Ta Prohm, Siem Reap
It has been about 100 years that serious conservation work began in the area, so already before the Vietnam War, tourists came to admire the grandeur of Angkor. Then many years of war made visits and restoration work impossible, but in the mid 90s tourists slowly started to return. Continue Reading →
Golden Banana Guesthouse, Siem Reap
This oasis was our home for the week we explored Ancient Angkor and we cannot think of a better place. It offers two types of accommodation, an affordable B&B for 23 USD with a small breakfast and hotel for 44 USD. It is at a dead end street and thus absolutely quiet, has great staff and interesting clientele. Continue Reading →
Monk in front of Angkor Wat, Siem Reap
The trip to here from Phnom Penh was absolutely unspectacular: flat countryside, lots of it uncultivated, palm and banana trees and houses built on stilts. The rice paddies that we passed were not planted yet. This was a clear sign that the rainy season still not really started in this part of Cambodia. Continue Reading →
Restaurant “Friends” in Phnom Penh – a project that initially started to help street children back in 1994
Being in the capital, it was about time for some REALLY great food and drinks. We found it at two places that could not be more different: the most luxurious hotel in town, Le Royal, and a restaurant run by former street children and their teachers, called Friends. Continue Reading →
Royal Palace, Phnom Penh
Our first destination was the Royal Place, but we were not admitted because Heidi wore a sleeveless shirt. We completely had forgotten about that! So instead of buying a T-shirt at the “conveniently” placed shop next to the ticket office, we headed for the National Museum nearby. Continue Reading →
“Pour Un Sourire d’Enfant”, Phnom Penh
This project was established in 1996 to support underprivileged children who work and live in the streets around the Stung Meanchey garbage dump. It was in 1995 that the inhuman conditions of small children poking through the steaming, decaying garbage was brought to the attention of a French couple and this is what the achieved in the course of 12 years. Continue Reading →
In the streets of Phnom Penh
Huge contrasts were the first thing that we observed, already when arriving by bus through the outskirts of the city. The newest, most shiny building may sit next to a completely dilapidated wooden hut on stilts in swampy terrain. This characteristic is also true for the city center, where elegant hotels or new government buildings are not far from the thousands of ghastly dwellings on the shores of Lake Boeng Kak or the Tonle Sap River. Continue Reading →
Sunset over the Mekong, Kratie
After we passed the border to go to Stung Treng, we saw very few people, even less houses, not speaking of traffic. It seemed that Cambodia was a country without cars. A few ramshackle huts could be seen along the road. However, they were not made of neatly woven bamboo mats like in rural Laos, but a few planks hammered together. There was no electricity even for huts right on the main road passing to the capital and water was collected in big earthen jars. Continue Reading →
Border Crossing between Laos & Cambodia
The plan was rather simple: we had bought an expensive ticket from our guesthouse on Don Khon to be taken from there to Phnom Penh in one day. That involved taking a boat, a minibus to the border, another minibus from the border to the next town and finally a bus to Phnom Penh, a 14 hour journey. Continue Reading →
