Juliana Hotel - Phnom Penh

Sibylle R. - Cambodia Product Manager

The best experience I had in Cambodia was at Kbal Spean, about 50 km from Siem Reap. The tuk tuk ride through typical Cambodian countryside was very interesting as it lead us to a lesser visited area, on a dirt track of red sand that wound its way through the lush green rice fields, passing small settlements with kids waving and ‘hello’ at my friend and me. At Kbal Spean, a short hike uphill awaited us, but the jungle path wasn’t exactly lonely – entire Cambodian families, complete with babies and grandmothers, a large picnic basket and everybody soaking wet from the waterfall, crossed our way. On top of the hill, we admired the ‘River of 1000 lingas’ with its unusual and fine stone carvings in the river bed, together with a group of friendly monks in their bright orange robes.

A few meters further, we joined the happy holiday atmosphere at the small but beautiful waterfall, where families were picnicking on the rocks, kids were screaming and generally everybody was splashing about in the water. What really made our day was as one Cambodian family cordially invited us to join their picnic. We were treated to taste interesting Khmer food that we never tried before, like small mussels with chili, chicken feet and banana sticky rice (Yummie!), and even though they hardly spoke any English and we didn’t speak Khmer, we managed to communicate somehow. The family gave us a flip flop each to sit on so we didn’t have to sit on the wet rocks and it was great to see that they had a blast in showing us how to eat their delicacies. When we joined the crowd in the water, the family’s kids proudly introduced us as their newfound friends to everybody they could find.

On our way back to Siem Reap by tuk tuk, they passed us on their motorbikes, with great cheers and loud honking of course. We were still in SMS contact with the older daughter, who spoke a little English for a couple of days after. A wonderful experience - not exactly a quiet day in the jungle, but incredible Cambodian fun.