After I left Sihanoukville, I went to Kampot, a small almost sleepy town with much crumbling French architecture. It’s relative quiet made it a nice place to paint. Gastronomically a highlight were these wonderful fruit shakes that are made on little tables set up on the side of a road with a kitchen blender. The Sisters cafe deserves a special mention for wonderful coffee and apple pie. The Blissful guesthouse and their restaurant/bar were especially nice here.
While there I also visited some old Hindu temples in caves and had the most extraordinary prawns with raw pepper at Kep beach.
After that it was up to Phnom Penh, which is an OK but busy city, although much quieter than Bangkok. The main goal was to get some art supplies and clothes. Clothes I found, but no art supply store in Phnom Penh that I could locate.
Stonecarvers In Phnom Penh
Highlights there were the wonderful people I met at my guesthouse ( “The Top Banana” ) and a sobering visit to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. The rows of photographs of the inmates taken by the jailers were heartbreaking.
Near Angkor Thom, Angkor, Cambodia
Angkor
After a few days in Phnom Penh I took a six hour bus ride up to Siem Reap town, which is about 12 KM from Angkor Wat. Angkor is one of the largest set of ruins in Asia. Angkor Wat is the name for one of the central sites. I visited 5 different sites ( there are dozens ) and did some paintings and drawings. You are not able to rent scooters here so I ended up with a bicycle, which is nice although it was extremely hot. Here is a video about Angkor.
My favorite site was Preah Khan and also some sandstone monuments just east of Angkor Thom. The relief work (carvings) was a special highlight of all these monuments.
In Siem Reap town I visited “Artisans d’Angkor” , an organization that teaches and supports the traditional arts of the region. Their showroom and workshops were tremendously interesting.
