Traversing Through Cambodia's Ancient History, Dark Past, and Hopeful Future

If you didn’t already know, Cambodia went through a period of totalitarianism under the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot in the 70’s. That is very recent. About half of Cambodia’s population was killed (2-3 million out of just 5 million people) and those included government workers, military, politicians, doctors, educators, and artists…. 

When Pol Pot was overthrown in the late 70’s Cambodia had to rebuild. Coops like Artisans Angkor started up and searched through small villages to find artists that could train young Cambodians the ancient Khmer art. And now, 50 years later, I witnessed them excelling at detailed stonework, woodwork, lacquer paintings, silk weavings, leather carvings, just to say the least. Indonesia and Thailand are world-famous for this stuff, but man, we are obviously sleeping on Cambodia's potential. I am grateful to have met all of the artisans on this trip -- its is eye opening to see their version of dance, paint, leatherwork, and carving. 

Now, let's touch on a couple of foodie adventures Siem Reap. First is our dinner at Embassy: Khmer Gastronomy (link here: https://www.embassy-restaurant.com). It is a multi-course dinner that presents like a Michelin-rated restaurant. The place was beautiful, the food was a wonderful, local, farm-to-table experience, in a luxe environment. At $54 per person the prices were of course, unbearably reasonable because you are still in Cambodia. It is by far, the cheapest fancy dinner we have ever been to at this level of quality. 

The second is an incredible night at Apsara Theatre (link: https://apsaratheatre.asia). It is a cultural immersion into the classical Khmer experience, from the traditional-style wooden theatre, to the talented Apsara dancers in beautiful silk costumes, traditional music with Cambodian instruments like the roneat and sralai, and of course, traditional Khmer food, which was nothing in comparison to the Embassy but is still very well executed. I am glad I was able to immerse myself in what seems like a touristy experience, but still felt authentic to their culture and heritage. 

On another note, Kampot region was easily my favorite region in our short tour of Cambodia. We came to visit La Plantation (https://laplantation.com/en/visit-us/our-farm-kampot/), a black pepper farm of over 50 hectares that is world-famous for growing some of the best peppers in the world. 

We brought home all kinds of peppers… from the long red mondolkiris, fresh pepper preserved in local salt, to cold-smoked black and white peppers. I asked the guide a hundred questions on how to grow the perfect pepper because I haven’t succeeded myself on Kaua’i. Yes, we flew across the Pacific Ocean and drove 8 hours from Siem Reap so we can learn how to grow our own black pepper on our Kaua'i homestead. 

I didn’t doubt that La Plantation was going to be the highlight of our trip; what I didn't expect is for the Kampot/Kep region itself to be an overall favorite province. In just a couple days we visited caves, had fresh juices overlooking the “secret lake”, ate fresh seafood in Kep, walked through a local wet market, took photos in front of a giant Durian, and ate at quaint coffee shops.

We ended our trip relaxing at Sabay beach overlooking the Tuek Chhu River… the entire trip to Kampot was a welcomed respite away from the touristy Siem Reap and a nice preparation for Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh was the most depressing part of our trip, because the main attraction here is the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum. After being in awe by the beauty of the Angkor region, and feeling uber relaxed from our weekend in Kampot, we were pounded with the rough, recent, and gruesome history of the Khmer Rouge. If you’re interested in learning more about the Khmer Rouge regime, look into “First They Killed My Father” - it was first written into a book and later on made into a movie on Netflix (by Angelina Jolie, if that matters). 

But after all of that darkness, we took it all out on shopping. Between the Central and Russian markets, my friends Liz, Meg, and I traversed every alleyway and admired what felt like every shop.

They sold anything and everything from fake Louis Vuitton wallets to cheap luggage, the latter to carry all the stone and woodwork we purchased from the art shops. Later that night, Mike and I went on an awesome street food tour with Urban Forage (link: https://urbanforage.co) and ate more scorpions, tarantulas, and crickets, amongst so much other incredible local food stalls they took us via Tuk Tuk. It was a fun experience for visitors because honestly, after traveling to 30 countries, I'm not so adventurous with street food in fear of ruining my vacation with diarrhea. Taking a tour is always a safe bet because the local guides won't take you to dirty places. The wrap up of this tour is a drink at Wild Phnom Penh (https://wild-restaurants.com/phnom-penh/), a garden cocktail bar that is such a fun respite from all the street food. It was such a fun night. 

And finally, we spent New Years overlooking the Phnom Penh skyline from the rooftop of Sora Sky Bar at The Rosewood Hotel (link: https://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/phnom-penh/dining/sora). The Rosewood in Cambodia is very new, very high tech, and very, very fancy. I know I mentioned that Embassy is one of the cheapest luxury experience at the dining level, but this one takes the cake for the cheapest New Years Eve experience at this luxurious level. For $250 a person, we got ourselved a primo high top table at the edge of the balcony, a whole bottle of Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut, and a multi-course sushi and teppanyaki dinner. Like, what a steal.

I would say that Phnom Penh is a growing city. It is not yet mature in that it could take some work in customer service and availability of services, but there’s always good spots because it is, after all, a major city. The most impressive things built in Phnom Penh was sadly not by its own people, but by Chinese investors. I was a little disappointed coming from Bangkok but also realize that considering they had to reboot their society recently, my expectations were unfounded. Overall, would come back for more shopping though. That’s my vice, and Phnom Penh sure delivered!

I am excited to see where this country will go in the next decade. I hope they grow to become a powerhouse of the arts in Asia like their nearby neighbors, because for a small country, they have a lot of skilled artisans. I’m glad I came to Cambodia to search for “what they’re good at making”. Because it turns out that they’re great at almost making anything.