When I first decided to visit Cambodia it was to fulfill a long-standing wish to experience the Khmer ruins of Angkor Wat. I imagined the wonder and bewonderment of seeing such ancient and exotic temples. I imagined the magic of the jungle setting, especially of those temples that are still half overgrown by majestic trees. I imagined a near-spiritual experience and not just a run-of-the-mill week of travel to a new destination. What I didn’t know is I hadn’t imagined the half of it.

As I was searching the internet for accommodations I came across the Shinta Mani hotel. Although I would end up not staying there, this hotel was going to give my visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat quite an unexpected focus. The hotel appeared to be a very nice boutique hotel with spa but as I continued to read I discovered that Shinta Mani was quite a bit more than that.

Shinta Mani is Sanscript for

“The gem that provides everything one desires.” The name is more than appropriate and defines the hotel on multiple levels. On one level, it is a hotel that caters to the needs of its guests both with its lovely ambience and the hotel and spa facilities. But Shinta Mani goes further with two unique aspects: it runs a hospitality training institute for young Cambodians at risk and it encourages its guests and others to participate in charitable community based activities that benefit local villages. The hospitality institute is funded by individuals and by the hotel and the community activities are funded by individual donations.

As I read more about the community based activities I was impressed by how much could be accomplished with what is relatively small amounts of money. The hotel provides a list of options that start at $15 for a child’s school supplies and obligatory uniforms and goes up to $1200 for a modest house. In between are options such as $60 for a sewing machine, $70 for a pair of breeding pigs or $90 for a fresh water well and seeds. The hotel also provides the opportunity to visit the villages where the money is invested.

I didn’t have to think about it very long; I immediately felt this was something I wanted to do. I talked to several friends and a few colleagues and with the generosity of a small group of wonderful people we were able to put together a modest but very impactful sum of money. I began to correspond with the director of the program and made all the arrangements and picked a date for the village visit.

I had agreed to meet Cielo Perez, who turned out to be the director of both the community based activities program and Shinta Mani’s hospitality institute, at 8 AM at her hotel. Since I was staying at another hotel I wanted to have breakfast there to sample the hotel’s atmosphere. At 7 AM I was the first breakfast guest and for almost 30 minutes I had the lovely outside terrace to myself. I noticed at the reception and in the breakfast area many of the young staff were participants in the hospitality institute as they had the designation ‘student’ on their name plates. At that moment I had no idea that in another 24 hours I was going to have the privilege of meeting all the students, but that’s another story.

Although I had exchanged many emails with Cielo I did not yet know if Cielo was a man or a woman. I knew Perez was a Spanish name and one of my Puerto Rican friends in America had let me know that Cielo is also Spanish so I was pretty curious to see who this Cielo was. I also knew what our donations were earmarked for but I was still in the dark regarding how the village visit was actually going to go.

Cielo turned out to be a Philippine woman (hence the Spanish names) in her mid-thirties who has been running the hotel’s school and the community program since June. She and her husband had lived in Cambodia doing mission work for a Christian church about eight years ago and her husband had been asked to return. Although Cielo’s previous experience was in mission work it was clear that she was taking excellently to her new job as director of the school and the community programs.

She introduced me to Om Thay (Om is the Khmer word for elder), a small Cambodian man of large presence who was the liaison in the villages the program supports. Om knows the villages, the families who live there, what their needs are and what their potential is to make optimum use of the opportunities the program can provide. It was basically Om’s job to recommend which families receive what. He also keeps on eye on the families to see how they make out with what they receive. Unfortunately Om spoke no English so we couldn’t communicate directly with each other. I found that a shame because something told me he was a most interesting and caring human being; the kind of person you would love to talk to for hours.

The program’s vision is to simultaneously build out the opportunities of a number of families. For example, a family may receive a water well and at the same time or shortly thereafter school supplies for the children, a bicycle and maybe later breeding piglets or a foot-crank powered sewing machine. The idea being to develop a family’s ability to sustain itself at a level above subsistence farming and to make it possible for the children to attend school, thereby creating enhanced potential for the next generation.

The hotel driver, Sarun, and Om were still busy loading the van with the items we were donating: several school knapsacks with uniforms and supplies, two sewing machines and a few bicycles. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that although we had only finalized everything ten days before, they had also been able to dig the two water wells since there had been little rain. I was more pleasantly surprised to hear that the two sets of breeding pigs would be arriving by alternative transport.

We headed off to Samroung village in Angkor Thom district where we would meet Om’s assistant, his son-in-law Boll, and distribute the stuff. After a quarter of an hour we turned off the paved road and started down a severely pot-holed red dirt road. On either side of the road there were beautiful broad green fields of rice paddies and nestled in the trees were thatched shacks. The postcard setting belied the poverty of the people living there.

After fifteen minutes or so we saw Boll waving to us from along the road. We had also been met by a young fellow on a motor scooter with a barrel shaped bamboo carrier on the back. As I stepped out of the van and went over to check out the bamboo carrier I discovered how piglets (and other small animals) are transported here. Cielo, Om and Boll had a discussion with Om turning and pointing this way and then that way. Cielo then told me how the goods were being distributed and who we would be visiting first.

I was somewhat nervous about the whole thing as I didn’t feel totally comfortable in the role of ‘benevolent white man who comes from far.’ I did not want the families who were receiving help to feel like I was someone special or have my presence make them feel needy or ashamed. Talking to some other people earlier in the week who work for NGOs and non-profits I was told I shouldn’t worry about that. The villagers realize that without help they are going to miss many development chances for themselves and particularly for improving the lives and futures of their children. They truly appreciate and are touched by the fact that there are people who care enough to not only offer help but to actually come in person to meet them.

As we walked through the trees towards the first home we would be visiting I was nonetheless quite apprehensive, wondering how I and the families were going to react. I was introduced to the family that had received one of the fresh water wells. We all walked over to the well and the father of the family showed me how it worked. Although I have donated money many times in the past to development organizations and received the reports and pictures of how the money is spent, being there in person and seeing the people whose lives were being dramatically impacted by something so inexpensive and something that we take so for granted was very emotional.

Most of the things we were donating were being invested in the same part of the village so we were mostly able to walk from family to family. Every stop provided the chance to hear something about the family. For one of the sewing machines we hopped in the van for a short drive to another part of this village.

This village visit was not an ego inflating experience; I actually felt humbled somehow by the opportunity and the privilege of lending a helping hand to these families. It was a feeling that I have never really experienced before. I felt a real connection with these strangers. I was no different than they. I was just someone who through dumb luck had been born in another place, in other circumstances and with more chances. It was so clear that had the luck of the draw been different these families could have been there helping me.

That morning I truly felt the meaning and the power of the thoughts we had decided to place on the dedication plaques of the two water wells: “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries” and even more so, “The greatest quality is seeking to serve.” I realized that the choice to help is no choice at all; in fact it is not helping, it is serving. It is an obligation, a responsibility; it is a great act of love. It was a privilege to serve the needs of these families. And as we took leave of each family it was I bowing to them with hands together in traditional Khmer style offering my thanks.

The folks at Shinta Mani are doing absolutely fantastic work. I especially want to thank my friends and colleagues in Holland whose generosity gave me the chance to be our ambassador on this mission. In a future posting I will share more about Shinta Mani as the following day I had the privilege of attending the graduation of the current students in the hotel’s hospitality institute and meeting the man who started and owns Shinta Mani.

Although Cambodia has begun to experience growth in tourism, primarily in Siem Reap, the tourist base for the famous Angkor Wat temples, and also in Phnom Penh, the country is still largely rural and extremely poor. Siem Reap with all its restaurants, day spas, guest houses and hotels, many of them very nice, is still very much a chaotic, dusty and in many ways 3rd world place. The development of the tourism infrastructure and tourism based economy has begun to plant the seeds for a modest middle class but has not yet spread much beyond the city limits. It is only now beginning to reach into the indigenous urban population. In the Siem Reap tourism sector

salaries may vary between $50 – $400 dollars a month. That lower range is for minimally skilled workers in restaurants or hotels. The licensed Khmer masseur in our hotel for example gets $75 a month having a marketable skill but little English language ability while an experienced reception worker with good English may earn $250 – $300 a month. And that salary is extremely good for an average Cambodian but can for the most part only be earned in Siem Reap or Phnom Penh.

For most Cambodians subsistence farming is still the norm with 75% of the population involved in agriculture and 40% living below the poverty level. Fifteen to twenty minutes outside of Siem Reap, a mere 5 – 8 km, you are driving on deeply pot-holed red dirt narrow paths through villages in the middle of the natural beauty of mostly rice fields. Your vehicle is the only one there; if people are lucky they may have a bicycle and in rare cases a motorbike. More than half of the homes you see nestled in the thick foliage are one room thatched shacks, a quarter may be lucky enough to have a corrugated metal roof on top of thatched walls and the very lucky few have a multiple room wooden house built on stilts.

In some of the villages there is no school close enough for children to go to and if there is one, many of the families can’t afford the $15 – $30 dollars a year per child required to purchase school supplies and the obligatory white shirt and dark trousers, skirt or shorts. There is usually no electricity so some people may run a single light bulb and small TV on a car battery. In the village there will be one or more shops where with the aid of a generator batteries are recharged.

Amidst this rural poverty and struggling often still marginal city life there is a strange vibe. I don’t know how to explain it so I will only describe it. The Cambodians seem to be inherently happy and optimistic people with a thirst to improve their country and their lives. Their spirit feels indestructible and tireless especially when you realize that it is only 7 – 9 years since any semblance of peace and stability has returned after 30 years of terribly destructive wars. From the mid 1960’s to the late 1990’s the succession of American bombing, civil war, the horrors of the Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge regime and then war with Vietnam destroyed and tore the country apart.

In 2000 when President Clinton released long secret military data it became clear for the first time just how extensive the American bombing of Cambodia actually was. Between 1965 and 1973 the USA dropped more tons of bombs on Cambodia than what the Allies expended in Europe, Africa and the Pacific during the course of WWII. America’s 231,000 bombing sorties against 114,000 sites almost totally destroyed what infrastructure there was, wiped out thousands of Cambodian villages and is believed to have killed up to several hundred thousand people.

Ironically enough, it was this American bombing campaign that catapulted the rag-tag unpopular Khmer Rouge socialist revolutionaries to sufficient support and strength to overthrow the US supported government of Lon Nol. That popular support of course was quickly betrayed by Pol Pot with a subsequent terror campaign that saw the deaths of an additional 1.7 million people and the near total destruction of the social fabric of the country.

Over a thirty year period perhaps up to 20% of the country’s population was killed, died of starvation or from slave labor while an equal number or more were displaced or made homeless. Since the last vestiges of the Khmer Rouge were only rooted out in the mid 1990’s in the Siem Reap area that turbulent history is still fresh in the minds of anyone over the age of 20 – 25.

Everyone you talk to lost family in that period. The only variable is how many and under what conditions. Everyone you talk to who is old enough to have lived through that period has personal horror stories. The only variable again is how many and how horrible.

And since the return of some semblance of political stability and freedom, Cambodia has developed into one of the world’s most corrupt countries, robbing its citizens of further development opportunities. That there is such widespread persistent poverty is therefore no surprise. That the people of this beautiful country are so warm and open, determined, optimistic and of such resilient spirit is more than surprising. It is downright amazing and incredibly inspiring.

I have rarely been so moved or impacted by the people liliving in a country I have visited. I have never seen such poverty that doesn’t feel like poverty due to the richness of the peoples’ spirits. In the weeks ahead I hope to share with you some more of my experiences and impressions of Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, the Cambodian people I had the privilege of meeting and some of the great people I spent time with who are doing wonderful and innovative work there helping improve the future.

Additional sources:

Recent revelations of America’s secret war against Cambodia
Cambodia in-depth
Lon Nol
Khmer Rouge

For 'smile-view' click to enlarge

Last night after hanging out a bit at Savuth’s house we decided to head out to the local Siem Reap fun fair. Seeing the pure joy of a kid during a rare visit to a fun fair has got to be one of life’s better and more simple pleasures.

Siem Reap fun fair

The picture doesn’t do it justice as it was a pretty major affair. Lots of rides, plenty of food stalls and dozens if not hundreds of stalls selling everything from shoes to handbags to household accessories and more.

Let's do it again!

The rides are  quite simple, unsophisticated and would never qualify for liability insurance in the west but that does not have any negative impact on the joy and fun-factor for the kids. In some ways, the simple nature of it all creates a powerful back to basics type of pure fun that we no longer experience or perhaps appreciate with our high-tech, high-polish, super-sized lifestyle.

It was also a bit funny watching them initially struggle to eat their first-ever pizza slices with a plastic fork and knife

which I think they associate with western food as a matter of fact. After a few minutes of observing their most valiant efforts, I decided that this was perhaps a moment when it would be appropriate to share some western wisdom.

Help!!!

After all, I was a university graduate with 6 years experience eating pizza and drinking beer, I mean studying, so I had been privileged to learn all the common and even more complex techniques of pizza consumption. For example, the ‘one-handed-sea-lion-feed’ for those slices where the toppings are more solidly fixed to the pizza surface or the two-handed ‘pizza-point-thumb-support’ technique for slices with heavier toppings where the point of the pizza becomes dangerously unstable and needs to be fed, conveyor-belt like, into the mouth.

We were very lucky in this case as the fun fair pizza slices were perfect for young Cambodian beginners: not too long from rear arc to front tip with the perfect relative dimensions of length-to-arc-to-thickness-to-weight, a thick and non-bendy crust and solidly embedded toppings under, not over, a fair amount of a non-runny cheesy cement-like covering.

After demonstrating  the two-handed ‘pizza-point-thumb-support’ technique I realized there was an even better technique for these enthusiastic pizza disciples. Yes, without design or intention, this Cambodian fun fair pizza entrepreneur had created the perfect pizza for the very rare yet simple ’2-handed-sandwich-grip’ where one holds the slice on both sides at its widest rear point as one would hold a sandwich. The triangle and point of the slice remained stiff as a board and one can then take bites from the slice without much difficult positioning or mouth maneuvering. Somehow something got lost in the translation and a great deal of the pizzas still ended up on the mat anyways. But there was a lot of laughing so I think everyone enjoyed the experience.

Maraschino cherry.. yicchhhh!

After the pizza we went to one of the new modern ice cream parlors in town which was a real special first-time treat for the kids. Swenson’s ice cream is in a small modern-style multi-level shopping mall near the Old Market. I had the most fun going up and down the escalators with the kids who seemed to be somewhere in that nexus of amazement, entertainment and terror. The best ice cream eating moment was when Vannath bravely popped the maraschino cherry in his mouth with the expected result of painful comedic grimace, gagging and spitting as he desperately tried to get it out of his mouth. And as suits all kids, after the fun fair, the pizza, the escalators and the ice cream they were happy and exhausted and we only had one case of tummy ache.

Here you can see the entire album of this evening’s fun!

Fun fair, pizza and ice cream

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services and all the handy information available on our website Angkortuktuk).

We earmarked the money to provide a hot lunch to the nearly 200 primary school students of the very rural and very poor Koh Ker community. This is a school that is pretty much run by the Ponheary Ly Foundation since 2006. Koh Ker is the site of the ruins of one of the capital cities of the ancient Angkor empire. Due to its 100 km distance from Siem Reap, the tourist town serving the main temples of Angkor Wat, it gets almost no tourists and enjoys no development.

Part II

Koh Ker village was established in 1979 after the Vietnamese drove the Khmer Rouge from power. This part of northern Cambodia was one of the Khmer Rouge’s last holdouts. When established, the village became home to transient war victims: returning refugees who had fled to the northern border with Thailand, those who had survived wandering in the area’s jungles for several years or people who were lucky enough to outlive their torturous Khmer Rouge servitude.

Even up to the mid to late 90′s, these people continued to suffer while two simultaneous wars waged around them: one between the post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian government and the Vietnamese army who remained after driving the Khmer Rouge from power and the last remnants of internal civil war between Cambodia and the dying Khmer Rouge movement. And once in a while, until not so long ago I was told, people would sometimes still appear from the jungles asking if the wars were over.

The net effect of Cambodia’s tortured modern history was the total destruction of the nation’s social fabric and economic infrastructure. The Khmer Rouge also saw to the extermination of the administrative and educated classes along with the essential social and governmental institutions that such people run in any country.

Koh Ker is a village of people who are all deeply suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Living through three decades of three brutal wars and the only case in modern history of wide-spread auto-genocide left many of Koh Ker’s residents with severe psychological and emotional problems as well as widespread alcohol and drug addiction.

Ponheary Ly made education in Koh Ker her personal crusade even before the formal founding of the foundation that bears her name. The Foundation began supporting this school in 2006. When they began there were, on a good day, 40 to 50 students out of a possible 200. Most parents could not afford the minimal annual contribution of $40 – $50 needed to keep a child enrolled in a government school. And even if money were not the problem, most parents could not see any reason why their kids should even be educated, certainly not beyond the 3rd grade which didn’t even exist back then at the school. And if that weren’t enough, the kids were desperately needed as working family members – in the rice fields, foraging for fire wood or edibles in the forests or watching after the babies.

When the Foundation decided to make a change in Koh Ker, they found that 65% of the kids in the village were seriously ill with all kinds of terrible and often life-threatening conditions mostly due to malnutrition, filthy contaminated water, neglect and abuse.

Today, barely four years later, the school has 200 students in grades 1- 6; the first graduates – nine girls – have moved on to secondary school (grades 7 – 9); the kids are voracious and eager learners who gladly give up summer vacation to attend school year-round; they finally have those incredibly endearing smiles that children are supposed to have; they have access to clean water and breakfast in the morning; there is a doctor on staff to provide the medical care possible within the limits of budget and accessibility to equipment and medicine; sometimes dangerously ill children even now get life-saving care in district or regional hospitals; there are dedicated and caring teachers.

And sometimes, someone or some group of people, people like my friends back home, make it possible for the kids to get an extra meal – a hot, nourishing, tasty and abundant meal that is consumed with an eagerness and joy we would reserve for the mythical elixer of life itself. Which for them it basically is.

All this thanks to the inspired, tireless and dedicated work of the Ponheary Ly Foundation, its staff and supporters. Amazing respect is due to the kids themselves. Their desire and struggle to learn in living conditions that for us in the West can only be described, literally described, as unimaginable is a true inspiration. Spending a day with these kids was a privilege. Serving them was an honor. Being touched by their indomitable spirits was a humbling experience. I will never ever forget this day.

I want to thank my friends on behalf of all the people at the Foundation but mostly on behalf of 200 beautiful, wonderful and deserving kids. I also want to thank them for enabling me to be their emissary on this mission of service, to be their eyes and ears and to be their helping hands.

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services and all the handy information available on our website Angkortuktuk).

I guess although ‘retired’ from the biz, my ad man’s eye still catches a good ad strategy and media buy when I see one. Imagine, you have just checked in for your discount airline AirAsia flight at the off-site dedicated Low Cost Carrier Terminal at Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport. As you’re waiting in an atmosphere that can best be described as organized (for the most part) chaos, you see this huge wall poster from Malaysia Airlines, one of the world’s best airlines, who doesn’t even fly from this terminal. But who does offer everything you are about to do without or have had to pay extra for. I should have done an impromptu market research to see how many people noticed the poster and how many are going to consider trading up to Malaysia Airlines the next time they have to fly.

After 55 years of living and 44 years of flying

I am happy and proud to say that my childlike fascination with flying and seeing clouds up there is as strong as ever.

Some cloud said, “Oh yeah, well I’m going to go get my big brother who kind of looks like the head of an animal, so you better watch out!”

The world usually looks so pastoral and idyllic when viewed from a distance like this stretch of rural south eastern Thai coastline on the South China Sea. Beachfront property at a bargain price if the occasional racial strife of southern Thailand or incidental typhoon doesn’t bother you.

Is a bird’s eye view sufficient to really know what’s going on or understand a certain situation?

How close do we need to get to see the real picture?

And how close do we want to get, do we dare to get, before the intimacy and confrontation is too much to simply look and walk away from anymore?

Like I said, random images can lead to random thoughts or are they not so random?

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services and all the handy information available on our website Angkortuktuk).

Getting really psyched for my next trip to the places and people I love so much!

The initial itinerary looks like this:

Oct 24 fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; overnight at airport
Oct 26 fly to Vientiane, Laos; overnight there
Oct 27 fly to Luang Prabang, Laos
Nov 1 fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Nov 12 ten – twelve hours by road to Kep, Cambodia
Nov 17 fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Nov 21 fly to Amsterdam

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services and all the handy information available on our website Angkortuktuk).

In October, 2009, after spending two weeks in Siem Reap, I headed off to Luang Prabang, Laos, which was my first stop on my first visit to this beautiful and intriguing country. Because many people combine Siem Reap and Luang Prabang, I wanted to introduce you to the fantastic guide, and in the end friend, I had in Luang Prabang.

First the key details: His name is Bouasy Souliya (‘See’ for short) and he can be reached at seelaos [at] hotmail.com or +856-20-55872149.

Thanks to the advice and help of some fellow Tripadvisor travelers I got in touch with See

who is a registered guide and driver in Luang Prabang. I spent two great days with him seeing the area sights. He is extremely knowledgeable, incredibly hospitable and helpful and speaks excellent English. After he picked me up at the airport he sorted me out with a Lao sim card, drove me around town for a good orientation and then we talked about what we could do for a couple of days of touring. He has a perfect van with all the amenities (aircon, cold water, Pepsi, refresh towels, even fresh-picked bananas one day).

Besides the usual things (Pak Ou, waterfalls, etc) we spent one half day visiting some villages in the surrounding mountains. One was a Khmu village and the other a Hmong village. These are places that you won’t normally get to with the tuk tuk tourist services. And even though I saw one tuk tuk offering Khmu and Hmong villages, if they are the same ones See took me to, it is not a drive you want to make in the back of a tuk tuk. And the tuk tuk driver is just going to drop you off, wait for you and take you back. He is not going to guide your walk-about with stories, explanations and encounters with villagers.

In the Hmong village I had quite a surprising and memorable spontaneous interaction with a lovely deaf young woman who makes traditional Hmong clothing which will become I think one of the highlights of my visit. I had prints made of the pictures I took with this woman and some local kids and See will make sure they get the pictures on his next visit there. I also got to visit and walk through See’s own village and meet his family. With his translation I was able to ask questions to people we met along our walks.

Admittedly you can get to most of the local places in a tuk tuk for less money as you will be one of many to climb aboard. But because the tuk tuk only takes you there and back, and the driver generally speaks no foreign languages, you won’t be able to have the kind of extensive conversations I had with See had about Laos and its history, society, politics, education system, Buddhism, village life, etc. Perhaps I would have seen almost as much but I wouldn’t have learned a fraction of what I did with See.

This is an incredible city and beautiful and quite intriguing country. But the only way to get some deeper insight into what it’s really all about is to spend time with a knowledgeable local who is eager to share his country with you one-on-one. See is the guy to do that with! And he can not only show you around LP and area but can also guide you on overnight trips to places a bit further away and even multi-day trips to places all over the country.

So if you are heading this way and want to get the most out of your stay, I urge you to see Laos with See. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss further.

See can be reached at seelaos [at] hotmail.com or +856-20-55872149. He doesn’t check his email every day since he lives out of town in a small village but he always replies within a couple of days.

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services!)

One of the kids shot this expressive photo of Vannak.

While in Siem Reap I gave Savuth and Sopiee’s three oldest kids – Odam, Kong Kea and Vannak – single-use cameras. Odam, a son, is about 8 or 9; Kong Kea, a daughter is about 7 or 8; Vannak, a son is around 6. I am a big believer in the value of encouraging creativity and am always curious to see what interests kids when they have a camera in their hands. Here is a selection of what they came up with: lots of friends, schoolmates and of each other, Mom and Dad, some nature and as you will see, it seems boys everywhere love power cars.

Kong Kea celebrates at the fun fair and her baby sister Srei Kong cries

Odam took this nearly perfect composition of his Dad, two sisters and other drivers

The full album:

Thru Children’s Eyes

(Thinking of visiting the temples of Angkor Wat? Don’t forget to check out my friend Savuth’s tuk tuk services!)