Cambodia’s New Dawn, 50 Years On From the Start of the Khmer Rouge Regime

Siem Reap's Coming of Age

A skyline can also tell you a great deal about a city. Phnom Penh’s began to be spiked with highrises as of 2009, and business, opportunity and a burgeoning expat community soon followed. In Siem Reap, no building can be taller than Angkor Wat’s highest point of 65 metres: this is the sun around which the city orbits, and the tourists who arrive here in their 2 million-plus numbers are testament to this. 

In the past, such tourists - baggy cotton trousers, dusty sandals and all - were commonly following the ‘Banana Pancake Route,’ a road including Vietnam and Thailand, and well-travelled by other rucksack-hefting individuals. But as backpackers have grown up and lotus print trousers have been binned in favour of Lululemon, the city has come of age too, offering an experience far more sophisticated than that experienced in the the early noughties, when the only high-end accommodation available was the five-star Raffles. 

As yet, there are no international flights from Europe to Siem Reap, so arrival into Cambodia’s second city still feels charmingly archaic. Changing, after a delayed departure from London, in Bangkok, I was met by a brisk attendant trotting at a frantic pace through the airport and delivered me to airline officials, who tutted over my fully stamped passport (you need at least one entire page free for your Cambodian visa, which you can purchase on arrival into the country). Eventually, they put me on a dinky little turboprop plane. 

But once my visa was obtained and my luggage collected, things kicked into a much slicker gear. A smartly uniformed driver awaited in the arrivals hall of Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and, taking my bag from me, led me to an airconditioned car - welcome in the sticky September heat. Cold towels were proffered and condensation beads rolled slowly down bottles of water. With around an hour’s drive between the airport and the city centre, I had plenty of time to take in lush rural landscapes backed by hulking hills, gradually yielding to roadside stalls and ramshackle restaurants fronted by plastic chairs. 

Relaxing Retreat

Raffles, while still very much a five-star stay, has to compete with a host of high-end hotels and resorts now; I was booked into the FFC Angkor Avani, which was once the French governor’s residence and Foreign Correspondents Club - a history that’s brought into the present day with typewriters in each room and menus printed up like newspapers.

Spread out over two sides of the road - each side with its own pool - the hotel has a sumptuous spa and open-air bar. My room led out to the lushly-planted pool, around which sunbeds - each with a plump orange towel - were positioned; my welcome bag contained locally-produced mosquito repellent. 

A City of Contrasts

Of course, the more ‘traditional’ traveller experiences still exist in Siem Reap - Pub Street throbs eternally with colour and noise, and there are plenty of dollar beers and $6 massages to be had, as well as the nearby Night Market for sampling get-stuck-in-style street food. For the more sophisticated traveller, the option to ping between these two versions of the city is a welcome one. 

I noticed a different version of myself, as well - one less frantically concerned with capturing the iconic shot of Angkor Wat, illuminated by a blaze of sunrise - and more content to wander amongst other low season travellers in a soft mizzle of rain, looking at the details of bas-relief figures, painstakingly carved by thousands of sculptors over the course of thirty years. The antics of an otter, charging at visitors in playful balestras, causing several to scramble frantically up on to the ruins, marked by “Do Not Climb” signs, was ridiculously funny. I relished having the time and space to speak with my guide in the absence of a crowd, plumbing his not-inconsiderable knowledge for a deeper understanding of the temple complexes and their significance. 

Visually arresting as Ta Prohm is, its appeal far exceeds its starring role in Tomb Raider: the impenetrable - relationship? battle? - between the natural and manmade here is hard to fathom, and all the more mesmerising for it. Massive tree roots force chunks of sandstone upwards and apart, and ooze like candle wax over weathered walls, upon which carved apsara - traditional dancers - twist their limbs into elaborate formations. 

Testing the Water

A boat trip on Tonle Sap - Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake and the country’s largest source of dietary protein - was similarly contemplative. While the floating villages are a fascinating spectacle in themselves, I found myself imagining the lives of those who inhabit them, squinting into open verandahs to glean snippets of daily routines.

Although men handle the labour of nocturnal fishing, the women, having grown up on the water, are more than capable boatspeople, and recent initiatives see them working collaboratively to take tourists on kayak trips through the mangroves. Those waiting for their turns chattered in groups; some painted each other’s nails. My ride was steered by a shyly smiling woman of indeterminate age, her gums and teeth stained red by a betel nut chewing habit which, according to my guide’s  translation, helped her with dental pain. Every so often, she turned around to beam at me; her smile beautifully imperfect and genuine. 

Later that evening, at the FFC Angkor by Avani, a troupe of young apsara took to the floor of the restaurant. Miming courtship rituals, their faces were frozen into expressions of beatific calm, and they displayed a serene otherworldliness, which dissipated the minute they leave the room; through the balcony window, I spied one gigglingly pushing another as they scampered away for a costume change.

Perhaps Cambodia, as indicated by its glittering new tourist hubs, is on the brink of a sophisticated coming-of-age, but it’s still absolutely possible to combine these recent changes with tradition, realism and, above all, a sense of wonderment. 

Pool Access Rooms at FCC Angkor by Avani cost from £178 per night including breakfast. The hotel is centrally located near the Royal Residence and Night Market, and offers excursions to the temples, as well as local entertainment.