From the Heart
Temple guardians, silk weavers, forest defenders, river life. The stories that make a journey real.
Essential Reads
The Silk Weavers of Baray
Three generations of one family — and the natural dyes that almost disappeared.
Srey Mao learned to weave at seven, sitting beside her grandmother on a wooden loom in a house without electricity. Today she teaches her own daughter the same patterns, using the same indigo plants harvested from the same field behind their house. The thread of continuity runs through her fingers every morning.
The Last Guardians of Sambor Prei Kuk
Before UNESCO arrived, a village family watched over the temples for four decades. Nobody paid them.
Ta Chhuon was 22 when he first started sleeping at the temple site to stop looters from taking the carvings. He had no torch, no authority, and no salary. He just believed the stones were worth protecting. For 40 years, until UNESCO designation changed everything, he and his family were the only thing standing between ancient Ishanapura and the international antiquities market.
Walking the Line in Prey Lang
Inside the community network that has kept Southeast Asia's largest lowland forest alive — against the odds.
On a Tuesday morning in February, Dara walked seven kilometres into Prey Lang Forest before breakfast. He was looking for chainsaw marks. He found them — three new stumps, still pale, freshly cut. He photographed, recorded coordinates, and walked back out. That data would go to the network, which would file it with the authorities. Whether anyone would act on it was another matter.
Keep Reading
5AM on the Stung Sen
A fishing boat, a thermos of coffee, and a river waking up before the rest of the town.
The river smells different before sunrise. Cooler, muddier, with something alive in it that the heat of the day burns away. The fishermen have already been out for an hour by the time the first light touches the opposite bank. They don't wave. They don't look up. The river is their office and they are working.
A Night on the Sacred Mountain
Visak Bochea at Phnom Santuk — 809 steps by candlelight and a dawn that stops you in your tracks.
Nobody told me about the cats. There are dozens of them living in the pagoda complex at the summit of Phnom Santuk — temple cats, fed by the monks, completely unbothered by the hundreds of worshippers who arrive each Visak Bochea before midnight. When the chanting began at 2AM, the cats moved to the edge of the terrace and looked out at the plains below as if they, too, were meditating.
What a Village Lunch Actually Tastes Like
Not a restaurant. Not a cooking class. A family's table, an extra chair, and food you can't order anywhere.
Aunt Lina set down the fish amok and immediately apologised — she thought it was too salty. It wasn't. It was the best amok I'd eaten in Cambodia, steamed in a banana leaf from the tree outside the window, with lemongrass from the garden and fish from the Stung Sen that morning. The table had eight dishes for five people. I asked her why so much food. 'This is normal,' she said.
Why I Missed My Bus (On Purpose)
I was supposed to be in Siem Reap by 4PM. Instead I watched the sun go down over the Stung Sen for the second time.
The bus stop is eight minutes from the riverside. I was packed, checked out, and sitting on the riverbank with twenty minutes to spare. The light was doing something extraordinary to the water — turning it from brown to bronze to something almost gold. I thought: I'll get the next one. There is no next one. There's a minivan at 6AM tomorrow. I went back to the guesthouse and booked another night.
The Harvest
November in the countryside: 400 metres of rice paddy cut by hand in a single morning, and a lunch that feeds thirty people.
The family starts at 6AM because it will be too hot by 10. Twenty people, most of them related, move through the paddy in a line. The rice is almost two metres tall and the stalks bend under the weight of grain. Children run between the rows. Someone has a portable speaker playing Cambodian pop at low volume. It is, unmistakably, joyful.
Top 10 Things to Do in Kampong Thom
From pre-Angkorian temples to a 5AM fishing boat — the essential Kampong Thom checklist.
Kampong Thom is usually treated as a highway pit stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. That is a mistake. Here are the ten experiences that prove the province deserves at least two days of your time — ranked roughly from unmissable to delightfully optional.
First-Timer's Travel Tips for Kampong Thom
When to come, what to bring, how to get around, and the small things that make a trip smoother.
Kampong Thom is easy, friendly, and uncrowded — but a little local knowledge goes a long way. Here is everything a first-time visitor should know before arriving, from the best season to the right amount of cash to carry.
Top 10 Things to Do in Kampong Thom
From ancient temples to river sunsets — the essential Kampong Thom experience.
Kampong Thom offers far more than a quick stop between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Here are ten ways to experience the province — whether you have one day or one week.
Travel Tips — Everything You Need to Know
Visa, money, weather, safety — practical guidance for visiting Kampong Thom.
Planning a trip to Kampong Thom? Here's everything practical you need to know — from getting in and getting around, to what to pack and when to visit.
Been to Kampong Thom?
If you have a recommendation, an observation, or a story worth telling — we'd like to hear it. We publish traveller contributions that tell the province honestly.