Kep Kampot and Takeo

Kep A short series describing some our all-time, personal favourite tour destinations beginning with Cambodia’s delightful coastal town of Kep. The above photo of Kep’s delightful Crab Market was admittedly taken a few years ago and some upgrading of the waterfront cafes has taken place but while formerly laid-back Sihanoukville hurtles headlong into high-rise hotels, golf courses and casinos in…

Favourite Cambodian dishes Although far less well-known than the justifiably reputed cuisines of neighbouring Thailand or Vietnam, we reckon the rich and varied Cambodian, or Khmer, cooking more than holds its own amid Southeast Asian fare and local food is generally a serendipitous and tasty discovery on any of our Cambodian tours. Here then is just a short selection of…

Kampot Hanging around the Phnom Penh riverfront or Siem Reap’s ‘Pub Street’, tuk-tuk drivers may offer you massages with; fish, their sister, grannie, themselves as well as attempt to flog you the gamut of soft and hard drugs – some may even offer you a ride – but turn up in Kampot these days you’re more likely to hear, “Psst…

Neang Khmao Temple Not one of Cambodia’s most well-known tourist destinations but the small brick Neang Khmao Temple (or Prasat Neang Khmau) is well worth a peek if you’re passing and is conveniently located in the grounds of the modern Wat of the same name, right on highway #2. (Approx 50 kilometres south of the capital and 30 kilometres from…

Kep sunsets More pics from the archives; this time a selection of images of Kep sunsets taken during our last visit to the small Cambodian coastal town. We thought of Kep since we’ll be down there again in a couple of weeks on our next Beyond Angkor – off-the-beaten-track Cambodia tour – which we’re very much looking forward to. Originally…

Ta Prom Tonle Bati Prasat Ta Prom Tonle Bati is a very attractive, but rarely-visited Angkor-period temple a mere hour’s drive south of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. (Well, traffic permitting that is.) Ta Prom is differentiated from its better-known namesake at Angkor (of giant roots and Lara Croft fame) by the addition of ‘Tonle Bati’  – a scenic freshwater lake…

The tiny, but well-preserved Prasat Phnom Ngok or Chnork in Kampot Province is probably the best candidate for Cambodia’s oldest temple (or at least reasonably intact oldest temple. It clocks in at some 1,600 – 1,700 years (estimates do vary). That’s nearly twice as old as Angkor Wat! A brief history With the expansion of the Chenla kingdom, from its…

King Suryavarman King Suryavarman I acceded to the throne of Angkor in 1006 after a 4-year struggle with rival claimant Jayaviravarman. Later inscriptions do backdate his reign to 1002 – presumably to delete any traces of his pesky antagonist – but Jayaviravarman, ensconced in the imperial capital, Yasodharapura, and a close relative (possibly a brother) of the previous monarch  Udayadityavarman…