Cambodia expat blog: Cambodia travel tips, advice, and info

Things for older kids and teens to do in Siem Reap

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Ruth Lolo

We’ve already covered a selection of play spaces for young kids in Siem Reap, but there’s even more for older kids and teens. Here are some fun options of things to do in Siem Reap for older kids and teens who are looking to run off some energy or try something new. Best of all, they’re all just as much fun for adults, too!

Cambodia’s one-and-only wake park is at ICF Cambodia in Siem Reap.

Local NGO ICF Cambodia has a ninja obstacle course suspended across a large pond for anyone up to the challenge. It includes wooden planks, swinging bars, tyres and rope nets. After that, you can take a dip off their diving platforms, or cross the road to Cambodia’s one-and-only wake park for more water fun. The ICF Wake Park offers wakeboarding, water skiing and knee boarding — you’ll be pulled around a track on their custom-built pond. There are obstacles and jumps for those keen on advanced options. They offer hourly access starting at $19/hour (or $24 for 2 hours), and they also offer one-year memberships for unlimited fun. Safety gear and all necessary equipment is included. Continue reading →

Review: Angkor Wat Putt, Siem Reap

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Lina Goldberg

I’ll admit that despite a life-long love of miniature golf I was skeptical when I first heard about a miniature golf course in Siem Reap filled with scale models of Angkorian temples, maybe because it sounded too good to be true. But luckily it turns out that Angkor Wat Putt is even better than what I could dare to imagine. In fact, it has been on my list of “best things to do in Siem Reap” for years.

Angkor Wat Putt — where you can enjoy the temples of Angkor while playing a round of mini-golf.

The 14-hole course is in a lovely garden setting, filled with young banana trees and lots of shaded seating. From that shaded seating you’re free to ring a bell and get a beer or soda delivered. All of the major temples of Angkor are represented, and it’s hard not to be thrilled when you knock a ball up Angkor Wat while listening to the incongruous soundtrack of classic rock that’s always on. Continue reading →

Cambodian temple-hunting in Siem Reap

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Scott Sharick

There are hundreds of temples of all sizes within the 400 km² Angkor Archaeological Park, and hundreds more in Siem Reap Province. If the thought of scouring the jungles in search of small, remote temples is something that excites you, there are unlimited possibilities.

There’s no better time to visit some of Cambodia’s lesser-known temples!

If you have been to Angkor Wat in the past five months you know the effect the pandemic has had on visitor numbers. Ticket sales that used to run between ten and fifteen thousand a day have dwindled at times to ten to fifteen total. The temples are never crowded and there are times when you can have them all to yourself. But what do you do when you have explored all of the empty, echoing passages of the well known temples within the Angkor Archaeological Park and you are itching for something more?

There are approximately 4000 ancient temples that can be found throughout Cambodia in varying sizes and states of ruination, and the vast majority can be seen without the cost of the Angkor admission ticket. Some locations will have nothing more than a few stones and artifacts strewn about the foliage, while others are surprisingly intact. Continue reading →

Visiting Cambodia’s Win-Win Memorial

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Pete Ford

Twelve million dollars can buy a lot — yachts, islands, or the iconic Cambodian architect Van Molyvann’s former house, with $5 million left over to buy new curtains. It’s also how much it cost to build Cambodia’s Win-Win Memorial, the phallic stone-clad monument memorializing the Khmer Rouge’s 1998 surrender to Hun Sen.

Carving at the Win-Win Memorial depicting the end of the Khmer Rouge era.

Located 20 kilometers north of Phnom Penh, opposite the new national sports stadium and next to a granite-cutting factory and a TV station, the Win-Win Memorial seeks to educate the world about the actions, achievements, and glory of Cambodia’s prime minister, and in particular about his policy of offering amnesty to the motley crew of Khmer Rouge commanders who lurked on the Thai border throughout the 1990s causing trouble. Continue reading →

Expat Q&A: Starting a coffee social enterprise in Cambodia

Posted on June 10, 2020 by Lina Goldberg

In this series we talk to Cambodia expats about their lives here, and what they know now that they wish they had known when they first moved to Cambodia. This week we talk with Swapnil Deshmukh, an expat originally from India who moved from Singapore to Phnom Penh to work in banking, and ended up starting a social enterprise that provides training and jobs to the Deaf community.

Swapnil Deshmukh in Cambodia at Angkor Wat

Swapnil wishing he had moved to Cambodia sooner.

Why did you move to Cambodia and what do you do here?

Before moving to Cambodia, I was working for a Digital Banking company in Singapore. I had first visited Cambodia in 2013 on a business trip. I was touched by the people here – many of them are super kind and made time to be nice to each other. In that first trip, one particular moment stood out to me. At a traffic light, a tuk tuk driver was next to a couple with a small baby on a moto. Within those 60-90 seconds, the tuk tuk driver exchanged pleasantries with the couple and even played with the little baby in the mother’s arms. I never experienced anything like that in Singapore or India. Continue reading →

Registering with the Foreigner Presence in Cambodia app

Posted on June 4, 2020 by Lina Goldberg

In Cambodia, landlords have long been required to report the presence of foreign tenants — this is why you’ve always had a copy of your passport made when you check in at a hotel, or lease a new accommodation. Until now, the process has been done on paper, and many small-time landlords ignored the regulations to avoid the taxes that came with it. But no longer — now all foreigners in Cambodia are required to register their presence via app.

Get registered on the FPCS app by July 1st.

The Cambodian government has announced a new mobile app, the FPCS-GDI, or “Foreigner Presence in Cambodia System” for Android, iOS, and desktop. From July 1, 2020, foreigners who are not registered in the database will not be allowed to extend their visas. Continue reading →

Using Cambodian traditional music to share COVID-19 safety tips

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Lina Goldberg

You may be familiar with the long-necked lute, known as a Chapei, already if you live in Cambodia, where it is played at weddings and funerals. The Cambodian traditional music called Chapei Dang Veng employs both rhyme and wordplay to share information and social commentary, and subjects can include Khmer poems, folk tales, and Buddhist teachings. While this tradition has been around for centuries in Cambodia, it’s easily adaptable to modern situations, including the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, Master Kong Nay, uses Chapei Dang Veng to share public safety tips in Khmer about coronavirus.

Below the lyrics to the ចម្រៀងចាប៉ី-COVID-19 Safety Tips From Master Kong Nay video:

Wash your hands to protect yourself from catching coronavirus
Make sure to get soap into all the nooks and crannies
Do it often and for at least 20 seconds each time

Brothers, sisters, grandparents, please keep two meters distance from one another
Stay away from crowded places
Follow the guidance from the Ministry of Health

If you have a high temperature, a dry cough or trouble breathing
Please call 115 to ask for advice on what you should do
If you are advised to go to the clinic, please make sure you wear a correctly fitted mask

Master Kong Nay with his chapei. Photo by James Dewar.

Master Kong Nay was declared a national living treasure by the Cambodian government in 2013, and is one of the few masters of this traditional Cambodian art that nearly disappeared before Cambodia Living Arts helped facilitate some of the masters of Cambodian art forms to train a new generation of artists and keep the traditions alive.

We caught up with Yon Sokhorn the head of Arts Development at Cambodia Living Arts to find out a little bit more about Chapei Dang Vang. Continue reading →

Will American expats in Cambodia get a US stimulus payment?

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Lina Goldberg

May 21 update from the US Embassy: The Embassy recently received 187 U.S. Treasury checks (economic impact payments) for U.S. citizens and is in the process of notifying recipients in Cambodia of their arrival. Recipients must be registered in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) in order for us to have contact information and to make notifications when we receive such checks.

As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Safety (CARES) Act, every American citizen who qualifies will be receiving a $1,200 payment from the US government. People started seeing deposits in their accounts a few weeks ago, but Americans abroad have wondered if they are eligible.

Since I don’t have a check yet to take a picture of, here’s a photo of an American flag on the Mekong in Phnom Penh.

Although the CARES Act seemed to include all American citizens, the IRS page initially said that “U.S. residents will receive the Economic Impact Payment of $1,200 for individual or head of household filers…” suggesting that non-residents were not eligible.

However, over the weekend the IRS has posted clarification on their site that reads: Continue reading →

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