"Cambodia April 2009" a Cambodia Travel Page by zuhur

I never expected to visit Cambodia as my work focuses on the Middle East
However, I was invited to speak there. So I had a wonderful visit and did not have to research all the actual travel issues myself! My visit took me to the parts of the country where the largest Cambodian minority live, the Muslims, -- Cham and Khmer Islam.

I flew in late and hopped back on a plane the next a.m. for Siam Reap about 40 min. in the air from Phnom Penh. Tiny airport in Siam Reap. I booked a guide through the agency in Phnom Penh. He was great, but new, and I began to feel exhausted due to the heat. I felt I would fall off Angor Thom and melt. Yet, he pressed on, perhaps worrying that I was not seeing all of the important angles of Angkor Wat, which is where I rebelled and said I could not go on, must sit down! Between sites, I went shopping in Siam Reap - as elsewhere, nice silk items, purses, shawls or tableclothes.
Lesson: do not visit at the end of April, try the fall.
Lesson 2: it was still worth it.

This provincial capital had to be visited by car, basically northwest of Phnom Penh, and not a fast drive. Near a traffic circle with 2 huge cobra bottoms is the entrance to the bridge over the Mekong. At one of the north spokes of this circle we stayed in a pretty new hotel - which cost only $20 a night. Just after crossing the Mekong, we lunched in a great restaurant, just to the left, up on high stilts as the area floods in rainy season. Wow! Food was great. Try coconut water (served in the coconut), fish (fresh) bok choy hearts, banana leaves. Our event was at the provincial governance office - it was hot! Then we went in the evening to the gardens of the office of the ministry of women's affairs - great atmosphere, traditional music being played somewhere but not too close.