The magic of travel lives in the moments in between. When you’ve finished gasping at a famous monument and meet a local family picnicking nearby, share some banter, and they ask about you and your life. When you share someone’s love of what they do or a place. It’s those connections and unexpected moments. This is why we design travel experiences the way we do. With space for discovery. So travellers can find the stories in between.
In Cambodia, there’s no shortage of stories to be told. Indeed, it often seems that everyone has a heroic, tragic and heart-warming story to tell, usually all wrapped up in one. A brilliant local guide is often the first source of those stories, and often, those voices are male (not exclusively, but long-standing traditions and practical realities still make it harder for women to work as guides).
That means travellers often miss another layer of the country (half of it in fact!): one rooted in everyday life. The craftswomen, cooks, and hosts who shape their communities with real care and creative flair.
Perspective matters. It’s how travellers shape their understanding of a place.
Here are some of the remarkable Cambodian women behind our new experiences. They’re unique, entrepreneurial, and they’re all going it alone, forging new paths and telling their Khmer stories.
Khmer women often look after the family finances, so there’s no shortage of entrepreneurial energy.
Annie’s Silver Workshop, Siem Reap
(Image courtesy of Annie’s Jewelry)
Away from the main tourist trail, in a quiet studio, Annie gently draws you into her world of Khmer-inspired, modern design. Annie’s Silver Workshop is a calm little haven devoted to Khmer craftsmanship. The day starts by hopping in a tuk-tuk to the local market, choosing the silver you’ll work with, before settling down under Annie’s patient tutelage.
Guests shape, stamp, and polish a bracelet or ring entirely by hand, and leave with a piece that holds both memory and meaning. Annie’s small shop next door is worth a look too, filled with her own designs.
Soon’s Fish Island Experience, Kampot
On Fish Island, across the water from Kampot, life is governed by the tides and the salt harvests. Kek Soon grew up here, and she’ll take you behind the scenes: introducing you to farmers, boat builders, and palm sugar makers along the way.
The experience ends at the community centre Soon founded, either over a cooking class or a shared home-cooked meal. The centre supports local women and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, offering training in music, dance, and hospitality. You’ll usually meet a few of the students.
The change of pace that Kek Soon brings on Fish Island, as well as Kampot, works well as a foil between ancient Angkor and modern, vibey Phnom Penh.
Noo’s Market & Cooking Workshop, Siem Reap
Srey Nu (known as Noo) leads an experience we include precisely because it resists packaging. The morning begins at the market, where she explains how herbs, spices and vegetables are woven into everyday life as food, medicine and memory.
What makes this work is Noo’s ability to bring clarity to complex customs without simplifying them. Her own story is part of the experience, but it provides context rather than commentary, and Khmer culture is the hero here.
Back in her kitchen, you cook a Khmer meal using what you’ve chosen together. You leave not with recipes, but with a clearer sense of how Cambodian food culture is sustained and why it matters that it lives on.
Sara’s Garden Oasis – Romdoul Garden Café, Siem Reap
On the edge of Siem Reap, Sara has created a restaurant that feels like a private garden. It’s homey, relaxed, and well-loved by locals and expats alike. Now, she’s welcoming ETG travellers to hosted lunches: a chance to eat well, slow down, and experience Cambodian hospitality as it’s meant to be.
This kind of hospitality is absent from hotels. It must be. That’s why our guests come here. At Romdoul, Sara serves dishes from her childhood, from the countryside (such as the somewhat notorious, delicious-but-acquired-taste prahok ktis, as familiar to Khmers as apple pie is to Americans, yet rarely found on the menu at fancy hotel restaurants). Sara semi-hosts, coming to your table to guide you through the menu and shares smiles and stories. The seasonal menu is topped off with a glass of her family’s rice wine, made from a recipe passed down for generations. My kind of stories.
