My Epic Trip To Cambodia

The seed of my Epic journey to Cambodia was sown back in early 2022 when Lavinia a lovely friend who runs an amazing Italian confectionery business (Lavolio) contacted me and asked – “Gouri, would you be interested in joining the board of a charity as its Treasurer?”

I run two businesses (a social enterprise and an accountancy practice). With 2 kids and a busy husband, I wasn’t quite sure if it was something I could do. So all I said was, “Why don’t you send me more info and I will think about it.” 

Little did I know that that would be the start of a life-changing experience for me. The more I learnt about Epic Arts the more I was impressed and inspired by the vision and the work being done by the team.

Epic Arts is an international organisation based in Cambodia and registered as a charity in the UK. It was founded in 2001 by three women with personal experience of disability who studied arts together at a university, in the UK.

I have some personal experience with the Arts helping young people with learning difficulties. Therefore the opportunity genuinely excited me. After speaking with a few other Board members I decided to join. 

We had had 3 board meetings by the end of Dec 2022, when I realised that until I had visited Cambodia and seen first-hand the work the team did, I couldn’t contribute in an effective way, either to its governance or its functioning. This is when I decided that it was time to travel. 

I had a week in Cambodia and I wanted to make the most of it – at Kampot visiting the charity, as well as doing a bit of sightseeing. Below is an account of my Epic experience. 

I was fortunate that Sokny (the charity’s Cambodian head) has a friend, who has a friend in the tourism business – Brian at Siem Reap Shuttle Tours. He helped plan my itinerary, perfectly.

Tip: not many local people speak English, I found an App called Hello which teaches you Khmer like Duo lingo, in case you want to make the effort 🙂

Currency used in Cambodia is a mix of USD and Rial – this can get confusing as $1 = 4000 Rial! So better practice your 4 times table. You may pay in USD and you may get the change in Rials. Nightmare for bookkeepers! I used this tool to get the best rates.

Day 1: 

I arrived in Phnom Penh around 9 am. I had applied for the eVisa ($35) before arrival, which made things very smooth at the airport. I was out in 30 mins.

Tip: Once you get to Cambodia it is worth getting a $10 local Smart sim, this gives you loads of data for a week (12GB) and enough local minutes. Nearly everybody uses a multi-sim phone or multiple phones – as the Smart sim doesn’t work with other networks and most tourists use Smart sim. The good thing is that every restaurant and hotel has very good wi-fi so you only need the sim for when you are out and about.

The driver was waiting for me when I arrived and I was supposed to first go to my hotel, freshen up and then go sightseeing. But due to a misunderstanding about the itinerary he took me straight to the Killing fields. 

This is where the prisoners (including little babies) were brought during the Khmer Rouge regime, to be killed and then buried in the fields. This was quite a gruesome introduction to Cambodia. But helped me understand and empathise with the people more. Young children were brainwashed and recruited into its army by the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. Wanting to turn Cambodia into a complete communist agrarian country – he moved all the urban people into the villages and forced them to farm using basic tools and bare hands. The young soldiers were instructed to imprison anybody who they suspected to be a rebel. This led to mass imprisonments, torturing of prisoners to get false confessions and then ultimately killing of these prisoners at the killing fields.

I had not heard about the genocide in Cambodia until just before my trip. Therefore, this was very shocking for me. A genocide which in 3 years wiped out 1/4 of the population of a country. Worse, by its own people, because they were worried about rebellion. I should have paid more attention to my history lessons!! 

The audio guide at the Killing Fields was most detailed and painted quite the picture of how cruel humans can be and do the most unthinkable and evil things when they believe there is a threat to their own power or beliefs. 

There is a cupboard full of skulls and bones dug up from these fields which serve as a reminder of the atrocities that were committed. I left the Killing fields with a heavy heart.

The next stop was the Genocide museum. This is where all the prisoners suspected of treason and rebellion were brought, to be imprisoned, chained to the tiniest cell cubicles, tortured and forced to confess. They confessed to escape torture, only to be then sent to the Killing Fields. 

The museum is full of prison rooms displaying photos of the prisoners and the different torture methods. I do believe that at the end of the visit, I was in a state of shock and disbelief.  

My guide who was 6 years old during the Khmer Rouge regime told me about how his family and others were sent to the villages to do farming. They were fed a ladle of rice twice a day and worked in extreme heat for long hours. He had lost five of his siblings during that period. There were 7 survivors of the prison/ genocide museum, I visited, and I saw 2 of them. It is a wonder anybody could have survived that ordeal! 

At this point, I had to take a break to check in at the lovely hotel called The Plantation. It is a welcome oasis in the middle of the city. I would highly recommend staying here, cheaper than UK hotels and mid-range for options in Cambodia.

As I was driving through the city I felt I was in India, the buildings, streets, the coconut trees all reminded me of Kerala. 

Tip: If you are a vegetarian like me, search for Vegan places to eat, there are many, and you will know for sure that they haven’t used fish or oyster sauce.

I then went to the Royal Palace. This is absolutely spectacular and the stark contrast between it and the Killing Fields and the prison stood out for me. There are pure gold statues studded with diamonds and beautifully painted ceilings and walls. The King doesn’t have much political power but they do love the monarchy for being instrumental in obtaining freedom from the French. 

Over the years Cambodia was either a Hindu Kingdom or a Buddhist one, therefore there are many temples and Hindu architecture everywhere. There is also huge investment and influence from China.
I felt very much at home with everybody welcoming me with a “Namaste”.

Tip: There are 5 types of Namaste – you bow with your hands joined –

1) near your chest – for people younger than you or the same age as you;

2) against your chin – for people older than you;

3) against your nose – for your teacher/ parents/ people who you highly regard;

4) against your forehead – for the king; and

5) above your head – to the Gods.

The people of Cambodia are lovely, very humble and extremely welcoming. But I found that there is an element of self-pity in the mindset.

When I went to the market a very smart saleswoman sold me a skirt, after which she said – “Thank you so much for your help and now I can feed my family.” I told her off for not taking pride in running her business and requested she not use sympathy as a tool for sales. No doubt, the country has gone through horrific tragedies but that shouldn’t be used to emotionally blackmail tourists.

The Russian market and the central market are great places to shop for almost everything in Phnom Penh! There is an entire area selling every possible tool or spare part!  

Tip: Be sure to haggle – start with a quarter of their offer price! Shopping there took me right to the streets of Mumbai – Linking Road & Fashion street. 

Of course, sightseeing cannot be complete without a visit to a Pagoda – a Buddhist temple. The one I visited, Wat Phnom, was built by a woman 💪🏼. There is a smaller side temple area which has a mixed praying space for the Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian. Such harmony! The only issue was they offer eggs (cracking them) and pork to one of the deity statues there, to ward off bad luck. I couldn’t bear the stench and left. 

Tip: take effective mosquito repellents and wear light full sleeve tops/ long trousers to avoid 🦟 bites!

Day 2-5:

Together with two other Board members who had travelled from UK & Indonesia, we began our taxi drive to Kampot, where the Epic Arts team is based. The drive was pretty smooth with a new highway connecting the 2 cities. We got there in about 2.5 hours! 

Tip: use the app called PassApp similar to Uber to hire TukTuks or taxis, they are nearly half the price you would pay a hotel for hiring a taxi.

We stayed in a lovely hotel called Pippali – one of the few hotels in Kampot with a pool. We were given bicycles to commute between the office, cafe & our hotel. Soon I felt like one of the locals.

We had a sumptuous and delicious meal at the Epic Arts cafe (this is part of the Charity). In fact, I had lunch there every day, due to its many veg options and each one more delicious than the previous one! Hannah the cafe manager is also a Vegetarian and Anthony our foodie team member was my menu guide, I knew I was in safe hands! The chocolate brownie is to die for, by the way. 

We had nearly 4 days filled with meetings, discussions and observations of the various programs and classes run by Epic Arts. 

The vision of the founders as carried forward by the charity is to impact the lives of people with disabilities through the performing and creative arts and to create a world where people with disabilities are included and valued. 

Please read the history of Cambodia, as mentioned above. The country has sadly been tormented by many wars, but the Khmer Rouge committed the worst atrocities. There was mass genocide which resulted in the deaths of approx. 2 million people, that’s a quarter of the population of the country.

The atrocities, malnourishment and mental abuse of the young people then, together with poverty and poor medical facilities, have resulted in many children being born with severe disabilities. 

Epic Arts currently runs three programs, with the objective of transforming the lives of people with disabilities and promoting the message that every person counts.

We work with the community, the government, mainstream schools and parents to help change the perception and stigma attached to disabled people. Safeguarding young disabled people is a top priority.

I met some young people who had never communicated until the age of 15 when they learnt to use sign language. Imagine not being able to effectively articulate your feelings or thoughts for that long!

We observed a class where kids with Down’s syndrome had come there as meek little kids and are now high in self-confidence and self-worth. They were laughing, chatting and vocal about their feelings. They were being taught basic life skills so that they could contribute positively to their homes, e.g. with cooking or cleaning. Traditionally families had always seen these children as a burden but now they are more positively accepted in the community. 

We had the opportunity to observe beautiful contemporary dance performances by the Epic encounters team. This is a troupe of young people with disabilities including hearing and speech impairments. Since they cannot hear the music they learn to dance by feeling floor vibrations, from memory and peripheral vision – sensing the movements of the others. There are wheelchair dancers too. It is pretty amazing to see them dance in synchrony. The troupe is hired and invited to perform in various parts of the world. They will be performing in the closing ceremony of the South East Asian water games in May 2023, which is a big opportunity to showcase their skills to the world. 

I showed them some of the Bollywood dance performances, my family and friends had done at our recent Diwali party – they loved the colourful costumes and dance moves. My son is a big MJ fan and so are some of them, therefore, they loved watching one of his dance videos. Truly the arts can cross all barriers and bring people together in such a beautiful way! 

We also observed The Inclusive Arts classes where young people were making beautiful sketches and paintings. Their part-time teacher used to be a student and now is a well-known artist in Cambodia. He used to draw with his right hand but lost it in an accident (two-wheeler accidents are sadly very common in Cambodia). He then re-trained himself to create art with his left hand! There was a boy with severe cerebral palsy who was using rulers to draw, creating such lovely art, with straight lines. 

Indeed, Every Person Counts (Epic)! 

We were fortunate to visit a local school that had enrolled some disabled children. The Charity helps train mainstream teachers in the best teaching methods for these children. Cambodia has a huge shortage of trained teachers and therefore kids have classes only in half-day shifts. 

Therefore, teaching disabled children is even harder with such limited resources, especially finding teachers who also know sign language. 

All that I saw, inspired and filled me with much admiration. What impressed me the most was the commitment of the staff. I saw people from Cambodia who have dedicated their lives to working at the charity, perhaps because they have personal experience with disability. But there are also staff from other nations like Australia, the UK etc. who have chosen to give up potentially lucrative careers in their home countries, away from their families and made Kampot their home for the last 5-10 years! Seeing their dedication, and commitment to the vision of the charity has completely blown me away! I told you it was a life-changing experience for me, well this is it. I hope to be a better person and worthy of such a wonderful team. 

Day 6:

On our last day at Kampot, after all the lovely team meals, meetings and big hugs we made a quick visit to a Kampot pepper farm – La Plantation. I come from Kerala, so I have access to some of the best black pepper in the world, but I understand Kampot pepper (originally brought from India) is even more superior. Red pepper (picked when it’s red, before turning black), black pepper, white pepper (black pepper without its outer cover), long pepper, pepper leather (outer peel of the long pepper), pepper pearls (grains from long pepper) and green pepper (only has a 2-week shelf life, not exported).

I have seen pepper in my backyard at home, but not been to a farm before, therefore it was a lovely experience. Did you know the peppercorns are hand checked to ensure they are at least 4 mm in diameter and only those that pass QA are sold? The rest are still used for other preparations but not sold whole. 

We also got to taste the different peppers, my favourite was the green pepper marinated in Kampot salt! I also had some dark chocolate ice cream with a sprinkle of black pepper on it. Do try at home. It certainly helped cool down the palate after all the pepper tasting. 

On the way back, we made a quick halt at the salt fields, they were filled with seawater, waiting to dry – which happens in April, when the sun has evaporated all the sea water and only white salt remains.

The taxi drove us back to Phnom Penh. On the way, we saw many open tempos (big vans) crammed with people, similar to those that carry cattle. These were garment factory workers going back home. There are many garment factories in Cambodia now (check the label on M&S clothing next time) and the labour union is rather powerful. They have managed to raise the min wage much higher than it used to be, which is great for the standard of living but has made Cambodia more expensive than Thailand and Vietnam. 

This has also put pressure on other sectors that cannot afford such high wages. Many skilled people have chosen to give up their professions to work in garment factories. 

Thus even for us at the charity, it is often challenging to hire and retain amazing skilled staff, even when we offer shorter working hours and perhaps better working conditions. 

What I love about working in Cambodia is that they have a 2-hour lunch break – isn’t that fabulous? People seem happier and more productive too! Have lunch, take a nap – get recharged and back to work. 💃🏻 

I noticed that many of the big government offices are built like grand palaces, even when there is so much poverty around. It bothers me that the Prime Minister of Cambodia is an ex-Khmer Rouge high-ranking officer who defected to the Vietnamese army. The common people seem to believe that the government is corrupt – also without an opposition party, it has become rather autocratic. There are no checks and balances in place to challenge any decisions made. 

Back in Phnom Penh – I crashed into a hotel called Okay Boutique Hotel– it has the most amazing wooden carvings in the lobby and also in the rooms. But the service was surprisingly disappointing.

Tip: Please avoid any big noticeable expensive jewellery or bags on your shoulder. Do not carry your passport around with you. An English lady I met, told me how a bike drove past her and snatched her bag. She got pulled and dragged on the road with it and the strap snapped. But she lost her passport, phone, wallet everything and had terrible bruising. 

Day 7: 

In the hope of some shopping, I reached the Russian market at 6 am opening time (as stated by my friend Google), but sadly only the food and flower market was open then. I walked around, and visited a local Pagoda, hoping it would open by 7 am as some of the shopkeepers advised. But, no luck! I headed back to leave for the airport as I was worried about missing my flight to Siem Reap. I now know, I needn’t have rushed. 

Tip: Everything is pretty relaxed at the airport. The check-in didn’t open until 90 mins and boarding was until 30 mins before departure. So if you want to go to the market and shop – take your time!!

Also, my travel agent in the UK had told me that I had no luggage allowance on my flight to Siem Reap so I asked Brian (from Siem Reap Shuttle tours) to purchase a luggage allowance for me. It was only when I went to check in that I realised there is a 23 kg allowance on all flights to Siem Reap. Argh! I wasted $47 on a luggage allowance that I didn’t need. Oh, the shopping I could have done with that!! 

Upon landing at Siem Reap airport, I was out in 20 mins.

Straight from the airport, I went to the Angkor Wat area for the Angkor Zipline experience. I had contacted the Angkor Zipline team – Tomy – the absolutely wonderful staff there had arranged for me to go solo as I had only 1.5 hours. The zipline goes above the very tall trees in the Angkor Wat jungle area. I have never done anything like this before, therefore, I had butterflies in my stomach at 32 metres looking down at those gorgeous trees. But soon, I was more like a happy butterfly flying over the trees! 

Tip: I had pre-booked a 3-day Angkor Pass online and this helped me get entry pretty quickly. You cannot enter the area, even for the Zipline, without this pass, unless you are in one of their dedicated vehicles. 

After woohoo-ing on the zipline, I waited for the group tour bus to come to pick me up for the Tonlé Sap – floating village trip. 

It was great to see many solo women travellers on the tour. The bus journey to the place was bumpy, the guide kept joking that it was a free massage. And the boat ride was very very noisy – pretty normal apparently – so we all sat right in the front of the boat so as not to lose our eardrums to the loud engine at the back. 

The sun was scorching and I regretted not taking a hat – so please make sure you take it with you. Our guide was very funny – he had changed careers from being a Buddhist Monk to a soldier to an ordained priest to a guide. He had much knowledge to share with us about his various Avatars. 

He told us about the 4 different types of smiles.

1) Charming smile – no teeth showing

2) Chicken smile – again no teeth showing but looking up towards the sky.

3) Morning glory – a full teeth-y smile.

4) Lightening smile – where you smile with your eyebrows raised in quick succession.

Hilarious 😂 

The floating village reminded me of a Russian story about a house with chicken legs. When we reached the village, the houses weren’t floating because the water levels were low, but come rainy season the water levels rise and the village feels like it’s floating and people have to move in little boats. So if you are out of sugar or milk, make sure you have your boat ready to oar to your neighbours!

We walked through the village and little children were playing games on the streets. I felt uncomfortable peeping into people’s houses but they seemed absolutely fine with it, as the place attracts many tourists and therefore income for them. 

There is much investment from Japan and Russia in the area – schools, big water storage tanks etc. They have connected with electricity only 3 years ago; I suppose tourism has brought development to the village which they may not have had otherwise. Thus, people are more tolerant towards visiting tourists! 

We stopped at a little floating restaurant for refreshments and then some of us got into tiny canoe-like boats which women operated. These little boats took us through the mangrove forest. This was the best part of the visit for me. 

Don’t expect the place or the water to be clean. The water is brown because of the many boats and also the mangrove growth. There are no crocodiles in the water although there are crocodile farms in the area – it is a delicacy there! 

Cambodia is not as clean as I hoped, but then so aren’t many places in India. Hopefully, with being the host of the water games in May, the place will become cleaner!

After the boat rides through the mangrove forest we got back into our noisy motor boat and went to the middle of the lake and watched the sunset. I find sunsets magical and we all enjoyed taking pictures there. 

We went back into our bus having made some new friends on the tour. On the way, we chatted about our home countries and our plans for the rest of the trip. 

I was dropped off at the Apsara theatre for one of the most memorable experiences, for a traditional dinner and dance performance. The theatre, the ambience and the food were all spectacular! So much variety and great value. I had a Canadian family on my left and a couple from Italy on my right. The Canadian family told us of a charity close to the temple where rats were imported from Tanzania, Africa to detect landmines. Cambodia is one of the two countries with the largest number of active landmines. 

There were 6 dance performances each unique and beautiful. The Apsara dancers were delicate and the male dancers cheeky. The last performance was a scene from Ramayana of Sita’s abduction by Ravana and the ensuing battle between him and Rama, with the help of the Monkey God – Hanuman. What a wonderful climax to an amazing day! 

I was staying at the Urban hotel which was gorgeous and right next to Pub street and the Night market. So, I decided to venture out to experience a bit of the nightlife. There was a street party atmosphere and loud DJ music typical of a Saturday night in the city. The market was buzzing even at 11 pm! Many shops sell clothes, jewellery, painting and leather carvings. I did some souvenir shopping and crashed for a 4-hour sleep! 

That’s right – I did not go Pub hopping! 

Day 8: I had booked the sunrise tour of the Angkor Wat Temples and so I was picked up at the ungodly time of 4:20 am! The bus was buzzing with a group of lovely travellers, from different countries. They all needed the Angkor pass to get into the temple so we made a halt at the ticket office, which was surprisingly quick. 

Our guide advised us of the right location for the best view of the Sun – since the Sun’s position changes based on the time of the year. As we waited for the sun to rise I did wonder whether it was worth going that early. 

Perhaps I could have taken a TukTuk and reached the location directly at 7 am instead – as that’s when the sun finally appeared! The view was beautiful but to me wasn’t worth waking up that early and the many mosquitoes we kept swatting, whilst waiting for the sun to rise!  

We then had a lovely tour of the largest temple Angkor Wat. Siem Reap used to be the capital of Cambodia before it was moved to Phnom Penh, one can see why!  

I loved seeing the stories of the epic Mahabharata, carved on the walls. The temples are all more Hindu than Buddhist, so a big connection to India. 

The stones were all carried from nearby mountains and it took 37 years to build the temple, at a time when transportation was waterways or elephants. They waited for water levels to rise so the stones could be brought down to the location where elephants could then carry them over to the construction site. At one point the temple was also used as a refuge from the bombings. 

Much of the temple has been restored, post destruction via bombing and the entire Angkor Temple area is a UNESCO Heritage site and not controlled by the Government. Germany, India and other countries have sent restoration teams to salvage the ruins of these Temples and I must say they have done a spectacular job of it! 

The guide was busy explaining all the gory details of the wars depicted on the walls of the temples. There are multiple staircases leading to the inner sanctum of the Angkor Wat temple – those for the common people are very tall and steep and those for the Royalty are flatter and shorter. This is a good reflection of Cambodia even today. The common people have a hard life. There is much poverty and inequality of wealth. But those wealthy few have grand palaces and a comfortable life. 

After the Angkor temple visit, we stopped for brunch and then went on to see the second temple – Ta Prohm. Its claim to fame is the shooting of the Tomb Raider movie and Angelina Jolie’s visit! I absolutely loved this temple for the amazing trees growing inside the temple. These are full-grown massive trees with roots spreading everywhere – I wondered if they were holding the temple walls together! This was my favourite temple. I could have sat there longer, looking at the beautiful brown and green giants. We were told that the trees have been injected with a chemical to stop them from growing any further as otherwise, they would completely crush the temple. There were many decapitated Buddha statues, as a result of wars. 

Our final temple was the Bayon temple with the iconic smiling Buddhas. You have to look at the structures from certain angles to see the faces. All the temples are made from blocks of massive stones, shaped and placed on top of each other without the use of cement. You can’t help but admire the architectural and engineering geniuses of those times and the craftsmanship. 

We were all burning in the scorching sun and shattered from waking up at dawn plus the walking! At least I remembered to purchase a hat at the night market! We were ready to get back into our bus, but not before we came face to face with some of our ancestors – the great monkeys. 

Tip: Everywhere they give you cold scented towels – these are refreshing and have antibacterial lemongrass and other oils in them. A much-needed relief after the walks in the hot Sun! 

Since I had a couple of hours before my flight I decided to get off at Apopo.org – the charity with the super rats! So, the rats cost about $6000 to train and import from Tanzania, where they are trained for 9 months to detect TNT, making them cheaper than sniffer dogs. They can detect only one smell at a time so that it doesn’t confuse them. Their sense of smell is very powerful and they don’t answer to just one master like dogs do, but will work with anybody. 

Treated like VIPs – they work only for 5 years of their life, given they have a limited lifespan of 7 years. So they enjoy a 2-year retirement. They live in air-conditioned rooms and are treated with special sunscreen lotions. Whilst they are on active duty they work only from 6-9 am before the Sun becomes very hot as otherwise, it can impact their olfactory senses. 

They scan patches of areas at a time, going up and down the area, start digging as soon as they detect the TNT, and are rewarded with treats when they do find it. Therefore, they are highly motivated to find the landmines. In the last few years, they have managed to locate about 2000 active landmines thus making farmlands safer and averting 1000s of deaths. 

I was expecting to see the usual scary rats, instead, I found them to be very cute like hares with pointy noses, and the one I held, kept licking my hand like a puppy. An incredible experience with these Super rats!

I PassApped a TukTuk and reached my hotel for a quick shower & salad lunch, before my flight. I had already checked out since I was going to be late after the temple visits. All good! The check-in opened only at 3 pm for the 4:30 pm flight. Everything had gone to plan. 

It was a jam-packed 8 days in Cambodia and I loved every minute of it. I highly recommend visiting it, probably not as suitable for younger kids, but certainly a place I will visit again, especially to visit Epic Arts.

The next time I visit, I hope to visit the silk factory of Mekong Island, the mountains in Kampot and Angkor Wat, Phu Kok island – in Vietnam but only an hour or so from Kampot. I hope you find this blog useful and are inspired to travel to Cambodia – the Kingdom of Wonder!