Charming Cambodia is just the ticketBy JOHN BORTHWICK,
The West Australian
Updated April 13, 2012,
Cambodia is not yet a sleek tourist destination but still attracts about three million visitors a year.
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It offers clean beaches, quality accommodation, great eating and robust nightlife. Your transport might be via Mekong cruise boat, pedal rickshaw, car, van, tuk-tuk, plane, foot, taxi, ox-cart or motorbike. Each offers the means to experience the country, from the relative sophistication of its towns to the absolute kindness of its people.
In the capital, Phnom Penh, I join a city tour with The Cyclo Project. Green-coated cyclo (rickshaw) drivers collect us and for several hours they whisk us around the city's main tourist sights - monuments, temples, parks and the Grand Palace. Later, we lunch at the charity-run Friends Restaurant, enjoy a blind massage at "Seeing Hands" and take a sunset cruise on Tonle Sap waterway.
A Khmer-era temple at Angkor Wat, one of the world's most visited tourist sites. Picture: John Borthwick
Sunny, snoozy Sihanoukville, 200km south of the capital on the Gulf of Thailand, is a mix of white sand beaches, drenching humidity, bucket bars for backpackers, and new resorts with time-warp prices - six beers, three meals, $12.
Accommodation is $25 a night.
In Chambok village, south of Phnom Penh, I find a home-stay program, with a clean room and a charming host family. After overnighting there I spend the day in nearby Kirirom National Park, hiking to a waterfall, lunching at the community Eco-Education Centre and watching a Khmer dance performance by village kids.
The superstar of old and new Cambodia is the Angkor Wat temples complex, once the heart of Khmer civilisation which flourished from the 8th to 13th century, then disintegrated. While many temples have been restored, the beauty of unrestored ones like Ta Phrom is in their decay.
But there are other impressive Khmer ruins such as remote Banteay Chhmar which is visited by perhaps two people a day, compared to Angkor Wat's 7000.
In the capital, Phnom Penh, I join a city tour with The Cyclo Project. Green-coated cyclo (rickshaw) drivers collect us and for several hours they whisk us around the city's main tourist sights - monuments, temples, parks and the Grand Palace. Later, we lunch at the charity-run Friends Restaurant, enjoy a blind massage at "Seeing Hands" and take a sunset cruise on Tonle Sap waterway.
A Khmer-era temple at Angkor Wat, one of the world's most visited tourist sites. Picture: John Borthwick
Sunny, snoozy Sihanoukville, 200km south of the capital on the Gulf of Thailand, is a mix of white sand beaches, drenching humidity, bucket bars for backpackers, and new resorts with time-warp prices - six beers, three meals, $12.
Accommodation is $25 a night.
In Chambok village, south of Phnom Penh, I find a home-stay program, with a clean room and a charming host family. After overnighting there I spend the day in nearby Kirirom National Park, hiking to a waterfall, lunching at the community Eco-Education Centre and watching a Khmer dance performance by village kids.
The superstar of old and new Cambodia is the Angkor Wat temples complex, once the heart of Khmer civilisation which flourished from the 8th to 13th century, then disintegrated. While many temples have been restored, the beauty of unrestored ones like Ta Phrom is in their decay.
But there are other impressive Khmer ruins such as remote Banteay Chhmar which is visited by perhaps two people a day, compared to Angkor Wat's 7000.
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