Last Updated on March 17, 2023 by PowersToTravel
For our 65-day Southeast Asia Odyssey I could have searched for a single company which could have covered our entire itinerary – Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and then southern Thailand. I felt that would be cost prohibitive and I wanted to have some downtime on the trip to explore on our own. I’m skilled in researching and arranging travel, but know that we need help in certain areas of the world – language concerns, health concerns, even luggage weight concerns.
I chose to pursue individual companies for each of the countries we wanted to visit. But first I needed to investigate on the Internet. As I have mentioned in other posts, I tend to be happier investigating agencies that are willing to publish prices for fixed trips with known hotels. It’s so much easier to start out with a price, then be aware that it might change based on customizations I might want, than spending time designing a trip with an agency to find it is more expensive than I wanted.
Backyard Travel stood out among local agencies due to their good reviews, the variety of “standard” trips with hotels and published prices from which to start. I knew that customizing would be possible, in fact I designed my entire trip before contacting them. (To me, an Asian company was “local”! I know that Backyard Travel itself is not homed in Cambodia, but it is certainly more local than an American or European one!)
Backyard Travel stood out among agencies due to the wide variety of cultural and individual activities. No, I didn’t know to ask for a session with a local person making spring rolls, but it was part of a Backyard Travel unique itinerary which gave us such a view into the culture.
Backyard Travel seemed the right blend of cultural exchange and 3 to 4 star comfort. No, I don’t want to stay at 5-star hotels, but I also don’t want to stay in a hostel.
Sitha Voir was our travel consultant, and we exchanged a number of emails and settled on a 13-day / 12 night tour that included Phnom Penh, Oudang, Battambang, Siem Reap and Preah Vihear. The itinerary also gave us a few downtime-days in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.
We were able to pay our deposits and final payments by credit card, which helped our points-gathering!
The entire trip was managed flawlessly by the guides. Every pickup was on time. Every hotel was as agreed upon. That’s really important to me.
We stayed at:
- Villa Langka in Phnom Penh (sadly now closed)
- Maison Wat Kor in Battambang
- La Residence Wat Bo in Siem Reap
All three hotels were comfortable, with air-conditioning, helpful staff; Villa Langka and La Residence Wat Bo each had pools. The dining at Maison Wat Kor was exceptional – they offered us complimentary fried hibiscus flowers – it was strange to eat a flower, but they were delicious!
Our guides were SUPERLATIVE!
Songthea (Tia), our guide in Phnom Penh, Oudang and Battambang
Tia guided us in Phnom Penh, to Oudang, to Battambang and delivered us safely to our hotel in Siem Reap, where Riyen, our guide for Siem Reap, awaited us.
Tia was very knowledgeable, very funny and very accommodating. These pictures say a a thousand words. Greg instigated this!
Tia taught us how to fold a lotus flower and present it in the Wat Penh temple.
He brought us to meet a survivor of the prison S-21, from the days of the Khmer Rouge, indeed Tia gave us such knowledge of that time that our hearts broke.
Tia introduced us to locals, we made spring rolls, saw how they filleted the fish prior to market, made bamboo tubes for sticky rice treats.
Tia decided to show us transportation before the new bridges had been built. I am so happy I did not fall in. A group of locals on the far side watched our progress with laughter, and I received a round of applause when I had safely landed on those steps.
We were so sorry to let Tia go, upon our arrival at Siem Reap.
Riyen, our guide in Siem Reap
But little did we know what a wonderful time awaited us with Riyen. Riyen was younger, and raised in the north of Cambodia, in a more rural environment, in contrast to Tia who was raised in the south, in the city of Phnom Penh. She was a font of knowledge and perspectives on Cambodia’s past and future which at times diverged from Tia’s but showed us the wonderful variety in the country.
Riyen was simply astounded upon learning that I am a diabetic. Such energy I had! In Cambodia diabetics have a short life. The healthcare system for them is almost non-existent. She has in-laws who are diabetics who obviously barely keep their blood sugars in a survival range. Her mother-in-law? just lays around the house, has no energy and hardly gets around. She has no other diseases than being diabetic. Luckily since they are in northern Cambodia they are nearer to Thailand and take bi-monthly trips to Thailand to the doctors there and to buy insulin. They believe that the insulin they obtained in Cambodia was “watered-down.” Enough about diabetic healthcare – the simple stories of daily life broke my heart.
Riyen is such a lovely, well-spoken guide. She is so accommodating and pays attention to her guests so that she immediately knows when we are getting hot and tired, when we want a change.
I felt after spending just a couple of days with Riyen as if I had found a long-lost sister! She would tell us how she and her family lived – what their house looked like, how she cared for her son and husband, how she nursed her small son back to health after Dengue fever, what it was like in the hospital. While we didn’t meet her family, we felt we had learned so much about Cambodia.
Of all the countries we visited in Southeast Asia, we felt most in contact with Cambodia. We felt for its past, and our hearts ache for her present as well. Writing this review makes me want to open my email and write another letter to Riyen, to tell her we are thinking of her and hoping all is well.
We are so grateful to Backyard Travel for having arranged for us such a wonderful and insightful time. If you decide to visit Cambodia in the future, please request Tia (in Phnom Penh) and Riyen (in Siem Reap). You’ll have a wonderful trip if you do!
