Siem Reap
02/04/2026 - 02/12/2026
We had another easy travel day with a quick non-stop flight from Phu Quoc Vietnam to Siem Reap Cambodia. The only slightly challenging part was getting Grady’s phone to recognize we were in Cambodia when we landed so we could queue up a Grab to get to our hotel. Once we arrived at the hotel, we literally couldn’t have been happier. It was easily one of the nicest accommodations we have had thus far on the trip. A small boutique hotel with super nice full apartments (5 total), a pretty pool, and the most attentive staff you can imagine. We were sad we were only staying for 8 nights.
We liked this town immediately. It was the first town we had visited in southeast Asia that was pleasant to walk around in every way. Nice wide walkable sidewalks, no trash strewn about, no honking scooters, and crossable roads. Our hotel was on a pretty river just north of the busy part of town. The walk along the river was really nice, and it was even pleasant once we got into the busiest part of town. The markets were easy to walk around in without ridiculous crowding/pushing, and they were definitely cleaner than Vietnam markets… and there were SO MANY good restaurants.
We visited the Wat Preah Prom Rath Buddhist monastery right in the middle of town. It is known for the statues and murals depicting the life of the original Buddha when he first left his pampered sheltered life as a prince and discovered death and suffering in the real world which he had never before known about.
There was also large reclining Buddha statue, which oddly was covered with a giant blankie. On the grounds there were a lot of young monks roaming about doing work and goofing off and one very old nun.
We visited the “floating village” of Kampong Phluk on Tonlé Sap Lake. It wasn’t actually floating, but all the buildings are built on really tall stilts in order to adapt to the lake's dramatic seasonal water level changes. We started on a boat ride, and from the water you could see how high the stilts under the houses were. The residents of this community are fisherman. They survive by drying and salting the fish they catch and selling it at the markets in other towns. These people are soooooooooo poor!
We docked and walked up to the other side of the houses where there was a road running parallel to the water. Apparently during the rainy season, the water rises almost to the floors of the buildings and the road is then only navigable by boat. In addition to the houses, we saw the temple and the school with all the cute school kids running around (there is a photo of Grady giving a little girl some books and pencils that we donated to the school!).
We also saw a wedding venue where a group of women were sitting on the ground making something (not sure what) out of palm leaves (or maybe banana leaves – who knows!) in preparation for the wedding – We ordered up a giant shipment of banana leaf decor for the big wedding in July! Erica will be so excited!!
Following the walk through the village, we went to this cool restaurant that was floating on the lake to see the sunset.
One of the coolest places we visited was the APOPO center where they train rats to sniff out unexploded landmines left behind from Cambodia's civil war and from the Americans during Vietnam. There are approximately 5 million landmines still out there throughout the rural areas of the country!!
Some guy from Belgium got the idea since he had pet rats and realized they are very trainable and have an excellent sense of smell. They searched the world over for the smartest rats with the longest lifespan and chose the African giant pouched rats which live to be about 8 years old. The rats are too light to trigger the landmines and can clear an area about 10 times faster then humans with metal detectors because they only detect the explosives (TNT), and not scrap metal or other junk.
APOPO has been working in Cambodia since 2014, collaborating with the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) to clear landmines in several provinces in the country.
They also provide education to rural communities to help prevent injuries and deaths from all these random landmines throughout the country. It was an amazing organization! We loved holding the rats… they were super cute! It made Grady feel nostalgic for Napoleon and Greensleeves… Dawn’s pet rats from when they were kids (one of them hid in a bookbag and went to school with them!)
We visited the Killing Fields/Genocide Museum. Wow talk about sobering! The area we visited used to be a prison, torture, and massive killing site during the Khmer Rouge regime. There were details and some documents related to Khmer Rouge leaders and movements as well as the story of one survivor. Probably the most chilling aspect was the actual glass covered killing field and well with skeletons and bones exposed.
There is a small museum and a Buddhist monastery (Wat Thmey) on the sight serving as a memorial for victims. The monastery houses a glass-walled stupa containing bones and skulls of victims found in local shallow graves.
For anyone who doesn’t know anything about the Khmer Rouge Genocide, here a simplistic explanation:
Prince Norodom Sihanouk led the Kingdom of Cambodia from 1953 to 1970. He wasn’t great, but for the most part he was a pretty decent leader and successfully negotiated Cambodia's independence from France in 1953, which made him pretty popular among his people. His own Prime Minister (Lon Nol) and some other important guy (Sisowath Sirik Matak) staged a coup and stole leadership from Sihanouk when he was in France dealing with health issues (what a dick move). They called their new government the Khmer Republic.
Some even bigger assholes led by a guy named Pol Pot told Prince Norodom Sihanouk they would help him regain power. The rural people wanted Prince Norodom Sihanouk back so they supported Pol Pot and were eager to send their sons (even very young ones) to battle for the cause. This new regime was called Khmer Rouge (Red Khmer). The two governments fought for 5 years and in 1975 the Khmer Rouge took power.
When they marched into the capitol, the people were so happy! They believed Prince Norodom Sihanouk was returning. Boy were they wrong!! Instead, the Khmer Rouge imprisoned Sihanouk and proceeded to force all the people to leave their homes with what little belongings they could carry and walk for days to rural villages where they were put to work in rice fields. They killed anyone they thought was educated, associated with the former government, had leadership skills, or was a Buddhist monk. And eventually they just tortured and killed people for pretty much any (or no) reason. Families were split up and everyone was forced to dress the same and work from morning till night with very little sustenance.
Over the next 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days they killed 2 MILLION people… a fourth of the population of the country. And that my friends is the short version of the Khmer Rouge genocide (and pretty much the full extent of our knowledge!).
Literally everyone in Cambodia has a close connection to the genocide. One of our guides lost both his grandparents and his 2 older siblings. Anyone you ask gives a similar response. EVERYONE lost someone.
One evening we did a dinner show to see the traditional Apsara dance which is a classical Khmer art form dating back to the 7th century, rooted in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Apsara dancers are depicted a lot on the Angkor Wat walls. The dance was historically performed in royal courts for kings and gods and is a UNESCO-recognized symbol of Cambodian culture.
The dance is characterized by over 1,500 distinct gestures, each with specific meanings, and is performed in silk costumes and ornate gold headdresses. The elaborate, symbolic hand gestures were crazy… their little fingers were literally bent backwards for many of the movements. One of our guides told us they start training to do that at a very young age.
For our final dinner we did a cooking class. This was the sixth one we have done during this trip and they have all been outstanding (well, except the one in Turkey – that one was kind of weird). This time we even got to wear a little chef hat! I looked pretty dorky in it, but Grady looked so cute!! 😊
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