122
FAHTHAI
THEGUIDE
cambodia & laos
SIEM REAP’S WEEKEND MARKET; DANCE GARB ON DISPLAY; HOT HOTEL APP
Whether you’re a weekend wanderer, a
business traveller who has to stay on for
that extra meeting or you’ve missed a
flight, the fast-growing, last-minute hotel
booking app HotelQuickly may be your
answer – and it has just added Laos to
its country list. The app covers the best
three- to five-star hotels for higher-end
business and leisure travellers, with
rates on average about 28% cheaper
than at other last-minute booking sites.
According to co-founder Christian
Mischler, Laos was a “white spot” in
high demand from travellers moving
on from Cambodia and Thailand.
More high-end tourists are embracing
spontaneous travel, he says, particularly
on long South-East Asia trips. You can
search for today or the following day
for a stay of up to five nights. Handy too
are the live weather readings for every
destination and the easy-to-navigate
city maps.
hotelquickly.com
A
stay at the stylish Shinta Mani Resort is a treat.
Set in the middle of Siem Reap’s old French
quarter, just a 15-minute ride from the Angkor
temple complex, the hotel’s 62 elegantly
appointed black-and-white rooms and junior suite fan out
around striking Bill Bensley-designed tropical gardens and
a pool. Even better is the fact the resort hosts a lively new
weekend market brimming with sustainable, locally made
products – an antidote to Cambodia’s pervasive garment
factories if ever there was one. The Well Made In Cambodia
market is part of the Shinta Mani Foundation. Not only
does a portion of your room rate go towards its onsite
hospitality training programme, set up to benefit the town’s
vulnerable communities, the foundation provides business
education, small interest-free loans to local entrepreneurs
and health care to patients in rural areas. But, back to the
market: Every Saturday and Sunday from 4pm, the tents go
up and the palm-lined street in front of the riverside resort
turns into a fair. Circus clowns do tricks, musicians perform,
artist workshops take place and local food is whipped up
on site. Artisanal products like infused rum from Sambai
distillery, ethical printed dresses fromMitsou and vintage-
looking Mooglee T-shirts and
kramas
can all be snared from
50 or so stalls here.
shintamani.com
Off to the
market
S I E M R E A P
L U A N G P R A B A N G
V I E N T I A N E
HotelQuickly
now includes Laos
P H N O M P E N H
Gods and Angels
is a curated
exhibition of costumes from
Cambodian classical dance
luminary Sophiline Cheam
Shapiro, the founder and
choreographer of the Khmer
Arts ensemble. This collection
of ornate gowns and fabrics –
both modeled and mounted/
framed – spans the 33-year
career of the award-winning
dancer (she was one of the first
to graduate in classical dance
from the Royal University of Fine
Arts after the fall of the Khmer
Rouge). The exhibition, held at
Java Arts, which overlooks the
city’s Independence Monument,
include artist talks, film screenings
and a guided tour. All costumes
are for sale. 19 November–25
January.
javaarts.org
Let’s
dance
LAOS COUNTRY CODE
+856
EXCHANGE RATE
LAK8,000 = US$1
VIENTIANE REQUENCY
1 flight per day from Bangkok
