Not all Cambodians, however, see you as a walking bag of dollar bills. You will meet many friendly, smiling people who are genuinely interested in you and your story. If you want to make friends with everyday Cambodians, here are three suggestions that helped me during my last trip to Cambodia.

©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Return for a second meal at a good restaurant

There are so many places to eat in Cambodia’s tourist areas that you might want to try a new one every time. Return to a place you liked, though, and you’ll experience true Cambodian hospitality.

We visited the same restaurant in Angkor Wat two days in a row and on our second day we got two free bottles of water when we were leaving. We couldn’t believe that the owners remembered us from the previous day, as there were literally hundreds of people eating there both times we visited. This heartwarming gesture was even better appreciated as it was a scorching day and I had been feeling a bit ill.

Smile at people

Every time we smiled at random people on the street they gave us a genuine smile in return. In tourist areas like Siem Reap, even toddlers would smile back and shout a sweet “hello” in English. I always smile at unknown people when I want to take a photo of them – in most cases, a broad smile makes them feel at ease and happy to be photographed.

©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Learn some phrases in the Khmer language

At one of the hostels we stayed at in Cambodia there were some useful phrases in Khmer written on the walls, but once I’d learned them, I started asking the receptionist for more. As this was a family business, soon the whole family gathered to give me a language class in Khmer, including their four-year-old twins who spoke perfect English due to the constant flow of tourists through the hostel. Even the little ones were happy to teach us some words in their native language.

©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Bonus tip: take it easy!

Being nervous, hasty or creating a feeling of urgency is useless in Cambodia, where nobody wears a watch and the phrase “take your time” is perceived as a rule. The best approach is to absorb the timelessness and stop trying to impose your concept of punctuality upon people if you want them to be your friends.

Read more: Angkor Wat: Sunrise or sunset (+useful tips)

How to beat the crowds at Angkor Wat

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If you like experimenting with food during your travels, Cambodia is a country you’ll love. There is so much to discover when it comes to challenging your palate, one particular dish you have to try being a fried tarantula. Maybe this is a creature that would rather make you scream than make you feel hungry but we promise the feat is worth it.

Is it safe to eat tarantula

Eating tarantula is not an unusual event in Cambodia and if you feel adventuruous enough you can try it yourself. Yes, it is totally safe. Cambodians eat tarantulas, foreigners have started to do it too, and most people really like it.

© Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

How to dismantle a tarantula

As the spider is served in front of you, you should start with its legs. They are crunchy and taste a bit like chips. You can bite them off the body or tear them off with your hands. The sight of the hairy legs might not be promising but fear not!

Once you’re done with the legs, it’s time for the body. You should carefully crack the hard shell to reach the meat inside which is lean and tasty, a bit similar to chicken. You’ll wish there was more when you taste it. Finally, there’s the spider’s butt. Have in mind that it’s quite bitter and most foreigners will skip it. Cambodians, however, eat it too.

© Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Where to eat tarantula in Siem Reap, Cambodia

As Siem Reap is probably the most touristy place in Cambodia you can easily find tarantulas for dinner. In general, fried tarantulas can be found at local markets and in some restaurants. 

Pub Street

Despite its name, Pub Street in Siem Reap is not a single street but rather a whole area where the most of the restaurants, bars, and live music clubs are situated. You can’t miss it with its bright lights, loud crowds and pushy street vendors. Here you can find stalls selling fried tarantulas, scorpions, and snakes. These are very basic, however, and if it’s your first bug encounter, or you are just not so much into eating things that usually make you scream, maybe you won’t like it. The vendors will normally charge you if you want to just take a photo pretending to eat the bug. 

Bugs Cafe

This is a place in Siem Reap close to Pub Street where a European chef cooks bugs and spiders in a most delicious way. They offer silk worms, crickets, grasshoppers, water bugs, ants, scorpions, and of course tarantulas in tasty sauces, spring rolls, and vegetable mixes. This is a more gentle way to immerse yourself into the unknown side of Asian cuisine. Everything is crunchy and surprisingly tastes better than you expected. Tarantulas come in different varieties if you feel like experimenting. The dishes in the Bugs Cafe (facebook), however, are not cooked in a traditional Cambodian style but more like your favorite European dishes. It’s fair to add that they have a free beer Happy hour every Friday. 

© Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

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To help decide which one to choose – sunrise or sunset – consider the following pros and cons based on my personal experience:

Sunrise at Angkor Wat 

Pros:

1. The sun shows up right behind the ruins of Angkor Wat and the sight is magical.

2. Waking up early will give you more time to explore the ruins before the heat sets in.

Cons:

1. In photos the sunrise usually looks like this:

Angkor Wat, Cambodia © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

But what you can’t imagine from the photos is that the reflection is seen in a rather small pond (not in a huge lake as it looks like) and if you turn back, you will see this:

Sunrise at Angkor Wat | ©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Hundreds of people flock around the shores of the pond (there are two ponds but the one on the right if you face the temple doesn’t reflect the buildings well) and fight with elbows and tripods for good shooting spots. Some latecomers even venture into the mud:

Sunrise at Angkor Wat | ©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

But that’s what we do for art! If you don’t like crowds, you might feel overwhelmed. But that’s the overall vibe of Angkor Wat, so it won’t surprise you so much after a few hours.

2. Balloon flight – flying over the temples at sunrise is definitely the most spectacular way to feel the magic, but I have some ethical qualms about it. When we were in Siem Reap (spring 2017), we found only one company offering flights and they all ended with throwing candy to kids in a nearby village. I found this practice humiliating for the locals and skipped the balloon flight (that’s a personal opinion: if you are okay with it, go ahead!).

Tips:

1. To get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise, you can get a tuk-tuk or rent a bicycle or a motorbike. The price for a sunrise tuk-tuk tour (and then a whole day around the temples) is more or less the same all over Siem Reap ($20 per person) and there’s not much space to haggle. Renting a bike will cost you around $2 a day, and scooters can be as cheap as $7 a day.

2. Arrive long before sunrise (at least 40 minutes) to find a good viewing spot and to witness the amazing play of light in the sky behind the temple before the sun peeks above the horizon.

3. If it’s your first day at Angkor Wat, don’t forget that you have to go to the ticket office and buy a ticket to gain access to the temples. The ticket office has been moved to a new location, 10 km away from the official entrance of the temple area.

Sunset at Angkor Wat – pros and cons

Sunset at Angkor Wat, Cambodia © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Pros:

1. Fewer people make a special effort to visit Angkor Wat for the sunset, so it’s much less crowded.

2. The sun sets facing the facade of Angkor Wat and there is a special magic here. With the last minutes of daylight you will see the walls changing color several times – from orange to pinkish and then brown. It’s the perfect way to end the day at Angkor Wat.

Cons:

1. It’s not as spectacular as the sunrise.

Tips:

1. The Angkor complex closes at sunset, so make sure you are there early enough to find a good spot and take photos. As soon as the sun gets below the horizon, you will be asked to leave the temple.

2. If there are clouds in the sky, you should definitely go for the sunset as it’s even more beautiful.

The verdict: craft your route so that you can see both sunrise and sunset. 

Read more: How to beat the crowds at Angkor Wat

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#1 Explore the Viennese coffee culture

Coffee is an inseparable part of the lifestyle in Vienna. The city’s coffee culture has even been added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, where Viennese coffee houses are described as places

“where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill”.

There are some cafés in the city that, aside from serving amazing coffee, can also tell some interesting stories. One of them is Bräunerhof café (Stallburggasse 2). In the last century, it was a literary café whose bohemian spirit attracted many young writers and artists – including the famous Austrian poet and novelist Thomas Bernhard. It is also home to one of the biggest collections of old newspapers in the country.

Another one worth visiting is Café Frauenhuber – the oldest coffee house in Vienna, as well as the place where Mozart had his last public performance. The café, located in Himmelpfortgasse 6, was actually a favorite haunt of the legendary Austrian composer.

Café Frauenhuber

#2 Drink coffee like an Italian

Nowhere is coffee as much of a cult as it is in Italy. As such, there are certain rules that must be followed, which should be well examined before setting off on the adventure of drinking coffee like a local. Here are the basics:

1. Espresso is simply a technical term – not your order. Neither is anything consisting of more than the one simple word – caffè (a strong shot of espresso).
2. Drink it fast (not more than three gulps) while standing at the bar, having a small chat with the barista.
3. Never order a cappuccino after 10 am.

#3 Take part in a Buna coffee ceremony in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is famous for being the birthplace of coffee and the ceremony of coffee preparation is an important part of its culture. An invitation for such a ceremony is a way to show respect towards the guest. The ceremony itself can last hours, since it includes roasting, grinding and brewing the beans. For brewing, Ethiopians use a special clay pot called a jebena. When the brewing is over, you are served with three cups of dark, bitter coffee.  The ceremony is a social ritual, where sharing and communicating with the people around is as important as the beverage itself.

Coffee beans roasting as part of the Buna ceremony

#4 Visit coffee plantations in Brazil

Brazil is the biggest coffee producer and exporter in the world. Coffee is one of the main sources of income for the country, so it is easy to understand why here the beverage is a lot more than just a drink to wake you up. The most common type of coffee in Brazil is cafezinho – a small cup of filtered black coffee – and is drunk frequently throughout the day, at any possible moment.

While here, you have the unique opportunity to visit one of the many Brazilian plantations and coffee farms. Here you can learn about the coffee-making process from A to Z, from planting to brewing the beans. Many of the big cities like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte offer guided one-day tours to nearby plantations.

#5 Have street coffee in Cambodia

From sidecars on motorbikes and rickshaws, people in Cambodia sell coffee in tied-up plastic bags. Drinking this coffee through a straw is an experience all the coffee lovers out there should try at least once. The coffee is served with ice to create a fresh start to the day for locals, who can often be seen carrying bags of coffee on their motorbikes on the way to work or back home.

#6 Drink coffee brewed on hot sand in Turkey

Coffee plays a big part in everyday life in Turkey, as well as on some special occasions like engagement and marriage. Turkish coffee is unfiltered, thick and strong. The best way to drink it is with some Turkish delight on the side, and the best way to prepare it is on hot sand. That gives the coffee-brewer perfect control over the temperature and is, moreover, spectacular to behold. Some skilled coffee-makers can make the coffee-preparation process into a real show, and turn something as simple as having your morning coffee into the highlight of your day.

#7 Master the skills of frappe-making in Greece

The foam-covered iced drink is a life-saver during the hot summer days in Greece and Cyprus. The drink was invented in 1957 and became a symbol of post-war Greek outdoor coffee culture. Frappe comes from the French word for ‘shaken’ and is best consumed either right on the beach or in a beach bar on a Greek Island. Though the ingredients are only instant coffee, ice cubes and sugar, and the preparation process is quite easy, a few sneak-peeks of how exactly the bartender is doing it might help you master some techniques and come back home with something better than a souvenir – an instant memento in the form of an authentic frappe recipe.

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That said, there are still a few ways to enjoy the Angkor Temples without every other man and his dog. Here are a few hacks and tricks to help you beat the crowds and skip the lines.

Buy your tickets the day before

If you arrive in Siem Reap in the afternoon, buy your tickets valid from the next day. Make sure you know the correct location of the office – it was changed in 2016 and is now quite far from the Angkor Complex itself. The office is open from 5 am to 5:30 pm, but the lines in the morning are chaotic from as early as 4:30, as all the last-minute tourists try to make it in time for sunrise. Tickets can be valid for one, three or seven days, so plan your sunrise and sunset tours carefully.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap | © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Don’t see too many temples in one day

On the first day, you are incredibly excited to see as much as possible, but then the sightseeing fatigue sets in and just a few hours later you realize you don’t want to see another temple for the rest of your life. This is a common mistake many visitors make. To avoid it, get a three-day or seven-day ticket and explore the Angkor Archaeological Park in small portions. Thus, if you’d planned to see Angkor Thom today but then realize that it’s full of people, you can leave it for tomorrow and move on to your next destination. It’s a good idea to mark the temples you’ve already visited in some way (on your map or your app) because, at some point, it’s impossible to keep track.

Religious blessing at Angkor Wat | © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Waking up early won’t help

Everyone arrives before sunrise at Angkor, and while this would usually be a wise tip, waking up early is of no help here. The best times to explore the archaeological site are early morning and late afternoon, because the heat is unbearable at noon.

Ta Prohm (the filming location from Tomb Raider) | © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Enter from the East Gate istead of the main West Gate

Assuming you have already seen the sunrise at Angkor Wat, begin the rest of your days by entering from the small East Gate instead of the main West Gate. This will give you the chance to enjoy the temples on this side of the archaeological park without being surrounded by hordes of tourists. No selfie sticks, no elbow-pushing, no vendors.

Angkor Temples | © Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Go counter-intuitive

The three main attractions at Angkor are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (featuring the huge Bayon Temple), and Ta Prohm (the filming location from Tomb Raider). This is where the biggest crowds concentrate. If someone has just one day at Angkor, they will visit these three locations. The logical order of visiting these areas is: 1. Angkor Wat 2. Angkor Thom and 3. Ta Prohm. You can outsmart the crowds and avoid big groups by acting counter-intuitively and starting from the bottom of the list. For example Ta Keo – between Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm – is a ghost temple in the early morning.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat | ©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

Accept that some crowds are inevitable

Everyone wants to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, but the sight of the hundreds of visitors competing for the best photo spot in the mud by the bank of the pond in front of the temple may be heartbreaking. Accept it. Just like you, everyone wants to experience something they have seen in all those amazing photos. Be patient and tolerant. The same goes for the sunset at Phnom Bakheng and for climbing the Central Angkor Wat Tower, where only 100 people a day are granted access.

Read more: How to eat tarantula in Cambodia (a full guide)

3 simple ways to make friends with Cambodians

Where to see Rafflesia in Thailand – the biggest flower in the world

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A friendship forged on the road

Courtesy of The Tragic Traveller

I expected my first ever hitchhiking trip to be fun and provide an interesting story, but I didn’t expect it to be life-changing. It was.

My plan was to thumb it directly from Guča festival in southern Serbia to Sofia, Bulgaria, where I was hoping to buy a cheap car and embark on a European road trip. After two luckless hours in the baking sun my patience was waning, until an unassuming hero named Vesko picked me up in his trusty (air-conditioned!) Mitsubishi steed. Vesko not only drove me all the way to Sofia, but then invited me to stay with him and his family in their beautiful house. The family fed, boozed and sheltered me, and even helped me buy the Citroen that would eventually take me to England and back.

Fast-forward seven months and I found myself standing outside the Bulgarian embassy in London, dressed in a borrowed suit and preparing to perform the best man duties at Vesko’s wedding. Now, several years on, I’ve visited Vesko and his family in Sofia too many times to count and, exactly a year from now, will become godfather to his first-born son on the day little Lubtcho turns three.

Nick Johns-Wickberg from The Tragic Traveller (Facebook)

Puppy with a catch in Slovakia

Courtesy of Girl Astray

In the summer of 2016, I was hitchhiking to a hippie festival in Slovakia when a car pulled over and offered to drive me to the next city. It was a man with the cutest puppy ever, which I got to hold on my knees for the ride. It was one of those huge white shepherd breeds – the dog was about three months old, but was growing fast! He was white and fluffy and was destined to guard his owners’ workshop when he was fully grown. There was, however, a catch to his cuteness. It was the first solo trip for the puppy and he was obviously feeling car sick: after a few hairpin bends on the road, the car filled with a putrid smell. We stopped and examined the snow-white fur, but fortunately, they were just farts. We rode the rest of the way with the windows down while the pup whined a little each time he let his noxious gas escape.

Karin from Girl Astray (Facebook/Instagram) 

Getting from Tripiti port to Ouranoupolis, Greece

Courtesy of The Magic of Traveling

Fruit and fish pick-up truck in Belize

Courtesy of Becky the Traveller

Whilst in Belize, I stayed in a cute (although a bit strange) little town called Crooked Tree. The town was 3 miles from the main bus route down a dirt track. My guesthouse had offered to drop me at the bus stop but as we were leaving decided to charge me $15 for the short journey. Since they overcharged me a kayak hire on a lake with no water, I declined to give them any extra money.

So with my heavy backpack in the middle of the day (it was about 40C/104F), I started walking to find a good hitchhiking spot. I was now thinking maybe I should have just paid! But after 10 minutes I reached the main road out of town and saw a pick-up truck. He stopped and I jumped into the back. There wasn’t much room as it was full of boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables – and some fish! But hey, it was a free lift. And the breeze was amazing as we whizzed along the bumpy dirt road.

Becky Angell from Becky the Traveller (Facebook/Instagram) 

A truck roller coaster experience in Cambodia

Courtesy of Curls and Coconuts Blog

A hot summer day. Or since it is Cambodia and the summer is eternal I should just say: a regular tropical day. Me and him standing on the road – sunburned faces licked by the heat, scarfs around heads, a big sign reading “Rattanakiri” in my hands. We drew it 5 minutes ago with the watercolor pencils whose main purpose is always the same – to create hitchhiking signs.

15 minutes on the side of the quiet road and there it is – the first vehicle. A huge, roaring truck. As trucks usually do, it stops in the middle of the Cambodian heat to take the weird looking boy and girl. On the front seats – three men and a woman. Wide smiley faces. They know no English and we know no Khmer. But one thing is clear – they like the watercolor sign and they are going to our destination. Moreover, they have space for 30 hitchhikers in the carriage on the back of the truck. Before we know it we are enjoying a free roller coaster experience, conveniently hidden from the noon sun.

This hitchhiking trip was one to remember – starting with travelling in an open-air carriage and ending with a lunch stop with our friendly hosts at a local restaurant. A fresh coconut, please!

Maria from Curls and Coconuts (Facebook)

Canada is not as big as you think

Hitchhiking in the Rockies | Courtesy of A Broken Backpack

I’ve accumulated many cool hitchhiking stories over the years! But my favorite by far was in the Canadian Rockies. My friend and I were pretty keen on going to Calgary Stampede. An old man picked us up. He was going all the way to Calgary, so it was a win-win. He told us about his wife and how they fell in love. This man was lovely and super interesting. He asked us what was our plan in Calgary and we told him about the stampede, which is a big rodeo event. It turned out his wife had free tickets that she wasn’t planning on using. He said he could actually go home to pick up the tickets and then drive us to the stampede.

Normally I would have said no, but we had a good feeling about this. We met his wife, we had a snack at their place and then we left for the stampede with free tickets in our hands. He was a bit worried we wouldn’t be able to find a ride back later on that night and gave us his business card so we could call him if we were desperate for a lift later, but in the end we didn’t need to call him. However, the best part of this experience was still to come!

Two weeks later, we were hitchhiking in another direction altogether. We were in the middle of a pretty remote town in British Columbia when an old lady started yelling at us. We were wondering what was going on and then she ran in our direction to talk to us. It was his wife. She recognized us and they invited us for lunch. What were the chances of seeing them again in another Canadian province! Bless them!

Melissa Giroux from A Broken Backpack (Facebook/Instagram)

The hitchhiking grannies in Bulgaria

Hitchhiking in the mountains of Bulgaria | ©Maria Angelova/www.203challenges.com

As much as I love hitchhiking, I also enjoy earning good karma by picking up hitchhikers when I’m driving. One of my favorite such stories happened when I was in a small town in the mountains of Bulgaria, struggling to find the road to a nearby mountain lodge.

While I was wondering whom to ask for directions, I saw three grannies waving by the roadside. I stopped to ask them, only to realize that they were actually hitchhiking, not waving, and in mere seconds all of them had already crammed into my car. It turned out they owned potato fields high in the mountains and they hitchhiked every single day to get there and take care of the crop. One of them took a particular shining to me and spent the whole journey trying to set me up with her grandson – with the aim of marrying me off to him, of course!

When I stopped to let them out, another threw a banknote into the car and dashed away. At my perplexed look, the third granny explained that the runaway hitchhiker had just received news of a newborn grand-grandson that morning and wanted me to drink a coffee to his health. So I did. Then I called my mom and told her that obviously hitchhiking is not as dangerous as she thinks – after all, these three ladies do it every day and they’ve reached a ripe old age!

Maria from 203challenges.com (Facebook/Pinterest)

Warm meeting during the cold winter in Sorrento

Winter. It was getting dark. My husband and I were near the railway station of Sorrento, Italy, not even on the outskirts of the city, trying to catch a ride to Naples. My hands were buried in warm black gloves and nobody could see I was hitchhiking, so I decided to take them off. But then my hands turned blue from the cold, like a real-life Facebook “like” button. We spent more than an hour waiting in the cold, until finally an elderly couple stopped and picked us and immediately offered us some candies. They spoke only Italian, while we didn’t speak a word, so our conversation consisted entirely of gestures and mimicry. When we reached our destination, we took their address and later sent a small present to our saviors.

Ivalina from 203challenges.com (Facebook/Pinterest)

Hitchhiking with my mom

Hitchhiking with my mom | 203challenges.com

My mom and I were on a vacation in a small village in the Rhodopes Mountains in Bulgaria and had to get to a bigger town, Smolyan, 30 mi (50 km away). It was Saturday and there were no public buses running to our destination, so we hopped on a bus to the next village where, the locals swore, there was some kind of transport going to our destination. After having arrived in this other village, we were approached by a local elderly man who informed us that there were actually no buses for the next few hours. “So, let’s hitchhike,” my mom said (my mom is not the kind of person who would usually say this, so I was pretty surprised and amused). She raised a thumb by the road while I was taking photos of her. No car stopped. Then we swapped roles and I managed to stop the local bread delivery truck. It turned out that the driver had seen us in the first village and, with a slightly offended tone, asked us why we didn’t ask him to give us a lift. All the way I was holding a box of eggs so they didn’t break. The best part: when we hopped out of the truck, our suitcases smelled like freshly baked bread!

Marina from 203challenges.com (Facebook/Pinterest)

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