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 making its way down to the people. There are, in effect, two economies in Siem Reap province: the tourist one, which is limited to the provincial capital and doing nicely, and the local one, which is not.

They live a mile away from a thriving Siem Reap, but these girls I met at a clothes drop organised by ABOUTAsia see few of the benefits.

In a country with more than 3,000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it’s tempting to assume that the non-profit model is the best way to connect Cambodia’s growing number of tourists with the local population. However, and it may sound surprising, it is actually some of Siem Reap's businesses that can give visitors the best opportunity to engage constructively with local people, make a genuine contribution to someone else’s well-being, and take some steps towards bridging that gap between tourists and the local economy.

This is a personal review of a number of businesses in Siem Reap whose corporate social responsibility structures I have looked at. I’ve discussed their community programmes with their owners or managers, and the single feature that always shone through was the passion they all felt for giving something back to the country that they feel so privileged to live and work in. Moreover, notwithstanding the social, economic and political problems Cambodia faces, doing business here is an awful lot easier than many other parts of the world. Giving something back is one way to recognise and acknowledge that, and the relationship goes two ways. Not only are the businesses mentioned here thriving, but everybody knows who they are too.

The opening of a new restaurant in December is a great example of how some businesses care, and care passionately, about contributing. Haven was established by a Swiss couple who were unable to find a satisfactory answer to their question: “What happens to young, institutionalised Cambodian kids when they’re too old to stay in the institutions?”  No-one seemed to know, so they set about creating their own answer.

The result is a restaurant in a relaxed, stylish, setting that serves great food, and whose raison d’être is to provide formal training for those “in-between” kids. While the restaurant’s opening was funded by donations, it is a registered company, and is expected to be sustainable within the next two years. For diners and beneficiaries, the win-win is palpable, and very, very palatable.

Haven: style, heart and fantastic pumpkin burgers.

When people look at big hotels they rarely think of their role in the community, yet a few of Siem Reap's hotels really stand out for what they have achieved. Last November, in an extraordinary move that was envisioned from the day they first opened their doors in 2007, the Norwegian owners of Soria Moria transferred 51% of the ownership of the hotel to their local employees. Now the staff not only has a say in how the hotel is run, they also receive a profit share. Unsurprisingly, applications for jobs here have soared. This is just one of a dozen of Soria Moria’s initiatives, more details of which you’ll find on their website.

In the heart of Siem Reap, the Hotel de la Paix is one of the grandest structures in town, and a real landmark. Their commitment to the local community has also been a guide for others and has not just benefitted the people of Siem Reap, it has become an integral part of the hotel’s identity. A recent, albeit unanticipated, project that I was lucky enough to be a part of brought together the Hotel de la Paix, Heritage Suites Hotel, the Golden Banana and Exotissimo Travel with the Green Gecko Project, in a drive to raise funds to acquire and distribute relief supplies for thousands affected by the terrible floods that hit Siem Reap in September and October last year.

Families wait patiently for flood relief supplies last October.

The flood relief drive demonstrated the vital link that businesses can play in supporting the local community. Absent government intervention, or local capacity, businesses such as these showed that they have the networks and the institutional capacity to reach out to raise funds and then deliver a project quickly. It might not be their job to do these things, but what would the world we live in be worth if we only ever just did our jobs?

Magnus Olovson probably didn't imagine he'd be packing rice, tinned fish and fish sauce when he applied for the job of GM at Heritage Suites.

Sojourn Boutique Resort is another hotel that took its humanitarian mission to heart. They recently created HUSK, an NGO with a mission to address some of the most important needs of the villages that lie beside the discreet little countryside paradise. The enormous range of projects they’ve started address issues including clean water, rubbish collection, health care and road safety.

For the hotel owners, this is just one way of saying thank you to the community they feel privileged enough to be a part of. I recently visited an extension to a health centre they had built so that women in labour would no longer have to use the public waiting room of the tiny local health clinic. The new building has been built of “eco-blocks” made out of plastic bottles and bags, making this not just a valuable local resource but a contribution to reducing landfill.

Visiting the Angkor Orphan Association took us a mile out of town, into another world.

Tour operators also realise the importance of contributing to the communities that are so much a part of what they offer. Many of them have formal programmes for supporting local NGOs, such as the Intrepid Foundation, which seeks out local projects to fund, and Exotissimo, whose staff worked so hard on the flood drive described above, has a similar foundation.

A handover of clothing as part of the ABOUTAsia/Hotel de la Paix Share Your Shirt campaign.

Others were actually born out of a social model. ABOUTAsia Travel is a high-end tour operator set up specifically to support ABOUTAsia Schools (originally called IAM Cambodia), a project that works to support almost 70 schools in Siem Reap, or a total of 37,000 children, with materials, supplies, volunteer teachers, and free English lessons. Pepy Tours was also created specifically to support education in Cambodia, funded through their cycling and education tours. Their website and associated blog provide a fascinating insight into how business models can work hand in hand with development goals. It’s also worth a read for anyone considering volunteering.

Siem Reap is a special place that still faces many problems and everybody has a role to play in helping Cambodians to address those problems, businesses especially. The ones discussed here are only representative of efforts being made by many businesses all over Siem Reap. Keep an eye out in your hotel, or restaurant or tour operator to see how they can help you to help.

Hotel de la Paix
hoteldelapaixangkor.com
T: (063) 966 000

Heritage Suites Hotel
heritagesuiteshotel.com
T: (063) 969 100

Golden Banana
goldenbanana.info
T: (063) 766 655

Sojourn Boutique Hotel
sojournsiemreap.com

Exotissimo Travel
exotissimo.com
T: (063) 964 323

ABOUTAsia Travel
aboutasiatravel.com
T: (063) 760 190

Pepy Tours
pepytours.com
T: (063) 690 6081

Tags: exotissimo, floods, Golden Banana, Green Gecko Project, Haven, Heritage Suites Hotel, Hotel de la Paix, HUSK, NGOs, poverty, Sojourn Boutique Resort, Soria Moria Hotel

Thanks in part to the Chinese laying roads across northern Cambodia, access to parts of the country that previously would have involved an epic trip are now no more taxing than the negotiations to hire a car. If you’re based in Siem Reap, this opens up sites including the renowned Preah Vihear and Beantey Chmar temples,  Kulen National Park, and Anlong Veng.

Like the bones of the dead coming back to life ...

Anlong Veng is a small town, only 140km away from Siem Reap, and 15km from the Thai border. The road there takes you past Banteay Srei then Srei Noi, at which point it gets depressing in the extreme. Where only recently the roads were flanked by dense, green forest, now there is only a stubbled, blackened empty landscape. Someone, somewhere, has an awful lot of merit to make up, though they clearly won’t struggle to find the cash to do so. Driving there not long after fighting broke out between Cambodia and Thailand in February 2011, it was easy to feel that Armageddon had already passed through here.

The town is made of three main roads: one to Siem Reap, one to Preah Vihear and one to Choam. But, despite all the exits, there are a number of reasons to stay, including Anlong Veng’s place in Khmer Rouge history, and the prospect of some spectacular views. The government has been hoping to cash in on its history for some time, with limited success. In town, the Monorom Hotel, on the left side of the road to Choam about 200m up from the roundabout, is the swankiest you’ll find, and has rooms from $8. A room with fan is $15. Other guesthouses in Anlong Veng are available should the Monorom be full!

You are now deep in former Khmer Rouge country, though this is not to say that everyone around you is an old cadre. After regaining control of the province in 1998, the government opened up Oddar Meanchey and gave away land to those who didn’t have land elsewhere in the country. Khmer immigrants account for about 60% of the population. This is the Cambodian ‘frontier’ in more ways than one.

... but eerily beautiful.

With thoughts of atrocities rattling around your head, the town can feel a little unsettling, a sensation compounded by the stark landscape as you get to the northern edges of town. As though someone has randomly stuck the fingers of a giant skeleton into the ground, eerie, dead trees litter the fields to the east. You’re also now approaching Ta Mok’s house on the right side of the road: that's Ta Mok, real name Chhit Choeun, a.k.a. Brother No. 5, a.k.a. Ta Mok The Butcher. If you're feeling strong, take a moment to think about how truly awful you have to be if even those nice chaps in the Khmer Rouge call you that.

If you keep going for another 15km on that road, you’ll eventually come to Choam, and the Thai border. This is about to become another Pailin by the looks of it as plans for a giant casino go ahead. More interestingly to the non-gambling or sleaze addicted, there is Pol Pot’s burial site, and the guesthouse at Poi Ta Roun, another one of Ta Mok’s old houses about 3km down a dirt road.

There’s not much to say about the burial site, per se. How do you mark the grave of a monster (who escaped trial)? With a giant monument declaring “Never Again” (because we all know that’s a lie), or do we let the megalomaniacs rot in the obscurity they deserve? Perceptions are built on perspectives, and everyone will have a different view of where Saloth Sar now lies. Go see it to find out what yours is.

Just by the burial site is a small village that takes the frontier theme and supersizes it. It looks like a set from a Mad Max movie: there’s a dank mud road, lean-tos made of 40 different materials that hang on by the barest thread, litter strewn everywhere, guys in army gear, snotty kids and wary women. You need to go through here to get to one of the best viewpoints in Cambodia at Ta Mok’s old house, and no doubt one of the reasons the Khmer Rouge held out here for so long.

The guesthouse has a number of chalets with some pretty basic accommodation for about $6 a night. Pack mosquito spray and a torch. Lights go out at 22:00. Watching the sun go down here is fabulous, and worth the grotty digs. During the rainy season, watching storms in the distance is breathtaking. This is truly a wonderful spot.

Tags: Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, Ta Mok

If you’re only in Siem Reap for a few short and no doubt busy days, it might be difficult to get out and see some of the beautiful Khmer countryside.  Indeed, even if you’re here for a little longer, there’s enough to fill your time, what with temples, cooking classes, and massages, that can conspire to keep you surrounded by other people, with little of nature to sustain your spirit.

Hey pretty, pretty flower!

The vast majority of Cambodians live in the countryside, so without seeing that it is difficult to see how the people in this gorgeous country live.  Fortunately, there’s a way of gaining a brief glimpse into those lives, without the need to pay any fees or bring along a guide, and that’s by going for a walk.  All you need is a comfy pair of shoes and sunscreen.  Either bring a large bottle of water with you, or you can buy some along the way from one of the many stalls: “Sum tuk-sup moy?” – “May I have one water please?”   A small bottle should cost about 500 riel.

The walk described here is about 5 kilometres long and goes in a loop.  It’s best done first thing in the morning, any time up to 08:00, or late afternoon.  Don’t leave after 17:00 though or you may get caught in the dark.  The best lighting conditions prevail at these times too, so don’t forget your camera.

Starting at the roundabout beside Old Market, and with your back to Old Market, take the right turn on the roundabout.  You will pass Wat Damnak on your left side, and taking a wander in there among the pagoda buildings and fragrant frangipani trees is strongly recommended. As you go on, you will pass a row of Cambodian restaurants on your right, before taking the left turn (opposite the entrance to Golden Banana).

Make way for mooing traffic!

Going straight ahead for about 300 metres, you will pass the Green Star Restaurant on your right side, before coming to a small junction, just before a small market, where you take the right turn. Continue straight ahead, passing the Quad Bikes centre on your right.  At about 400 metres, you’ll come to a bridge after which the road transforms from tarmac to red dirt, and you carry on straight ahead.

The road now continues straight for just over a kilometre.  You’ll pass traditional Khmer-style houses, and some very modern architecturally designed ones too.  There are a couple of drinks stalls to buy water from if you like.  On the left side, about half-way along, you’ll see Anjali House, a shelter for street children, before the rice fields start to open out around you.

Scary coconut masquerading as a scarecrow.

You’ll finally come to a small junction in the road where you take the right turn, almost doubling back on the route you’ve taken.  Here the path gets really lovely; green lies to the left and right of you and it’s hard to imagine you’re just minutes on a moto from the parties on Pub Street.  There are flowers, birds, oxen and buffalo to be seen, and all kinds of wonderful photo opportunities -- including a dizzying array of scarecrows.

This road continues for about a kilometre and a half when it turns to the right. There is a large cemetery on the left side.  Follow the road to the T-junction and turn left, then left again after about 30 metres. (If you take the second right hand turn, you will find a small Chinese cemetery which is very interesting too, but go back and follow the left turn).  The road will now lead you out to the Siem Reap river, where you turn right and follow it all the way back to Wat Damnak.  Turn left, and you’re almost immediately back at where you started.  Happy trails!

Just follow the red arrows ...

Tags: Nature, Wildlife

At the physical heart of Cambodia, an immense body of water is the soul of the nation.  The great Tonle Sap lake not only sustains Cambodian stomachs, with its harvest accounting for more than 50% of Cambodia’s protein intake, it is also a source of immense national pride.

Available: House with water views.

Its uniqueness lies in events that take place far away in the Himalayan mountains.  There, melting snows feed into the Mekong river and push down towards the South China sea off the Vietnamese coast.  En route, monsoon rains further swell the great river before it meets the Tonle Bassac and the Tonle Sap rivers at a confluence in Phnom Penh.  Here, the ‘might’ of the Mekong is sufficient to push the Tonle Sap back on itself, reversing its flow and flooding the basin area of the lake.  In the process, the area of the lake increases five-fold, from 2,500 km² to 12,500 km².  In some places, the water’s depth increases from one metre to 10 metres.

This staggering transformation is at the root of all of the other superlatives that can be applied to the Tonle Sap.  It’s the largest lake in Southeast Asia, one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world and, a little creepily, holds the richest snake harvest in the world too.  It is home to an exceptional array of wildlife biodiversity, depictions of which can be found on the walls of Bayon temple, recognition of their importance to the success of the Empire.

I'll seeya at the tree in the middle of the lake.

Such hyper-abundance is a consequence of the Tonle Sap’s life-giving pulse, the ebb and flow of its waters.  Along the skirts of the lake, floating forests have developed where trees have evolved that can withstand being immersed in water for several long months, their falling vegetation creating an environment that is immensely rich in nutrients for fish and other aquatic life.

Being such a vital food source, so many fish have naturally attracted predators, in particular birds and humans.  Not much more than 10 years ago, the area around Prek Toal village on the western side of the lake was found to be host to a wide array of bird species, many of whom were facing global extinction.  This discovery triggered the Wildlife Conservation Society’s programme to protect the birds and their eggs from poaching by humans through creation of the Prek Toal bird sanctuary.

Smoke on the water.

About one-third of Cambodia’s population live in the provinces surrounding the lake.  But even with the super-abundant resources the lake provides, the people living on its borders are among the poorest in the country.  Among the poorest of the poor are those who live not by but actually on the lake itself.  Some 130,000 people in live in 90 floating villages specially adapted to exist in rhythm with the rise and fall of the lake’s waters.  Their lives are precarious in many ways.

But despite its size and rich abundance, the Tonle Sap is a lake under threat.  Cambodia has been identified as a country that stands to lose a great deal to climate change, and the most vulnerable area is the great lake.  Human influence is having other damaging effects too, as the cumulative effects of over-exploitation, deforestation, agriculture, industrial pollution, dam construction, mining and the introduction of non-native species all take their toll.

There is always an antenna.

The Tonle Sap is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a special area recognised and protected for its social, cultural and scientific significance.  It is also a hugely significant body of water for Cambodians who have been too often caught in the confluence of economic and political tussles not of their own making.

Tags: Nature, Sites, Tonle Sap, Wildlife