Siem Reap — the gateway to Angkor — is one of my favourite places. Cambodians are wonderful people and the town buzzes with energy. (You need to stay away from Pub Street though, it is everything I hate in a tourist town).
While the citizens of many developing countries need help, this is especially true in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s decimated the population and those that remained suffered from what we now call post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Luckily, it is easy to give back when visiting Siem Reap. Here’s my responsible tourism story for The Wayward Post about how to spend a sustainable weekend in Siem Reap: A Wayward Weekend in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and about a fantastic hotel which gives back to the community, Sojourn Boutique Villas.
I’ve got lots more on Cambodia, including my article for Singapore Airlines’ regional in-flight magazine about how to avoid scams in Southeast Asia — many of which are worse for the so-called scammer than they are for you.