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Cambodia Chi Phat is a small community on the banks of Preak Piphot river in Cambodia's Cardamom Mountains. Wildlife Alliance has launched an ecotourism project in this village where once many people lived from poaching and logging. Now the whole village profits from the project and the local community center offers a range of activities from trekking to mountainbiking to kayaking and boat tours. A Jungle Trek - Or Maybe Not Initially, we wanted to do a two day hike and spend one night in the jungle. However, the rainy season had started and there are way too many mosquitoes around. We weren't keen on becoming mosquito food so we decided to stay in the village and do day tours. Accommodation in Chi Phat We stayed in a bungalow at Cardamom Cottages - a great choice! It was almost mosquito free (thanks to mosquito coils and a good mosquito net we left the village with only a few bites), and not too hot. There's no electricity during the night so the fan doesn't work but s...

Learning about Cambodia's past In the first half of the 20th century, Phnom Penh was known as the "Pearl of Asia". Today, it's Cambodia's largest city and its booming economic center. The Khmer Rouge Regime Not so long ago however, Phnom Penh was a ghost city and the center of the Khmer Rouge's terror regime. The Khmer Rouge wanted to turn Cambodia into a self-sufficient agricultural society, isolated from the rest of the world. Schools and hospitals were closed, banks and currency abolished, and all private property confiscated. The people of Phnom Penh and other cities had to march (many died on the exhausting marches) to the countryside where they were forced to work, even though many of them had no knowledge of farming. They received almost no food and even though the population was starving, the regime exported rice in order to buy weapons. During the Khmer Rouge regime, between 1.5 and 3 million people died of starvation and diseases or were tortured and...

Myanmar Bagan, the ancient city of thousands of temples, is a stunning place beyond comparison and probably   the   reason to visit Myanmar. Rich History Built over a period of 250 years around a thousand years ago, there were once about 10'000 temples, pagodas, stupas, and monasteries built of wood and/or stone. Most of them didn't survive the course of time. Today, after a devastating earthquake in 1975, roughly 2200 structures are still standing (which is still an impressive figure!). Bagan was all about religion and its study; various Buddhist schools coexisted with Hindu beliefs and animist traditions. The structures represent different architectural styles and types of paintings, with one new style (new is not always better) added recently: attempted renovation by the military junta of Myanmar. Because of that, Bagan still hasn't been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. What About Conservation? Apart from that attempt at restoration (let's call it that), a...

Myanmar With the end of almost half a decade of military rule in 2010, Myanmar has been opened for tourism. It was possible to visit the country before that, but visas were limited and many places were off limits for tourists (some still are). Now an e-visa is available for people of most nationalities. However, with it it's only possible to enter the country by air through three airports; Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw, the new capital. That place is more or less a ghost town and a totally crazy project - have a look at   this drone footage   and shake your head in disbelief. Traveling in Myanmar Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, Myanmar is quite expensive. The cheapest accommodations aren't open to foreigners; hotels have to have a license to accommodate foreign tourists. Bus travel isn't that cheap either – at least not for tourists. Furthermore, foreigners have to pay entrance fees for about everything, and these fees rise every year. The biggest cut of the ...