For many, Angkor Wat is reason enough to visit Cambodia. And yet beyond the jaw-dropping jungle-clad temples and frescoes that are testimony to the sophistication of ancient Khmer culture, Cambodia offers rich rewards to the curious traveller.
From an ambitious food scene to lesser-known temples to contemporary arts and culture that reflect the country’s turbulent and fascinating recent history. Karma Bayon in the heart of Siem Reap is the perfect base to explore this storied southeast asian nation.
Twenty-five kilometres north, Banteay Srei, the pink sandstone Citadel of Women, carries some of the finest stone carving in the country, small enough to see closely, not glimpsed from a coach. Further out, Beng Mealea sits half swallowed by jungle, its collapsed galleries largely unrestored, better explored by scrambling than by guidebook.
Siem Reap’s food scene runs deeper than the night market too. Chef Joannes Riviere’s Cuisine Wat Damnak builds a changing tasting menu sourced village by village, Cambodian flavour refined through French technique, while a bowl of num banh chok, rice noodles in a turmeric fish curry sold at breakfast markets across the country, remains the truest introduction to Khmer cooking.
For something beyond temples and tables, Phare, The Cambodian Circus, grew from a Battambang art school for at-risk youth and performs nightly, its acrobats telling Cambodian history and folklore through movement, not dialogue.
Cambodia widens further south. Phnom Penh’s riverside promenade and National Museum, holding Angkorian bronze and stone, reward a night before flying home, while Kampot’s pepper plantations and Kep’s crab market, where vendors grill the day’s catch straight off the boats, round out a country that offers far more than temples.
Contact your Karma Concierge to build an itinerary tailored perfectly to your interests.
