Siem Reap, Cambodia, February 10th 2024

18 hours and 3 flight legs from Oslo we are finally in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for the first stop on this trip.

Siem Reap is the second-largest city in Cambodia, situated in the northwest of the country. Today Siem Reap is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the Angkor Wat temples. That is also our main reason for coming here, tomorrow we are going on a full day exploration of these temples.

Today is a day to get settled in this time zone, to cope with a slight jetlag and just enjoy the first day with warm weather after what has seemed like an endless winter of snow and cold weather in Oslo.

The town has around a quarter of a million inhabitants, and is a great example of what I expect to see much more of on this trip – the blend between French-colonial and Chinese-style architecture.

This part of Asia – Mainland Southeast Asia – was during the colonial era named «Indochina», to reflect the joint influence from both India and China on the current day countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia. Nowadays this term is more restricted to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as these were colonised by France under the name French Indochina.

Our hotel is a striking example of the mix between French architecture and the local Khmer style.

The term Khmer refers to the ethnic group that comprise over 90% of the Cambodian population. So the infamous communist political movement «Khmer Rouge» simply refers to «Red Khmer» or «Red Cambodians».

After decades of poverty and despair this country is rebuilding and rediscovering the historical and cultural roots, and the term «Khmer» is key to this identity.

Besides check-in and rest at the hotel, I also found time to stroll around the city to get a feel for the city.

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This blog post is part of the Indochina trip 2024 – see other blogs from the same trip