It was sooo hot and sticky, the kids got temple-ruin-itis and everyone grappled with
the odd bit of sickness, but we all LOVED Siem Reap. The people of Cambodia are some of the nicest, most generous and best-humored people we have ever met – that they have all lived through so much tragedy and keep such generosity of spirit is incredible.

We were there in the low season, but even then you can see that the impact of tourism has the town bursting at the seams. People talk about how much the city has grown and changed in the last 5 years… 10 years, and it doesn’t look like this growth is going to slow down any time soon. On the road from Angkor to Siem Reap, a line of enormous Chinese and Korean-backed hotels is springing up – each one containing 500 rooms. The surroundings of our central hotel were still local, but building sites seemed to be on every corner- building facilities for tourists rather than locals. Despite the heat, I was so glad that we got to visit when there were relatively few tourists, and managed to see the other-worldly site of Ta Phrom when no one else was around.

The French influence is still so evident in Laos and Cambodia – partly in the architecture and expats – certainly in the food. We spent many a happy hour exploring the different patisseries, and sampling Cambodian-French fusion cooking. We met so many interesting people, all of whom were open, kind and happy that we visited. All of the men seemed to be entranced with Luke, and kept shouting “Boy! Boy!” whenever he approached – a very nice combination of elevating him but also  keeping him in his place! We ambled around in tuk tuks, inhaled dust like true natives, and all-in-all, had a lovely time.