Aki Ra is the founder of the Cambodia Landmine Museum. His mother and father were killed during the Pol Pot regime. In 1994, he joined UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority of Cambodia) and received training as a de-miner. When UNTAC ended its mission, he continued to clear mines on his own. It wasn’t long before Aki Ra began receiving requests from villagers around the country, and he has been working to help clear mines ever since.

Aki Ra purchased a small parcel of land along the river just outside Siem Reap in 1997. He built a series of shacks to store his growing collection of shell casings and decommissioned mines. By 1998, Aki Ra had opened his doors to show his collection to tourists. His home quickly evolved to become the Cambodia Land Mine Museum. One of the most compelling aspects of the museum was that it served as a rescue center for a number of landmine amputee children that Aki Ra had brought off Phnom Penh’s streets or from extremely impoverished rural communities. As the museum grew bigger, so did the number of children.

The Cambodia Land Mine Museum & Relief Facility has now officially replaced the original Land Mine Museum. The new center includes an expanded museum that now displays the original exhibits from the museum, a school, a dormitory residence for up to 30 amputee children, and a dormitory for 10 amputee staff.

Landmine Museum
20 km northeast of Siem Reap on the road to Banteay Srey Temple.
Admission: $1. All contributions are utilized for the facility’s sustainable relief programs and humanitarian outreach.

The Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It forms a natural floodplain reservoir in the depression of the Cambodian plain and is drained by the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong River near Phnom Penh.

When the level of the Mekong River is high the flow of the Tonle Sap River reverses: water is pushed into the lake, raising its level by up to 10 meters and increasing its area from 2,500-3,000 square kilometers in the dry season to 10,000-16,000 square kilometers in the rainy season.

The beautiful Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary is a vital breeding ground for large water foul and the most accessible Biosphere area on the Tonle Sap Lake.

This birdwatcher’s paradise plays host to endangered species including the painted stork, the spot-billed pelican, the grey-headed fish eagle and the black-headed ibis.

The best viewing time is the early dry season when migratory birds congregate in the area. As the water levels recede and the dry season gets into full gear, the number of birds increases but the best viewing areas become inaccessible.

An ecological way to get there is with Osmose, an NGO dedicated to conserving the sanctuary. Their tour focuses both on bird watching and sustainable tourism programmes. Kicking off at 5.30am, the morning is spent cruising the reserve.

The afternoon includes visits to the local village, floating gardens, a pagoda and a crocodile farm. You’ll also learn about fishing techniques, environmental protection and making handicrafts from water hyacinth.

You can download a .pdf-file of the Conservation and Ecotourism projects of Osmose

The floating villages in the Tonle Sap lake are amazing places to see how humans are able to modify themselves to live. Floating villages consist of houses built on wooden platforms or on old boats, tied up at the bottom of the lake.

The Tonle Sap lake is the largest in the southern hemisphere and it takes 6 hours to cross from one end to the other. Tourists can see the houses closely as well as the daily living in the village. The villages have floating schools, clinics, shops and bars.

Kbal Spean

Kbal Spean ('Head Bridge') is an Angkorian era site on the southwestern slopes of the Kulen Hills in Cambodia, 25 km from the main Angkor group. It is commonly known as the valley of a thousand Lingas. It consists of a series of stone carvings in and around the Stung Kbal Spean river. The motifs for the stone carvings are roughly three: myriads of lingams, depicted as neatly arranged bumps that cover the surface of a rock; lingam - yoni designs; and various Hindu mythological motifs, including depictions of gods and animals.

You have to hike a long way up, but it is probably one of the most rewarding mountain hikes. throughout the trip. It's amazing looking at all these lingas, and thinking how the people have thought of carving them under the water.