My first adventures in beautiful Cambodia

I’ve fallen in love with Cambodia! Thanks to a wonderful guide, I learned so much about the ancient and contemporary history and culture of this fascinating country. From temples to local villages – join me on my first Khmer adventure!

 

This is the second post in a series inspired by my recent honeymoon trip and the fabulous new experiences I enjoyed. We wanted to explore Southeast Asia for the first time and decided to make “taster” visits to Vietnam (see my first post here), Cambodia, and Thailand. While in Cambodia, we were focused on visiting the spectacular Angkor Wat temple complex but also found time to explore the modern city of Siem Reap. We went shopping at markets, had several drinks on “Pub Street”, walked along the pretty river, and of course, ate local dishes!

 

Here are a few of the “firsts” I experienced on this leg our our adventures:

Visiting the temples of Angkor

This has been on my “bucket list” for a long time and I was so excited to explore! I learned so many things, starting with the basic fact that Angkor is not simply one iconic temple with three jagged towers (famous for featuring on the Cambodian flag), but is actually an entire ancient city!

 

 

The temples were built by successive Khmer Kings, most often to function as places of worship and as mausoleums for their close families. The temples of Angkor were very different from one another in design, reflecting the taste and wealth of the individual rulers. Equally, the country flip-flopped between religions over the centuries, and so the temples are dedicated to a mixture of Buddhist and Hindu deities (typically Shiva and Vishnu) and incorporate different architectural traditions.

 

A little bit of history: Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the 8th to 15th Centuries. It was huge (technically, the largest pre-industrial city in the world), with over 1,000 temples covering 1,000 square kilometres and was thought to have supported over 1 million people. The city collapsed when, amongst factors such as climate stressors, the Khmer Empire was sacked by the Ayutthaya Empire (present-day Thailand) in 1431. The buildings were abandoned and overgrown for several centuries until 19th Century French colonists “rediscovered” many and began to clear the jungle. Luckily for us, Angkor is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and work is ongoing by international archaeological teams to restore and protect this incredible history.

 

One of the most fascinating sites we explored was Angkor Thom, an entire walled city within Angkor. This epic building project was commissioned by King Jayavarman VII (who we came to know as “J7” in our guide’s shorthand!), one of the most famous and wealthiest rulers of the Khmer Empire.

 

 

The main religious temple building has 216 enormous faces carved on its tall towers. Scholars are in argument as to whether they depict King J7 himself, or Buddha, to whom the temple is dedicated. Either way, the serene, smiling faces were lovely decorative additions and certainly reminders of power, wealth and quirky taste of this ruler!

 

 

Ta Prohm is another of King J7’s commissions from the late 12th Century. Known informally as the “Jungle Temple”, this couldn’t be completely cleared as several giant trees and vines have become interwoven with the fabric of the temple walls. It was a very cool experience to wander around and have some small sense of what it must have been like as the 19th Century explorers, “rediscovering” these temples within the dense forests.

 

 

This temple was featured in the Tomb Raider movie, so I was familiar with some of the main features, but it was fantastic to see it in person and feel the full atmosphere. We absolutely loved visiting this temple, as we had so much fun getting “lost” within the ruins (our guide had to search for us on a number of occasions- oops!), stumbling upon another tree or vine sprouting from a wall, while admiring carvings covered in delicate moss.

 

 

Banteay Srei is another unique temple in Angkor. Dedicated to the Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati, this temple dates back to the 10th Century, but, despite being one of the oldest temples we visited, has some of the most impressively well-preserved stone carvings.

 

 

It was interesting to learn that its name translates to “citadel of the women”, or “citadel of beauty”, due to the many carvings of holy dancers (more on this to come!) around the walls, and the beautiful pink hue of the hardy red granite.

 

 

Our last stop was Neak Pean, a temple unlike any of the others we visited. Neak Pean was built for a slightly different purpose: for healing. Water is a key theme at this 12th-century Buddhist temple, built on an island in an artificial lake. We accessed the temple complex by walking over a bridge spanning the enormous lake, and inside, we discovered four pools around a central pond, each representing a different element (earth, wind, fire, water). A person suffering from an illness would come for their “diagnosis” (e.g. heartburn, so too much “fire” element), then be prescribed a bath in the appropriate pool to balance their energies (the “water” pool in our example). Each pool had an animal head carving, through which water would emerge from the mouth to cure the patient. How brilliant is that!

 

 

The Magic of Sunrise at Angkor Wat

One of the most unforgettable moments of our temple tour was watching the sun rise across the water at Angkor Wat. This involved waking up very early at 4:10am to arrive on site by around 5:00 am, but we were pleased to have set out early as we secured a front-row spot!

 

 

All we had to do was watch in amazement as the sun came up, the light changing every couple of minutes, revealing a new delight. The sky morphed from hues of yellow, orange, and a tinge of deep red, with bright blue not far behind. I was also struck by observing the animal life waking up. I noticed tiny flickers of flies buzzing above the lake, soon followed by water boatmen skating across the surface, leaving ripples in their wake. Then, the more obvious (and vocal!) birds joined in, filling the air with their morning greetings.

 

While several hundred other tourists were present, it felt peaceful and almost a “private” experience, as most were respectful and remained pretty quiet. We were able to watch in awe, thinking of the hundreds of years of history and thousands of others who have been inspired by this incredible sight over the generations.

 

 

During our tour of the inner temple buildings, I particularly enjoyed learning about Khmer architecture and the symbolism and function embedded within the designs. For example, many temple towers are designed to resemble sacred lotus flowers, their petals unfurling gracefully. There is usually a taller central tower holding a statue of the key deity, representing the sacred mountain and home of the gods, and shorter surrounding towers depicting other mountains in the range. The water-filled moats at many temples symbolically represent the ocean, while this water system was also a practical necessity to manage rainy season deluges and dry season droughts.

 

 

Temples feature many intricate carvings, telling the stories associated with deities. For example, Angkor Wat is dedicated to the Hindu god of preservation, Vishnu, and features carvings from the epic texts, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. My favourite was the Churning of the Sea of Milk, where, on the direction of Vishnu, holy beings (asuras and devas) used the serpent-king (Vasuki) as a rope lashed around a mountain to churn the cosmic ocean to obtain the elixir of immortality (amrita). As one does.

 

 

The carvings are spectacular and well-preserved, especially considering they date from the 12th Century! The scale of the scene was mind-blowing – warriors, gods, demons, and an enormous serpent caught in a cosmic tug-of-war. It was like an ancient Marvel movie carved in stone!

Cambodian Apsara Dance

 

I’m a passionate dancer of many different styles, so I was fascinated to learn about Cambodian traditional dancing. My first encounter was via carvings of female dancers called ”apsaras” at many of the temples (there are over 1,700 documented depictions at Angkor Wat alone!). Our guide referred to them as “heavenly dancers”, and at the Jungle Temple, there is even a “Dancers Hall” – a building dedicated to this practice, thus demonstrating their historical and cultural importance. The carvings depict the dancers wearing embellished traditional dress, lots of jewellery, and highly elaborate hairpieces.

 

 

To bring this to life (literally!) we attended an evening of performance at our hotel by a talented dance troupe. They performed several pieces, all with live music and singing. The host explained that each dance depicts traditional stories: some are love stories between two celestial beings, while others are more spiritual stories, told by a group of dancers moving in perfect unison.

 

 

The dance was characterised by lots of intricate hand and arm gestures, rhythmic footwork, and precise stepping patterns. Every delicate movement of the fingers carried a symbolic meaning, transforming gestures into a storytelling language. The timing of the movements paired with the percussion from drums, while the intensity of the movements flowed with the waxing and waning of the string instruments and singing, depicting the emotions of the story.

 

 

The costumes were equally spectacular: glittering with gold and gravity-defying hairpieces and headdresses. Each dancer had a unique costume and hairstyle, and the principal dancer leading the troupe had the tallest hairpiece, reflecting her skill at manoeuvring this challenging costume element. I was captivated watching this performance incorporating so much rich detail. It felt like stepping into a living piece of Cambodia’s ancient history and made for an unforgettable evening!

Harvesting rice

 

As well as exploring ancient Cambodia, we were also keen to learn more about modern history and contemporary daily life. During an afternoon, our guide took us to a village. This was another absolute highlight for me! We were able to see houses, built on stilts to manage rainy season floods and provide shade, ventilation, and storage in the space underneath. We also saw lots of chickens running free, many different fruit trees, local religious practices (e.g. an Animist shrine at a termite hill), and visit a rice field.

 

 

Rice is a staple of the Cambodian diet and we were lucky enough to be introduced to a group of local people harvesting their crop. They were all family members (cousins) who helped each other with the harvest, and they even gave us a tutorial and let us have a go! We very carefully cut some of the crop, conscious that it’s a very important resource, so not something we should idly get “wrong”! They were very friendly and we appreciated their hospitality.

First time experiencing the aftermath of a genocide

 

Cambodia’s recent history is marked by one of the most brutal genocides of the 20th Century. Under despotic leader, Pol Pot and the extreme Khmer Rouge regime, 3 million people, or 25% of the population, were killed between 1976 to 1978. The Khmer Rouge continued to terrorise the country via guerrilla warfare for 30 years until Pol Pot was finally arrested in 1998 and fighting ended in 1999, leaving devastation that still lingers today.  

 

Our guide, a young child when Pol Pot came into power, shared some of his life experiences during these times. He recalled his family having to leave anything they could not carry and move from their home in the city of Siem Reap, out into the countryside. His parents built a new house for their extended family and adjusted to a completely different life: from running a successful market stall to working as farmers. They grew food for the community and the army, who would collect a large proportion of the yield as a form of tax.

 

One of the most tragic and ruthless “rules” was that only those who could work the required hours were allowed to prepare food and eat in the communal kitchens. Those who could not work, including our guide who was too young and his grandparents who were too old, suffered from malnutrition. These rules were rarely broken as a culture of fear was fostered, where neighbours and even children were encouraged to “tell” on each other. Many infants died and it was common for older Cambodians to take their own lives or die from curable diseases like malaria, as the government also banned the import of medicines.

 

There was no access to schooling during this period, so the considerable knowledge our guide had built up, he learned as an adult over 30 years of working in the tourist industry. He is particularly grateful that his child now has access to schooling, even if just for half days 6 days per week.

 

While the civil war concluded in 1999, the after-effects are still present. For example, at each temple, there were covered stages on which groups of musicians played traditional instruments. As I stepped forward to give a donation, I realised that all the musicians were amputees. A sign explained that they were victims of landmine explosions who wished to make a living through their musical skills.

 

Millions of landmines were laid during the civil war. According to the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, while over 4 million landmines have been cleared, sadly 19,834 people have been killed by landmine explosions, and 45,252 have been injured or required amputation between 1979 and 2024. Cambodia has the highest ratio of amputees per capita in the world at around 1 in every 250 people. Putting this statistic into context, that would have been about 4 students in my secondary school living as amputees.

 

Sadly, this remains an ongoing issue. In 2024 alone, there were 49 recorded landmine casualties – 12 people were killed, 29 injured, and 8 required amputations. In January 2025, two bomb disposal experts also lost their lives while attempting to neutralize unexploded ordnance. The Cambodian government is striving to make the country landmine-free by the end of 2025, a crucial goal to prevent further tragedies. Meanwhile, museums and memorials across the country continue to raise awareness, serving as powerful reminders of the past and the need to ensure history is never repeated

 

Cambodian Culinary Delights

 

Fortunately, the country has come a long way in recovering from this difficult history, including welcoming tourists and being proud to showcase Cambodian culture in many forms. We found Siem Reap’s street food culture vibrant, and finding delicious traditional Cambodian dishes was effortless!

 

My favourite order was Khmer Sour Soup. This soup is a flavorful delight, with a bright tang of lime juice perfectly balancing the warmth of lemongrass. We learned that this is commonly served with fish as it’s readily available and the delicate meat complements the flavours, but as we’re not super keen, we opted for chicken or veggie versions- they were all fantastic! I even found some saches of a spice mix and will attempt to recreate the soup at home, although I don’t have high hopes – I doubt the freshness of the experience can truly be powdered and exported!

 

 

As a sweet treat, we discovered steamed palm cakes at Preak Dak village in Angkor. We went behind the scenes to see their impressive “manufacturing” process, involving extracting palm paste from carefully selected palm fruits, mixing with rice flour and sugar to form a batter, and steaming in cute (and sustainable) little palm leaf cups. The real highlight was eating the freshly made, delicate sponge, served piping hot with fresh coconut shavings. The village is known for these cakes, and we saw so many people pull over and collect large orders while we sat. I would definitely seek these out again and wish I could have brought some (several hundred!) home.

 

 

Finally, my husband and I love to drink beer and usually opt to sample the local offerings anywhere in the world. Our favourite beer in Cambodia, and actually, our entire Southeast Asia trip was Angkor beer. Fittingly, our first taste was after our sunrise visit to Angkor Wat. The restaurant staff seemed a little surprised to be serving beer at 11am alongside coffee and pastries, but after being up for hours, we felt like we’d earned it! It is extremely flavourful, but not in a hoppy way, and we liked it so much, that we ordered it at every opportunity, including on our night out on Pub Street in downtown Siem Reap. If anyone knows where to find Angkor beer in the UK, let me know – I’m fully prepared to start an import business if needed!

 

Our visit to Cambodia was filled with a mix of awe-inspiring ancient sites and extremely humbling moments of appreciation for the devastating challenges the country has experienced. I’m so grateful to our guide for sharing his expertise and personal story to help us appreciate the full picture of ancient and modern Cambodia. I loved experiencing the fascinating temples, the beautiful nature, the incredible dance culture, and the delicious and varied food.

 

My next adventure is in Thailand, where my new experiences were (spoiler alert!) not only tropical beaches and Mai Tai’s (although a lot of those as well!).

 

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