The rainy season in Cambodia starts in June and runs until November, bringing 75% of the kingdom’s annual rainfall and temperatures that can drop as low as 22 degrees Celsius. Future politicians take note — this sentence is a prime example of how a statement can be both absolutely true and quite misleading all at … read the full post

A few weeks ago, I described a short walk on the north riverside of Siem Reap, and attempted to paint a picture of a lively slice of of the town, one that you won’t see around Pub Street or wandering through the temples. It’s a part of ordinary, everyday Cambodia, full of bustle and barking, … read the full post

It will surprise many of Siem Reap’s visitors to know that, despite the enormous amount of money spent by all two million of you each year, Siem Reap province remains the third poorest of Cambodia’s 23 provinces. This is a devastating statistic, and indicates that very little of the money that you spend here is … read the full post

The seventh Angkor Photo Festival is not just a showcase of amazing photography from all over the world. It’s also a local event that strives to promote and train young Cambodian photographers and support disadvantaged children from Siem Reap. They do this through a series of dedicated, free workshops for young photographers led by top … read the full post

Following on from the post about organisations working to provide flood relief to hundreds of people in and around Siem Reap, I can provide a little more information on what these organisations are doing and how you can help them; you don’t even need to get wet to do it, as local staff from NGOs … read the full post

Driving around Siem Reap on Friday afternoon felt almost like a journey along Memory Lane, so long it seems since you used to reach your destinations with eyeballs swimming in dust. Throughout most of town, the floods that have plagued Siem Reap for six long weeks have almost entirely subsided, and the watery streets are … read the full post

Amid the hullaballoo about floods in Thailand (and them slowly moving toward the capital, Bangkok), Cambodia is suffering from widespread floods as well. Five weeks of flooding, 17 out of 24 of Cambodia’s provinces under water, 200,000 hectares of agricultural land washed out, 34,000 households evacuated and 247 people already dead. The scale of what … read the full post

In view of recent events, the government has just taken the probably very sensible decision to cancel this year’s Water Festival which was due to kick off on November 9. The Water Festival is one of the highlights of the Cambodian calendar, a spectacle that is enormously looked forward to by Cambodians and is a … read the full post

Cambodia has been hard hit by flooding this year with many cities and provinces experiencing high water levels and associated fatalities. Phnom Penh is poised to be next, with the swollen Tonle Sap river threatening to flood. The flooding in Cambodia has already affected over 90,000 families in 14 provinces. Earlier this week tourists had … read the full post

So I guess it’s oopsadaisy if you came to Siem Reap in the last few weeks. Well, it is rainy season and you knew that. Though it’s not likely that many of the guide books would have warned you about the rising tides you may have seen outside your hotel or guesthouse and, to be … read the full post