Cushy number.

Arriving in the covered courtyard, staff are on hand with a smile, a cold towel and an iced drink. The hotel’s sense of style is immediately obvious — polished concrete, slate tiles, quirky art and live bamboo conspire to make a relaxing restaurant hangout by the pool. Ah yes, the pool. Clearly designed for drinks with friends, the organically-shaped saltwater pool has steps all the way around, perfect for sitting and chatting while you work your way through the $4 cocktail menu.

You ain’t seen nothing yet.

When you drag yourself away, there’s a choice of 19 air-con deluxe or standard rooms arranged over three floors. Rooms are spacious with concrete floors that are cool under your feet, a separate rain shower and toilet, mini-fridge, safe and more funky art on the walls. Open the balcony doors and you’ll find … a bath! If you’ve never had an open-air soak before, now’s your chance. Some of the rooms have a pool view from the balcony but your bathtime privacy is maintained with wooden screening.

Standard double or twin rooms go for $55, while the deluxe double or twins are priced at $75 — there’s an opening deal offering a 30% discount for now.

You won’t forget where you are.

Rambutan Resort is the Phnom Penh offering from the owners of the Golden Banana in Siem Reap, and their experience in keeping guests happy shows. The fast WiFi and impeccable service, plus the reasonably priced menu of Khmer dishes and Western cuisine (mango salad with smoked fish $3, penne carbonara $6.50) mean it’s a pleasure to hang out here. The resort is proud to advertise as being gay-friendly and the relaxed atmosphere quickly puts visitors at ease.

Lined up for lounging.

Rambutan is perfect for those seeking a relaxed base in Phnom Penh, and who don’t mind taking a 10-minute tuk tuk ride to visit more central attractions.

If you’re looking for a pool and boutique life a little closer to the action, try The 252 off Monivong Boulevard or Hotel Nine in Tonle Bassac.

Check rates & availability at Rambutan Resort on Agoda.com.

Rambutan Resort
29 Street 71, BKK1, Phnom Penh
T: (017) 992 240
rambutanresort.com

Frying tonight. Also: great gloves.

English is not generally spoken here, but that doesn’t matter as the food available is on display and cooking as you walk in. Point and choose from deep fried frogs in batter, beef balls, barbecued chicken wings and baked eggs. And please do choose the baked eggs — these little porcelain dishes of eggy goodness are baked in a wire contraption over an open fire and are absolutely delicious. There’s also the option of duck foetus eggs and steamed cockles, which are a bit more of an acquired taste. Whatever you order is likely to be accompanied by a salad plate of cucumber, lime, sliced carrots and Khmer herbs, and a sauce made of chillies, garlic, lime, pepper and hoisin.

Sorry Kermit.

Due to its popularity, you’ll probably find yourself sharing a table with a group of friends or a young couple on a date. Shy smiles and practising a bit of their English and your Khmer is all part of the fun. Foreigners are a bit of a novelty here and it’s easy to imagine yourself back in the early 1990s, when Phnom Penh streets were a little more rough and ready, without KFC or air-con coffee chains. It’s surely only a matter of time before the land value of this plot, or just possibly its architecture, means this little dining oasis is no more.

Egg-stremely tasty.

Our dinner of two frogs, one plate of beef balls, two baked eggs and a bottle of water came in at 18,000 riel, less than $5. For the atmosphere and escapism, it was worth every note.

Fast food, Khmer style.

Unnamed Street Food Restaurant
Norodom Boulevard opposite Street 178, Phnom Penh
Open early evening only

The only beach in Siem Reap?

The European has already built up a great reputation on the backpacker circuit, but recent staff changes – a new British on-site manager and a Spanish gardener have joined the existing team – have heralded positive changes with a schedule of improvements planned. But for those who knew and loved the “old” European Guest House, panic not, it looks set to lose none of the warm, friendly and relaxing vibe that has already made it so popular.

The European’s 13 ensuite twin/double rooms, along with two ensuite dorms sleeping five and six – all with fans and air-con — are in a large and airy traditional two-storey Khmer house. Rooms are a good size, if a little basic, but are cleaned daily, have 90-channel cable TV, free WiFi, and wet-room style shower rooms with Western toilets.  In addition to the well-furnished shady gardens and new beach area there is also a large bougainvillea-covered balcony on the first floor – the perfect spot for a quiet sundowner.

Put a few drinks on that table and now we’re talking.

There is also an unfurnished rear balcony that overlooks a neighbouring crocodile farm – enjoy the views from here if you don’t want to pay the entry fee into the official tourists’ farm on the road to Tonle Sap Lake. It’s not a pretty sight, however, and soon it will be hidden from view when a two-bedroom extension is built onto the balcony. For now, it’s worth knowing that it would be virtually impossible for even the most drunken of tourists to topple over the balcony and fall in, unless they happen to be a champion pole-vaulter.

The neighbours can be a little snappy at times.

A breakfast of fresh baguettes with jam, fresh tropical fruits and tea or coffee is included in the rate for the private rooms, and eggs and bacon can be purchased for an additional $2 per person. There is currently no regular lunch or dinner service but a local pizzeria delivers for free with a range of pizzas from $3 up and a small selection of traditional Khmer dishes from $1.50 for fresh or fried spring rolls to $3.50 for a prawn tom yam soup with rice. A full, all-day restaurant service is imminent and should feature Western crowd-pleasers including pastas, salads, fresh fruit juices and smoothies.

If you don’t want to eat at the guesthouse, or fancy some local fare, the location near Wat Bo Road is perfect for a good selection of restaurants and bars. Pub Street and the Old Market area with their huge range of restaurants are just a 10 to 15-minute walk away. If you don’t fancy walking there is a trusted fleet of about 15 tuk tuk drivers who will take you into town for around $2. They will also take you on a full day tour of the temples of Angkor for $15 for up to four people.

Sunday is the guesthouse’s designated weekly chillout day with all day happy hour — beers reduced from $1 to $0.75 and cocktails down from $3.50 to $2. Curry specials, hog roasts and relaxing live music are among other attractions that regularly draw a sociable crowd into The European’s garden.

Rooms are basic, but clean, with free air-con and WiFi.

As well as making sure that guests have the best stay possible, the European Guesthouse is committed to social responsibility and actively supports a local NGO – Build Your Future Today. There are regular fund-raising events so you can do your bit to give back to the local community without compromising on the quality of your kick-back and hang-loose time.

Kick back, hang loose, chill out.

If you book in advance, free pick-up from the airport, bus station or ferry landing on the Tonle Sap if you are coming by boat from Phnom Penh or Battambang is included in your room rate. And when it comes time to leave, there is a handy luggage store and communal shower rooms you can use if you have a long wait between check-out time and the departure of your night bus — go on, have a final night out and still be fresh and fragrant, all the way to your next destination.

Check rates & availability at European Guesthouse.

European Guesthouse
#0566, Group 2, Banteay Chas Village
Wat Bo area, Siem Reap
T: (012) 582 237
www.european-guesthouse.com
european.guesthouse@gmail.com

1,2,3 … rummage!

The first places to rummage are the secondhand stalls in Central Market and BKK (Boeung Keng Kang) Market. Look for stalls which only have one of each item on display. Once you find the right area the vendors are handily arranged together, so you can work your way through the piles of dresses, tops and trousers. If you’re of a more “European build” like me you may need to hunt for a while to find the items that don’t make you look like you raided your kid sister’s wardrobe. Trying on can be a challenge — either over your clothes or with the aid of a sarong gripped tightly between your teeth to protect your modesty. The labyrinth-like O’Russei Market has a fantastic collection of pre-loved shoes on the second floor, although most women’s styles don’t go above a European size 39.

Another Phnom Penh favourite is ToTo Recycle Shop Japan, generally known as Japanese Thrift. Containers of men’s and women’s clothes are regularly shipped in, a fabulous hodge-podge of cutesy T-shirts, kimonos, jeans, dresses and coats. There are several locations, the easiest one to find being on France Street (Street 47) between Wat Phnom and the Japanese Friendship Bridge. My motto is that if you can bear to try it on in the muggy warehouse-like shop, then it will pass muster on Asian streets.

All the rage for rainy season.

Vintage boutiques are an increasing phenomenon — around town you’ll find several shops that have done the hard work for you, selecting pieces that will fit and appeal to Westerners. Prices are higher than the markets, but they do throw in changing rooms and fans to make the whole experience more pleasant. Lost ‘n’ Found Vintage stock hand-picked dresses, bags, shoes and accessories in their bright yellow shop, and post new arrivals online.

Retro and ready to wear.

There’s plenty of beautiful things to make you go “Oooohhh” at the bijou Poco Loco shop at Le Jardin and at Phnom Boutique, which also stocks kids clothes and newly tailored items in retro prints. Keok’jay adapts their finds to create one-off pieces and you’ll find similar creations on the hangers at Color Vintage near the National Museum, displayed under low-hanging bags. As well as dresses, skirts and shoes, there’s also a smaller men’s section with shirts and trousers.

Get shirty.

Fellas don’t need to miss out on the secondhand fun — several stalls on the streets behind the night market and on Street 19 sell pre-worn tops and trousers. Khmer men aren’t shy when it comes to shirtage, so indulge your inner diva with some embroidery and bling. If you’re a serial loud shirt offender, check out the shirt shop on Street 136 which has floral extravagances alongside more sedate work shirts. Just be sure to try the items before buying, to make sure the cuffs don’t finish halfway down your arm.

Color Vintage
168 Street 13, Phnom Penh
T: (092) 738678
colorvintage.wordpress.com

Keok’jay
Corner of Street 110 and Sisowath Quay
www.keokjay.com

Lost ‘n’ Found Vintage
321 Street 63
T: (023) 640 5047
lostnfoundvintagestore.weebly.com

Men’s Second-hand Shirts (Khmer name sign)
97 Street 136, Phnom Penh

Phnom Boutique
14A Street 294, TOnle Bassac, Phnom Penh
www.phnomboutique.com

Poco Loco
Le Jardin, 16 Street 260, Phnom Penh

Some of the more exotic staples of Cambodian street food.

The tour begins at 17:00 nightly at the River Garden Hotel, a pretty hotel by the Siem Reap River to the north town. The riverside itself is now rather drab thanks to ongoing flood prevention work, but just across the road there are still shops and a busy market, which was the first stop on our tuk tuk tour with English-speaking guide and River Garden chef, Buntheoun.

The first comestibles on offer were roast pork belly, crispy fried duck and Cambodian baguettes – similar to the French variety but less crispy – filled with pate and mayonnaise. But these “traditional Cambodian afternoon snacks” seemed a little tame and definitely too Western. On the next stall, however, a man was selling shrimp fritters.  This seemed a bit more like it. Small shell-on shrimps are mixed with rice flour and turmeric, deep fried and served with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. At 1,000 riel (US$ 0.25) each they were cheap as well as delicious.

Delicious, and not at all scary — shrimp fritters.

Next stop was the huge Psar Leu market on busy National Road 6. We browsed a few hot food and fresh fruit stands but there were still only a few items that really whetted the appetite. We tried fried chive cakes — rice flour patties filled with chopped chives and a mixture of herbs and spices, served with sweet and sour sauce. On their own the cakes were a little bland but the sauce spiced them up a bit. Again they were just 1,000 riel each.

Chive-talking: traditional fried chive cakes at Psar Leu market.

After the savoury cakes we fancied something sweet so checked out the fruit stalls and in among the familiar dragon fruit, longans, mangoes and mangosteens spotted something decidedly unfamiliar: snake fruit. Shaped like a banana shallot it has a deep tan-coloured skin which is made up of hundreds of tiny scales, just like snake skin. Inside is a double-lobed fruit which tastes slightly sweet with a hint of citrus. Just 1,000 riel for two…

Snakefruit: sweet to the taste, scaly to the touch.

So far, so average one might say, but after Psar Leu we headed off to what turned out to be Siem Reap’s street food central. Five minutes out of town is a large funfair, enormously popular with local families and of course where there are people, there are food stalls. Lots of them.

It had been tempting to wonder why we had paid for a guided tour which had so far only taken us to two of the town’s markets. But the value of having our own guide soon became obvious when faced with such an array of unidentifiable foodstuffs. Buntheoun quickly confirmed that along with the regular bowls of noodle soup and stir-fried rice with pork (around 3,000 riel or $0.75 each) were indeed some of the hard men of street food: crickets, water beetles and even stir-fried silk worms.

All kinds of edible bugs and beetles are on offer at the Siem Reap funfair.

I am not particularly squeamish about eating insects and entrails, and have tried stir-fried crickets — which, incidentally, taste a little like highly seasoned shell-on prawns — but I do have a bit of an obsession with food hygiene. This is due largely to my stomach being about as strong as a rain-soaked paper bag, so it was good to have Buntheoun with us to hand pick the stalls where we should eat.

He diligently identified every unlikely “foodstuff” before us, explained how it was cooked and almost made everything sound delicious. But I chickened out at the prospect of unlaid eggs – as in ‘removed from inside a poultry carcass’ — on a skewer, barbecued frog (with or without frog spawn stuffing), steamed Tonle Sap water snails and stir-fried cow’s intestines.

Spawn-stuffed frogs — almost good enough to eat.

I did, however, succumb to what is known as a barbecued spring  roll. The only resemblance it has to your standard spring roll is the shape, as its ingredients include neither filo pastry nor rice paper. It is a snack of seasoned coarse ground pork, cooked over charcoal and served on a stick. Ironically, it is probably far more likely to cause gastric problems than a recently killed bug or a snail, but was very tasty all the same.

Unexpectedly tasty barbecued spring rolls.

For afters you can choose from various spongy desserts with day-glo icing, exotic fruits from the myriad fruit stalls or slightly crunchy sweet biscuity desserts made from rice flour dough and black sesame seeds and deep fried while you wait. If you fancy something really different I can recommend palm fruit. Similar to lychee, longan and mangosteen, the patty-shaped fleshy white fruit is slightly sweet, and contains a watery liquid that bursts into your mouth when you bite into it. An interesting experience.

You are almost certain never to have eaten anything like a palm fruit.

At $15 per person the cost of the tour is reasonable, although that does not include the cost of any food purchases – take plenty of Cambodian riel with you – or the cost of getting to and from the River Garden. Of course, had we known about the food stalls at the fairground before we could have easily found them ourselves, but the presence of our guide did ensure that we were not ripped off, we knew exactly what we were eating, and we felt safe at all times.

At the end of the tour, which finishes around 18:30, you are invited to enjoy your purchases in the poolside restaurant at the River Garden. Or if, like me, you are a bit of a culinary coward, you can sneak off to one of the restaurants downtown for some more familiar food.  Oh, and we didn’t find any elusive tarantulas. Apparently they are not very common around Siem Reap, which is probably a good thing, for more than one reason.

Back to civilisation: Enjoy your purchases at the River Garden’s poolside restaurant.

River Garden Street Food Tours
T (063) 963 400
www.therivergarden.info

Fish sauna.

Amok is made with filleted freshwater fish, usually catfish or snakehead fish. It’s covered in a thick coconut sauce with eggs, fish sauce and palm sugar and seasoned with kroeung, a curry paste concoction of freshly pounded spices, including lemongrass, tumeric, galangal, kaffir lime zest, garlic, shallots and chillies. Traditionally, the amok is steamed in a banana leaf basket to get a souffle-like texture, but it’s also often prepared in a wok, making it a little more saucy.

Ammmmmmm-ok.

One of my tests when I find a new Khmer restaurant is to order the amok. There’s been some horrors, including the amok that mostly consisted of carrots and beans, definitely not classic ingredients. Sadly, many of these have been served in guesthouses, where many travellers get their introduction to Cambodian cuisine.

To ensure you get the best, here’s a short summary of yumminess. For a real tropical feel, Samaky Restaurant on Street 51 serves up a subtly spicy version in a coconut shell, and Frizz restaurant on Street 240 also has a consistently good reputation for their traditionally steamed signature dish. The Laughing Fatman (previously Oh My Buddha) has been cooking up a storm for years, introducing travellers to local food and lingo, and their fish amok is a regular dinner choice.

If you have the time while you’re in Phnom Penh, you can take a cookery course and learn how to make amok yourself, including getting to grips with a mortar and pestle to prepare the spices. You’ll be in good company — Gordon Ramsey and Rick Stein both learned the art of amok on visits to Cambodia.

Samaky Restaurant and Lounge
Corner of Street 51 and 278, Phnom Penh
T: (070) 600 017 

Frizz
67 Street 240, Phnom Penh
T: (023) 220 953
www.frizz-restaurant.com

Laughing Fatman
43 Street 172, Phnom Penh
T: (012) 765 591 

Yes, you can have these talented puppeteers virtually to yourself.

Just $15 will buy you a ringside seat at a training class and rehearsal with the acclaimed shadow puppet troupe at the lovely 18th-century Wat Bo, accompanied by just a handful of fellow spectators and your very own guide.

Now if you think shadow puppets are just those hilarious bunny rabbit or puppy dog shapes you used to throw against the wall with your hands as a kid, think again. Traditional Cambodian shadow puppets are large, intricately carved cow-hide panels depicting characters from history, literature and legend. The largest puppets measure about a metre and a half by one metre and are heavy. They have two bamboo rods attached with which the puppeteers lift and manoeuvre them in time to music, creating magical scenes against a giant back-lit screen.

Working the beautiful — and heavy — puppets requires both strength and skill.

In the case of the Wat Bo puppeteers the puppets represent characters from the ancient Hindu epic narrative The Ramayana. Don’t worry if the thought of any epic narrative instantly gives you the urge to “close window”on this review. Part of the appeal of this “experience” is that it is not a full-on show but a live class, complete with warm up, drilling of new moves and short sequences of near-perfect performance with gamelans and drums, and accompanying narration.

Each class starts with a rather atmospheric warm-up and stretch.

Unlike a formal stage performance, you don’t have to sit still in silence and pretend to understand what is happening – the narrators narrate in Khmer after all and if you’re not up to speed with the finer details of the Ramayana it could understandably leave you unmoved. You can get up and walk around — no bad thing since you will be sitting on a cushion on a hunk of stone — talk to your companions, and take photographs. Flash photography should be avoided, but the nature of a shadow puppet show means it is relatively easy to take good shots sans flash, provided you have a very steady hand or a tripod. Your guide is there to answer any questions you may have, except for when it’s his turn to rehearse — he is a member of the troupe too.

The puppeteers are also talented dancers who occasionally abandon their puppets to provide interludes of acrobatic, graceful and comic dance – which helps to explain why they need such incredible levels of fitness, agility and poise, and why they spend a significant amount of time warming-up before the class proper.

The puppeteers are also extremely talented dancers.

An evening at the Wat Bo Shadow puppet school is an intriguing mix of the spectacular and the educational and will appeal to anyone who is curious about traditional Khmer performing arts but doesn’t want to sit through a run-of-the-mill tourist show. After an hour or so in the privileged company of the puppeteers and their teachers it should come as no surprise to learn that they are probably some of the best shadow puppeteers in the world, and have recently returned from highly acclaimed performances at the Season of Cambodia Festival in New York City.

A bit like the kids from Fame, the Wat Bo puppeteers are also big in New York.

Classes take place every week from Friday through Sunday but you will need to make a reservation at least three days in advance through Cambodia Living Arts. Once your booking is confirmed, they will give you the mobile number of your guide and ask you to call him when you arrive at the pagoda, just a few minutes by tuk tuk from downtown Siem Reap, so he can meet you. The pagoda has several entrances but the nearest to the puppet classes is on Samdech Tep Vong Street, near the junction of Wat Bo Road. You can pay your guide when you arrive.

In dry weather the classes take place outdoors in a nondescript corner of the sprawling grounds of the 18th century pagoda so insect repellent is an absolute must. If it’s raining the class moves inside. A flashlight is also recommended to help avoid those nasty trip hazards as you pick your way through the darkness to your seat. The class runs from 20:00 until 21:00 but you are asked to arrive around 19:30, and should it run over, and you have another date, proceedings are informal enough for you to leave whenever you wish.

It sounds like a lot of hard work but it is worth the effort, and all money raised is invested back into the puppet school, helping to preserve a beautiful facet of traditional Khmer culture.

Cambodian Living Arts
T: (017) 998 570
www.cambodialivingarts.org

Take a seat in the jungle.

From the street, Botanico is difficult to spot — just a small gate with a few plants and a discreet sign to let you know you’re in the right place. The path leads to a garden bursting with tropical plants, obscuring tucked-away comfy sofas designed for lounging. Each alcove is provided with fans and repellant to keep you cool and bug-free while perusing the menu. Staff are quick to provide you with iced water on arrival, and the service is politely relaxed.

The food is a mix of Asian fusion, burgers, salads, tapas and inventive breakfast choices, with a whole sheet dedicated to coffee that should satisfy any caffeine connoisseur. It’s also favoured by those in the know for early evening happy hour cocktails. Prices are at the higher end for Phnom Penh cafe dining, somewhat explained by the quality of the ingredients, so this isn’t the place for a cheap bite. The relaxed vibe does mean that you don’t feel forced to rush off after eating, so you can get your money’s worth unwinding in the garden.

Tarzan outfit optional.

The staff are kid-friendly and the elevated fish pond and resident butterflies will help to keep little ones occupied while you sink into the sofa. Botanico is equally popular with couples and groups of friends enjoying tapas behind the privacy of those big ferns.

Around the same area, Vego on Street 294 serves up reasonably priced salads and freshly cooked Asian cuisine in welcome air-con and Java Cafe‘s balcony is another time-stealer, where hours can pass over coffee and scrumptious monthly specials.

Botanico Gastrobar
9b Street 29, Tonle Bassac, Phnom Penh
T: (017) 873101
www.facebook.com/gastrobarbotanico
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 8:00-21:30

Unlikely to need that blanket.

While you shouldn’t expect fancy, Chansovannkiry does provide everything you’ll need for a pleasant enough stay  in Sihanoukville — fan, wardrobe, cold water shower in a private bathroom, towels, Western-style flush toilet, TV and a blanket. Well, maybe you won’t need the blanket. The 18 tiled rooms are arranged over two floors, accessed from walkways and a central staircase. The rooms are a reasonable size, large enough to walk around without bumping your elbows on the wall or tripping over your companion, so you don’t feel like a crammed-in sardine. Upstairs rooms have a shared balcony with an oblique sea view. We paid just $8 for our double room.

Welcome to the Motel Sihanoukville.

There’s little in the way of services: the al fresco reception can book you a bus ticket, but you’ll need to step outside if you’re after WiFi, breakfast or tours. Happily, you won’t need to go far — there’s an exit to Beach Road through a small alley which brings you out by Ocean Walk Inn, just two minutes walk from the beach, while the gates lead out to Serendipity Road opposite the Coolabah Hotel. You’ll find restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops in either direction, plus the beach.

Chansovannkiry’s clientele is a mix of Khmer families, cheapy expats and canny travellers, happy to make their own arrangements for food and travel in exchange for economical digs. If all the rooms are full here, or you want a choice of room style, try the Ocean Walk Inn next door.

Chansovannkiry Guest House
Serendipity Beach Road, Sangkat 4, Sihanoukville
T: (016) 646 555/ (097) 654 3335

Let’s be honest – this is the kind of weather most of us are hoping for.

Cambodia sits slap bang in the tropics which means that the weather is warm to hot all year round and the main difference in the seasons is the amount of rain that falls. As a rule of thumb, Siem Reap is driest from November to March with hardly any rain falling in December and January, when day after day of cloudless blues skies is a regular occurrence — very handy for northern hemisphere-dwellers who need to escape the gloom of winter over that conveniently long Christmas and New Year holiday.

Being north of the equator — although only slightly — means that December and January are also officially winter and the coolest months of the year, bringing much relief to residents and visitors as night time temperatures can plummet to a positively chilly sub-20 degrees Celsius. Occasionally, day time highs won’t break through the 30 degree mark either. This makes it one of the best times of year for cycle rides, walking tours and visiting temples too as the heat is bearable for just that bit longer each day. Some people may disagree, but I would also rather watch the sun rise over Angkor in a clear sky than an overcast one.

I’ll take a clear sky for that sunrise, every day of the week.

If you plan on visiting the floating villages or the stilt villages on the Tonle Sap, or the waterfalls at Kbal Spean or Kulen Mountain, this is also a good time of year as the lake and rivers are still relatively full following the rainy season, and generally speaking the countryside is still lush, and the paddy fields a vibrant shade of green.

Don’t be too worried though if you are about to set for off some winter sun and hear of Cambodia being in the grip of a cold snap as it was when I arrived in Siem Reap for the first time back in 2009. Yes we saw 17C at night and one day the temperature only reached 26C but it was bliss.

Such a pleasant winter climate does have its drawbacks, however. It is very much the high season, meaning hotel rates go up, tuk tuk drivers drive a much harder bargain, it can be difficult to find a decent room, and everywhere you go — from temples to restaurants — can be very crowded. Just make sure you book as much as possible in advance, get off the beaten track and find some of the quieter temples, and read up on anger management techniques for when things don’t go quite as you would wish.

December and January are great for sunsets too.

From March onwards the mercury rises steadily with temperatures in April and May regularly nudging the 40 degree-mark and often not dropping much below 30 degrees at night. Any kind of physical activity – including temple visits — is best confined to early morning and late afternoon. On the plus side, April and May usually herald the start of the rainy season with spectacular and refreshing afternoon and evening storms that cool down the humans, wash away the dust and cause everything to burst into bloom.

May brings lovely clear mornings and colourful blooms.

Such is the popularity of Angkor these days, however, that despite the heat there is no longer a notable drop in visitors in April and May, which can put a strain on the electricity grid as thousands of air conditioning units work overtime. If you do visit at this time of year and aren’t a fan of the heat, be sure to book into a hotel not only with air-con but also with a generator so you don’t end up melting in the dark should there be a power cut.

From June onwards the temperature starts to drop but the rains become more frequent. There are rarely days when it rains for more than an hour or two and is very unusual for the sun not to show its face at all. The impressive torrential downpours tend to come in the afternoons leaving much of the day free for visiting the temples and other outdoor activities. The rain can be very intense — Siem Reap receives on average as much rain in August, September and October as London does in an entire year — and occasionally flash floods do occur. Usually they are not too serious, and certainly not serious enough prevent tuk tuks from ploughing on regardless through the town’ soggy streets.

Your tuk tuk driver won’t let a little thing like a flood put him off.

You do need to be careful walking through flood waters, however, as you can’t see what is lurking beneath — as a friend of mine discovered last rainy season when he tripped into a submerged hole on Pub Street and broke his leg.

I hope she knows what’s lurking under that water.

As with pretty much anywhere, weather patterns in Siem Reap are not as reliable as they used to be. All you can really be sure of is that it will almost definitely be hot when you visit, and if you come between April and October, you stand a good chance of seeing storms so spectactular that you’ll probably be glad you didn’t follow the crowd and wait until December. And if you are as much of a weather geek as I am then you can spend hours studying the Siem Reap weather stats on the wonderful Weather2Travel website before you book your flights.