Most trips run Siem Reap to Phnom Penh: three days for Angkor, two for the capital, and a short flight or a long bus between them. Add the southern coast for Kampot's pepper farms and the crab market at Kep, or Battambang for the shophouses and the countryside behind them. Kratié puts you on the Mekong, and the northeastern highlands at Sen Monorom and Banlung are the part of the country almost nobody books. November to February is the dry, cooler window worth planning around.
2 Cambodia city guides
Fun fact
Angkor Archaeological Park covers roughly 400 square kilometres and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992, which makes it one of the largest heritage sites anywhere in Asia.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityAngkor earns its three days and most itineraries open there. The rest is what surprises people: a Mekong river town at Kratié, pepper farms and a crab market on the south coast, and highland forest at Sen Monorom that sees almost no coaches.
The realityThe pantry is different. Kroeung, a pounded paste of lemongrass, turmeric, galangal and kaffir lime, does the work chilli does next door, and prahok, fermented fish paste, carries the salt. Heat is a condiment here, added at the table rather than cooked in.
The realityThe cities and the main routes are ordinary travel. Demining is still under way in parts of the northwestern border provinces, which is the reason rural paths are marked. Stay on marked ground and the caution ends there.
The realityDollars circulate widely and prices are often quoted in them, but the riel is the national currency and change under a dollar comes back in riel. Carry small, clean notes: a torn fifty is no use to anyone.
The realityThree days covers Angkor. The country is small and flat, which makes it tempting to rush, but the short distances hide slow roads and long bus legs. Eight to twelve days is the honest length for Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and one region past them.
The realityThe genocide sites in Phnom Penh are told plainly and are worth your time. They are one chapter of a history that also holds the largest religious monument on earth, a golden age of 1960s rock and roll, and a young population rebuilding what that period tried to erase.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Greet with the sampeah: palms together, a small bow. The higher the hands, the more respect it carries, and returning one is always right.
- Cover shoulders and knees at temples. Angkor enforces its dress code at the gate, and there is nothing to buy once you are past it.
- Do not touch anyone on the head, and do not point your feet at a person or a Buddha image. Tuck them under you when you sit down.
- Pass and receive with the right hand, or with both. The left hand alone reads as careless.
- Ask before photographing monks or people at work, and never use the genocide memorials as a backdrop.
- Shoes come off before a home or a temple hall. Watch what the pile at the door is doing and copy it.
- Keep your temper. Raising your voice loses the argument here, and staying calm gets further than being right.
- Keep small riel notes on you. Nobody wants to break a large dollar bill for a bowl of noodles, and damaged notes get refused.
Famous Cambodian faces
Jayavarman VII
Sinn Sisamouth
Rithy Panh
Haing S. Ngor
Vann Molyvann
Norodom Sihanouk
VannDa
Sorn Seavmey
Jayavarman II
Suryavarman II
Norodom Sihamoni
Ros Serey Sothea
Kong Nay
Davy Chou
Sopheap Pich
Vann Nath
Loung Ung
Vaddey Ratner
Dith Pran
Chan Vathanaka
Bou Samnang
Must-try Khmer food
Fish amok
Steamed fish mousse set with coconut milk and kroeung, served in a banana leaf cup.
Lok lak
Cubes of beef seared hard, piled on salad, with a black pepper and lime dip.
Kuy teav
The breakfast bowl: clear pork broth, rice noodles, fried garlic and whatever the stall adds.
Nom banh chok
Soft rice noodles under a pale green fish and kroeung gravy, with raw herbs you tear in.
Samlor korko
The everyday Khmer stew, thickened with toasted rice and loaded with whatever is in season.
Bai sach chrouk
Grilled pork over broken rice with pickles and a bowl of broth on the side, eaten early.
Num pang
The Khmer baguette, a French inheritance filled with pâté, pickles and herbs.
Sach ko ang
Beef skewers grilled over coals on the pavement and sold by the stick after dark.
A'ping
Fried tarantula, the Skuon speciality, crisp outside and better split than bitten.
Kralan
Sticky rice, coconut and black beans roasted inside a bamboo tube, then split open.
Kampot pepper crab
Kep crab stir-fried with whole green Kampot peppercorns, fish sauce and palm sugar.
Prahok ktis
Fermented fish paste cooked down with pork and coconut into a dip for raw vegetables.
Trey aing
Whole river fish grilled over coals, then wrapped into lettuce with herbs at the table.
Samlor machu trey
Sour fish soup, sharp with tamarind and lemongrass, ordered with a plate of rice.
Num ansom
Sticky rice with banana or pork, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed for festivals.
Num plae ai
Palm sugar hidden inside glutinous rice balls and rolled in fresh coconut.
Num kom
A steamed pyramid of glutinous rice with palm sugar and coconut folded inside.
Tuk ampov
Sugarcane pressed at the roadside and poured over crushed ice, sweet and grassy.
Iced Khmer coffee
Dark robusta run through a filter, sweetened with condensed milk, poured over ice.