penh, anyone who can stomach it and wants to learn about the atrocities committed by the deranged, xenophobic and genocidal Khmer Rouge regime ends up at two places. First, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum at the S-21 detention centre, a former school building where an estimated 17,000 people were tortured and brutally murdered. And second, an extermination facility south of the city. The latter is the best known of a number of ‘Killing Fields’ – the mass graves where an estimated 1,7 million people (a quarter of Cambodia’s population at the time) were discarded. Though most tourists will pay these places a visit out of respect and curiosity, the ensuing reflection on the dark side of humanity is not everyone’s cup of tea.

A more optimistic outlook is offered by the Phare Ponleu Selpak Circus, that helps children with problematic backgrounds (often connected to their parents’ war traumas) radically transform into proud, muscular acrobats. At permanent circuses in Battambang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, some shows are re-enactments of Khmer history including the genocide, while others are more of a cabaret, sometimes even including small gay storylines.

Cambodia’s only master chef Luu Meng is constantly experimenting and digging out the very best of his country’s culinary secrets. The menu of his restaurant Malis showcases a healthy balance of curries, grilled food and specialities. Try his signature dish Prahok Ktis, made with Cambodian fermented fish, kroeung curry paste, minced pork, pea eggplant, chilli and coconut milk, served with fresh, crispy vegetables and rice crackers. Aside from the original restaurant in Phnom Penh, there is also one in Siem Reap.

The Sugar Palm, set in a beautiful colonial villa, is the brainchild of chef Kethana, daughter of Cambodian refugees to New Zealand during the troubled times of the 1970s. In the early 2000s, she returned to her home country to be at the forefront of the revival of Khmer cuisine, re-establishing Cambodian cooking as her mother and grandmother had taught her and adding her own, modern twist. Try the classic Cambodian Fish Amok: freshwater fish, steamed with a lightly spiced blend of coconut cream and steamed vegetables. Like Malis, this restaurant also has a sister property in Siem Reap.

Phnom Phenh

Hair salon by day, gay bar by night: Space Hair simply is a brilliant idea. Owner Sopheap Chuk teaches his resident Khmer staff the same skills he acquired working several jobs at local beauty salons and hotels. They can tell their Bloody Marys from their Bellinis, and don’t mind showing off some toned muscle either.

The longest running gay bar in Cambodia, Blue Chilli, remains a big favourite among pretty much every gay man or woman in Phnom Penh, local or foreign. The atmosphere is friendly and familiar; the drinks are cheap and strong. The drag shows on Friday and Saturday nights are the best in town.

Siem Reap

Many of Siem Reap’s gay bars tend to be a little tacky. Nothing wrong with that – it’s all perfectly unpretentious – but those who prefer to start their nights with carefully crafted quality cocktails rather than hyperactive drag shows, congregate at the gay-owned, shanghai-styled cocktail bar Miss Wong. Just a stone’s throw away from the screaming mess that is Pub Street, the city’s main tourist drag, this little gem is the perfect hideout to pick up steam for the rest of the night. After a few stiff cosmopolitans and caipirinhas, you’ll be ready to take on tacky.

For nine years, Khmer fashion designer Kosal Ou learned everything about standards, design and sewing of good quality clothing in a garment factory for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Gap. Today, his own Kool As U label, is at the forefront of Cambodia’s fledgling fashion scene. It features proud Khmer designs, available at his Phnom Penh shop.

Trunkh’s two shops in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are little treasure troves of upcycled furniture, badges, ceramics, aging hand-painted shop signs, and even carousel animals from the Kingdom of Wonder. The two owners of this ‘first Cambodia-centric lifestyle brand in the world’ collect local objects and fashion on provincial buying forays and design some themselves.

Rather than pursuing a career in Europe, the French-schooled artist Em Riem came back to Phnom Penh to help develop and represent a new Khmer contemporary art scene. To achieve this, he started his own gallery X-EM in 2008, a few blocks away from the Royal University of Fine Arts. His portraits of hunky Khmer guys on burlap rice bags are a few of the eye catchers of Mâles, the hotel restaurant of the Arthur & Paul resort.