can still indulge in an authentic market
experience with fried ice cream at Angkor
Night Market.
If you’ve lost your tastebuds to Siem
Reap’s incredible food, take a traditional
cooking class. Simply sign up for one
at a local cookery school such as Le
Tigre de Papier, or a friendly intro for
just US$25 at Champey, and Khmer chef
instructors will guide you through local
markets, introducing you to the initially
intimidating list of ingredients required.
Then, apron up as you learn to prepare a
dish or two of your choice. The chicken
amok, Cambodia’s national dish, is a must-
try, as are the green mango salads and
fresh spring rolls. Top it off with a flourish
- the essential mango sticky rice dessert
- and be sure to purchase a cookbook
whose proceeds support a local NGO.
Food aside, figure Siem Reap’s growing
arts community into its eclectic mix and
you have yourself a breathtaking platform
of creative expression, a Southeast
AsianescapethatunitesCambodian
and international artists, performers,
and designers, all of whom are reviving
traditional arts and new art forms. At
Phare, the Cambodian circus, lions and
tigers are the last thing you should expect.After dark, theater, dance, music,
storytelling, and astounding acrobatics
merge in a sophisticated nightly retelling
of Cambodian folktales. This hour-long
show is staged by students and graduates
of Phare Performing Social Enterprise’s
Battambang school, which provides
free arts education to economically and
socially challenged Cambodian youth.
The best seats are closest to the stage and
come with a bottle of iced water and a
handheld fan on loan. Head over a little
earlytobrowsePhare’scraftsshoporgeta
juice at the café, and note that latecomers
are not admitted after the show starts
at 8pm. To keep things fresh, the shows
change and rotate regularly.At the Bambu Theatre across town,
meanwhile, a shadow theatre troupe uses
hand-carved leather puppets to retell
age-old tales in a popular form of shadow
puppetry known as sbek thom. Projected
on a white screen, this is an art with
roots dating back to pre-Angkor times.beyond malaysia