Friday, March 11^th, 2016

The next leg of our trip was to Siem Reap, otherwise known as the cultural capital, filled with incredible landscape and temples. Upon our arrival at the airport, we were picked up by Amansara’s fleet of vintage, classic 1960s Mercedes.

Amansara is at the threshold of Angkor Archaeological Park, containing the vast ruins of the largest pre-industrial urban settlement on Earth. The Amansara is the former guesthouse of King Sihanouk, so it has the charm and intimacy of a private home and is filled with jasmine flowers everywhere. The smell permeates the entire atmosphere, and is absolutely splendid. The Amansara was opened in 2002, keeping as much of it as it once was, but with the modern comforts and updates of Aman. Back in the 60s this is where Jacqueline Kennedy would stay, so it has always been the most fabulous place in Siem Reap, and I’m sure Angelina Jolie would agree. We had a beautiful room, with a great layout and highly attractive design, and fish pond and our own private pool.

With a few hours of afternoon left, we grabbed our remork (Cambodian tuk tuk) driver and hit the downtown. We buzzed around and saw local crafts being made. It was impressive to see all of the stone carvings being made by hand.

Stopping off in Kandal Village, we went through many great shops. It appears that this is the upsale shopping district in the old French quarter where many expats have opened up businesses. We especially liked the Little Red Fox Espresso (I had a lemongrass-ginger iced coffee which was the BEST ever!), but when the power blew out in this area (and probably many other areas) of Siem Reap due to excessive heat (we arrived during a heat wave) and also infrastructure upgrade projects, we bolted back to the Amansara to enjoy the pool and some air con.

After freshening up we were out that night for a party that was hosted by a haute couture Malagasy designer, Eric Raisina. We had a lot of fun, met many ex-pats who were friends with Catherine and our other local Aman friend, Sally, and it also included a fashion show! Nick and I both left with some pieces as a nice souvenir and headed back to the Amansara for a nice dinner.