Your tuk tuk driver for Angkor Wat and Siem Reap

This is a wonderful story about an unusual woman who found her way to Cambodia as a tourist and is now applying her experience and vision as fashion-guru-slash-compassionate-global-citizen to make the world literally and figuratively a more beautiful place. Meet Elizabeth Kiester founder of Cambodia's newest 'lifestyle concept' 

If you are going to be in Siem Reap on May 2 then you are in for a very unique and unusual treat! The annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony, which will be officiated by the King, has been moved from its traditional venue in Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. And not only will it be held in Siem Reap but it will actually take place near the Royal Terraces of Angkor Thom which was the palatial home to several of Angkor's first kings.

In the previous post I mentioned the re-opening to visitors of the highest tower at Angkor Wat - the bakan. Here's an excerpt from a nice article from Byron Perry that appeared in the the Phnom Penh Post:

"I was hoping to be one of the first barang to visit the sacred third level of Angkor Wat in three years as I bounded up the steep, wheeze-inducing step...

According to a Jan 15 article in The Phnom Penh Post, the top tier of Angkor Wat is once again open to visitors after several years of renovation work:

"As of today, tourists will once again be able to enjoy the view from th...

Travelfish has recently introduced a travel guide for Angkor Wat and Siem Reap for the iPhone - a so-called iPhone app. According to the Travelfish website, the primary features of this new iPhone app include:

Remember the uplifting and heartwarming story of Billy Elliot, the young boy from a poor English mining town who discovered a dream of becoming a ballet dancer? Well, meet Sokvannara Sar, Cambodia's 'Billy Elliot:'...

Earlier this month the annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon races and bike rallies was held, again a very successful event. One of the missions of the annual event is to raise money and awareness for the continuing challenges of land mine victims, the handicaps they have and the artificial limbs and physical rehabilitation they need.

Some people may be wondering why there has been so little mention of the temples as that is the primary...

 Meet Ponheary Ly, one of the most remarkable women I have had the honor to get to know on my visits to Cambodia. Ponheary can best be described as teacher, tour guide, human being and tireless fighter extraordinaire all in one. A survivor of the Pol Pot terror regime who lost many family members and experienced the suffering of those indescribable terror years first-hand, Ponheary has made it her life's work to rebuild ...

It's a day off today to catch my breath and to catch up on my blogging. After using most of last week to prepare a workshop I gave to a group of great university students, I have been back on the touring trail. So much to do and just not enough time!

More than a week ago, on Oct...

 We took advantage of Sunday, the day the kids are off from school, to put together another fantastic family day. We were joined by Mau a...

Today was spent visiting with my friend Savuth and his family. After three emotional and physically tiring days I am going to let some pictures tell today's stories (Let's see, 24 pictures, should be worth about 24,000 words if my math is correct). The drive out there and back also gave me my first chance to see the condition of some nearby countryside.

Hello friends! Well I am here in Siem Reap. The flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went well enough. I was able to get a seat by an exit door so had plenty of legroom which was nice, especially the way KLM packs 'em in. Read a bit, watched "State of Play" with Russel Crowe and Ben Affleck then slept for about four and a half hours thanks to a sleeping pill with a Valium chaser. That all got me through about 7 of the 12 h...

Siem Riep is about to become another non-temple attraction richer with this weekend's opening of the Angkor Butterfly Centre. As reported in the Phnom Penh Post:

"It's been 18 mo...