Cambodia in Style

Over a million visitors each year use Siem Reap as a base for visiting the Angkor temples. The upside of its popularity is a wide choice of quality hotels, restaurants, bars and shopping opportunities. A few pockets of authentic Cambodian atmosphere also survive in the local fresh produce market, and numerous performances of Khmer Apsara dance, music and shadow puppetry are staged in the evenings. Visitors interested in traditional Cambodian arts and crafts may also visit workshops of the renowned ‘Artisans Angkor’ company, which has spearheaded the revival of silk-making, stone and wood carving, lacquering and painting in the area.

The colossal smiling faces adorning the Bayon, the temple complex at the heart of Angkor Thom, have become emblematic of Khmer civilization. There are 200 of them in total, emerging mysteriously from the sides of 54 towers. This is also where you’ll also find the famous bas relief panels depicting battles with the Cham – some of the finest stone carving to survive from the Khmer era.

Next on your tour is Ta Prohm, a hauntingly beautiful monastic complex dating from the late-12^th century, where the roots of giant banyans and strangler figs enfold much of the stonework, creating scenes little changed since the French adventurer Henri Mouhot re-discovered Angkor in the 1850s.

We find it’s always better to explore Angkor Wat in the afternoon when the crowds have thinned. The greatest of all the shrines created by the Khmers, the temple stands as vivid testament to the power, ambition and unbridled narcissism of the region’s ancient rulers. Colonnaded galleries of exquisite stone-carved apsaras (‘celestial dancers’) enfold the corn-cob towers of the shrine, reflected to sublime effect in the lotus-dappled moat.

For the wonderful view it reveals over the surrounding fields, Pre Rup is our preferred spot for sunset. Its name – ‘Turning the Body’ – suggests the temple may originally have served as a royal crematorium.

Like a survivor of the Mayan civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula, the giant, seven-tiered pyramid of Koh Ker’s Prasat Thom temple rises in awesome fashion from the surrounding jungle, its platforms draped in weeds and sides streaked by rain wash. A flight of wooden steps leads to the top for a spectacular view over the surrounding countryside.

For the full Indiana Jones experience, the next monument on today’s excursion is hard to beat. Large portions of Beng Mealea’s ruins and underground passages are smothered in jungle, with buttressed-root trees growing from jumbles of carved masonry, moss smothering elaborately sculpted door lintels and the smiles of apsara maidens glimpsed behind curtains of leaves – all poignant, and splendid.

Dating from the peak of Khmer power in the 10^th century, remote Banteay Srei (‘Citadel of Beauty’) rests at the foot of Kulen Mountain. Its carvings, hewn from pink sandstone, are regarded by scholars as the representing the high watermark of Khmer art. Nearly every surface is finely embellished, but it is the sensuous deity figures in the niches around the sanctuary towers, draped in silk and jewellery, that most vividly conjour up the splendour of Khmer religious and courtly life.

On the border with Thailand, Preah Vihear occupies a natural rock platform beside a dizzying, 525-m (1,722-ft) cliff in the Dangrek Mountains. It’s not hard to see why the Khmers chose this inaccessible site. The view over the Cambodian plains below is magnificent, and must have added an epic feel to rituals conducted in the shrine. The temple is approached via long, stepped causeway, punctuated by five gopura towers which each conceals what lies beyond until you pass through, adding greatly to the sense of expectation as you climb towards the main sanctum, where a solid bold statue of Shiva as Nataraj, the Cosmic Dancer, was once enshrined.

Ownership of the site, which used to straddle the international border, was hotly disputed by Cambodia and Thailand for most the 20^th century, and in the late 1990s the complex sheltered one of the last surviving bands of Khmer Rouge fighters. During the civil war it was the scene of terrible tragedy, when thousands of refugees were forced at gun point off the cliff, which they descended by clinging to vines (many with children on their backs), only to encounter a minefield at the bottom.

Begin your sightseeing with a visit to the splendid Royal Palace and adjacent Silver Pagoda, whose central shrine holds a Buddha made from an enormous emerald. Then admire the impressive collection of antiquities at the National Museum before a tour of Boeung Keng Kang Market, where you’ll sample local delicacies such as pungent durian and dragon fruit.

Such abundance is a far cry from the Pol Pot era of the mid-1970s, when a school in the centre of Phnom Penh housed the notorious S-21 prison. Now maintained as a memorial to the victims of the Khmer Rouge, the buildings today comprise the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, where exhibitions of clothing, human remains and photographs document the atrocities perpetrated within its walls – a sobering testament to the horrors of Cambodia’s recent history.

Tens of thousands of the Khmer Rouge’s victims were murdered at a site on the edge of the capital, near the village of Choeung Ek – one of the country’s infamous ‘Killing Fields’. A memorial stands beside the mass graves, where a small museum recalls how between 3 and 300 people were executed here every day.

Four Rivers Floating Lodge comprises rows of luxury canvas tents erected on platforms at a picturesque bend in the Tatai River. Surrounded on all sides by greenery, you can savour the sounds and sights of the forest from the privacy of your own private sundeck or wooden Hinoki bathtub. No need for plunge pools: simply climb down the ladder in front of your tent and dive into the glassy water of the river.

With guidance from an American NGO, locals from the village of Chi Pat have opened up a network of trails that allow visitors to experience the majestic landscape and forest of the Cardamom Mountains. Treks of varying lengths string together remote villages, bat caves and enigmatic jar burial sites dating from the Khmer era. You can also embark on kayaking trips, join early morning birdwatching parties on misty rivers and swim in pools below thundering waterfalls on the Tatai River.

Head off on a dawn jungle trek or bird-watching walk in the morning, or a visit to the village on the opposite bank of the river for a taste of rural life in the coastal jungles of Cambodia. Another possible excursion takes you by boat to the spectacular Tatai Falls, via a stop at the fishing settlement of Koh Kong Khnong. The lodge also does a delightful sunset river cruise – great for experiencing the forest at twilight over a long drink with a loved one!

By far the loveliest coastal retreat in Cambodia is Kep, a town originally founded by the French in 1906, and which has since become popular among wealthy city dwellers, who travel here on weekends in search of the famous local peppered crab. There’s no beach to speak of, but visitors may catch an excursion boat out to nearby Rabbit Island, whose palm-fringed shoreline is scalloped by coves of white sand and turquoise water. Guided trips to hidden cave shrines and rock formations in the dramatic karst hills nearby are options should you wish to extend your stay.

With its dilapidated colonial-era buildings, rows of Chinese-style shophouses and wide, dusty streets, Kampot exists in an appealing time-warp where the pace of life hasn’t picked up since the French left. The riverside location at the foot of the Elephant Mountains adds to its charm. You can kayak, standup paddle board or rent a cycle for a peddle through the sleepy streets. There are also some great cafés to lounge in. 

Kampot's pepper is widely regarded as some of the best, and the plantations can be seen around the town. It is possible to visit them to find out more about the growing and processing of the spice and photographers will also want to pay a visit to the salt pans on the outskirts of the town.

Should sprawling on a driftwood daybed by the hotel’s infinity pool lose its appeal, go for one of optional activities on offer: a fishing trip with a local, a motorcycle tour around the area visiting caves; or trip out to the lovely beaches of Koh Tonsay, an island just off the coast.

There are a handful of pleasant restaurants in Kep village. ‘Pepper crab’ is the local delicacy, along with choice cuts of swordfish and snapper. Further afield, Kampot has a better choice of restaurants and more arty cafés.