The Southeast Asia Travel Specialists Since 1999
The rarely visited Angkorian temple site of Prasat Kuk Roka forms a regular break on our overland trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It’s a small, albeit intact, sandstone tower – probably dating to the 11th century – and a minnow compares to what awaits at Angkor. However, it does illustrate a lot of features which will be seen…
The mouth of western Cambodia’s Sangkar (or Sangkae) River lies concealed amid a maze of water-hyacinth clogged waterways, endless reed marshes and clouds of egrets in the far northwestern corner of the vast but shallow Tonle Sap Lake. Anyone with a window seat between Bangkok and Siem Reap may have peered down on these extensive wetlands and unique eco-system where…
A short series of some our all-time, personal favourite tour destinations. Certain will be well-known and already popular and others much more off the beaten track and rarely visited, First up; 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…
An excursion to discover the (very) hidden Angkor-period Prei Khmeng Temple Cambodia. You can find an ancient Khmer temple marked on a map or dig one up on Google – Cambodia is covered in Angkorian and pre-Angkorian ruins – but for only a tiny fraction, notably, the most famous ones, will you find any accompanying images or explanations. Discovering what…
Discovering the remote Banteay Ampil Temple Cambodia. We’d been wanting to check out the rather remote and very rarely visited 12th century ruined temple of Banteay Ampil for a long time and so a free (and sunny) day after finishing a Highlights of Cambodia tour seemed like a good opportunity to have a go at reaching what are certainly some…
Coming up, and based on nearly 20 years of leading tours to Cambodia’s UNESCO World Heritage site; a few small Angkor tips and suggestions on how to optimise your temple visit. Firstly though one very big tip! Try and time your visit for the low season. The awesome, often jungle-clad, temples in Western Cambodia are obviously today a huge draw…
Khmer Red Curry Khmer red curry paste (kroeung) can be made in advance and any leftover can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days or, it freezes well Curry paste ingredients 2 sticks of lemongrass, outer leaves discarded and roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic, peeled 2 shallots, peeled and chopped 2 kaffir lime leaves Zest of half…
Fish Amok – a lovely mild fish and coconut curry, fragrant, zesty and full of flavour. An easy version which can be cooked using ingredients many of us will have already, without the need for specialist shops. Made it, ate it and did the washing up in less than an hour and there’s spare curry paste in the fridge for…
Mondulkiri: one of the few Cambodian provinces we’d not yet visited but with new road construction easing transportation concerns we thought it was definitely about time we did check out this remote yet picturesque province in the kingdom’s northeastern highlands. The intention is to include the province in a planned, 2 week off the beaten track Cambodia tour but we…
An isolated and very rarely visited ruined Angkor period temple site, Prasart Kok Roka in Cambodia’s Kompong Thom Province is famous, well locally at least, for being the area’s very own leaning tower. According to some locals, the depression in the ground in front of the temple is rumoured to be a bomb crater which supposedly tilted the tower to…
A selection of photographs of Koh Ker, aka Chok Gargyar or Lingapura, as it was originally named. The ruined city is a remote site lying in the forest some 3 hours northeast of Siem Reap in Preah Vihear Province. For a brief period in the first half of the 10th-century, the ‘City of Lingas’ replaced Angkor as the imperial capital…
A few photos of Phnom Penh street-life taken within the space of just a 10 minutes, 500 m or so stroll from 178 St to Psa Kandal, (Kandal Market). Starting at Wat Sarawan on the corner of 19th and 178 streets we came across this nicely restored French period colonial villa – now tapas bar of all things! Some vital…
Not any old Cambodia tuk-tuk pizzeria but one with a wood-fired oven no less! One of the most extraordinary sights we’ve seen of late in Phnom Penh – and it’s a city where the extraordinary is commonplace – is this mobile pizzeria that sets up every evening on the Khmer capital’s 51st Street. The complete pizzeria fits into the back…
As with neighbouring Laos, there are currently 2 entries on the UNESCO Cambodia World Heritage list, yet what entries they are! Firstly, the Angkor Archeological Park, added in 1992, covering some 400 sq kilometres and comprising of scores of temples including all the famous ones: Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom, Bayon, Ta Prom, Preah Khan as well as a host of…
Cambodia – much more than Angkor Wat! Sure, Angkor Wat, Bayon and the temples of Siem Reap are the highlights for most visitors to Cambodia but there’s plenty of other fascinating sights architecture-wise to be seen in the kingdom. The country’s rich architectural heritage indeed covers everything from the recent and French period to Funanese and pre-Angkor sites. Here are…
Siem Reap’s Psa Chas, or Old Market, with its souvenir stalls, packaged herbs and spices and tourist-friendly cafes is well known amongst visitors to Cambodia yet the similarly named Psa Chas Phnom Penh is rarely included on anyone’s city itineraries even though it’s centrally and conveniently located on 13th Street close to both the riverfront and Wat Phnom. There are…
Phnom Penh totally wired – one of the Cambodian capital’s more unusual holiday photo subjects. Views such as the below never cease to amaze visitors to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and indeed not surprisingly end up as the subject matter of a fair amount of holiday photos. What for Western visitors is, to say the least, pretty odd cabling and wiring…
Prasart Ta Prom, at UNESCO World Heritage-listed Angkor. Cambodia’s famous, so-called, ‘Tomb Raider Temple’ with its giant trees and sprawling roots is certainly one of the vast Angkor complex’s most famous and photogenic sites and so consequently, it does see a lot of visitors and in the high season particularly can get rather busy. A regular, classic itinerary would have…
Kompong Chhnang, Cambodia, a provincial capital lying on the bank of the Tonle Sap River some 2 hours north of Phnom Penh and without a doubt one of Cambodia’s most interesting and photogenic regional towns. (Yes we’ve already posted a couple of articles about Kompong Chnang but we reckon it’s so good a few more photos won’t hurt!) For much…
That’s Preah Vihear Temple to the Khmers or Khao Preah Viharn for the Thais. The recently promoted UNESCO World Heritage site is situated smack bang on the border and yes….you may well have noticed in the news that there have been a few border ‘issues’ between the two countries in recent times. Note the disagreement has never been over ownership…