Seeking Siem Reap, Cambodia : Day 1 - Artisan Angkor

iii) Artisans Angkor Siem Reap


This was our next destination after The War Museum. Before we went on, let me brief you a little bit on the history of Artisans Angkor.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Cambodia was faced with the challenge of rebuilding its economy. Artisans Angkor is a semi-public company whose story started in 1992 with an educational project called "Les Chantiers-Ecoles de Formation Professionnelle" (CEFP) implemented by the Cambodian Ministry of Education. This project aimed at rebuilding the country after the war period by training young people in the building sector, such as masonry, plumbing, tiling, painting, etc. It is the offshoot of an educational project aiming at providing professional skills to communities with limited educational opportunities and to help young rural people find work near their home village.

In the mid-1990s, this training was extended to traditional Khmer craftsmanship, as this essential part of the Khmer cultural heritage which had almost disappeared. Since then, Artisans Angkor has committed itself to the preservation of traditional skills that are rooted in the Khmer culture. The company is specialized in the fields of handmade ornamental sculpture, lacquering, gilding, silk painting and silk-making. It provides young craftsmen with an employment opportunity while giving them the possibility to work close to their homes and also helps to improve the economy of the country especially in the tourism sector.


Address : Stung Thmey Street, Siem Reap 17259, Cambodia

Operation Hour : 7:30 AM - 6:30 PM Daily

Entrance Fee : FREE


It took around 15 minutes from the War Museum, then we reached here. As ussual, Kassim helped us to get the pass. No entrance fee tho.

Entrance pass.

The Cambodian statue on my back.

Lets go in.

But first, we took group photo at the welcome hall.

The Artisans Angkor are divided into few sections. The first one we visited upon entrance was Silk and Textile factory. Free tour guide was provided to show us round and briefed us on the silk making processes.

Silk cocoons produced by the silkworms. These fibers then will be woven into textiles.

The coloured fibers.

Next we went to another section where there was a broad cross section of handicrafts being demonstrated, carving, stonework, lacquer work, pottery, painting, silver work and etc. There were also different guide on each section.

Painting on show.

One of the finished art and ready to be sold.

The guide explained the processes of various crafts created, from wood and stone carving to lacquer work, etchings and more. This kind of tour, gave us new appreciation of what's involved in the making of the many items we found for sale everywhere.

Very nice live display and demonstration on how nowadays classical arts were made:

One of the artist was painting The Angkor Wat inside the plates.

Lacquer painting.

Close up.

Recognize the place on this painting? U should know this place if you watch Tomb Rider movie. One of the temple inside Angkor Wat complex - Ta Phrom.

We could see the artisans working on their art pieces and also got information how every art crafts were made. Besides that, we also witnessed carvings being made, from handheld to life-sized, tools being sharpened on-site, observed instructors advising their students. All these in one place!!

Next, to the wood carving area.

Wood carving.

Artisans Angkor has pioneered a new social policy in Cambodia, guaranteeing a fair income as well as social and medical welfare to all its employees. Well done!

One of the skilled worker was doing the sandstone carving to form the Buddha statue.

The description of the process to complete the statue.

Isolated place was allocated to do the golden painting process.

Finished product of the Buddha Statue and it's description. It's about human size tall.

Smaller size of Buddha Statues.

Soapstone and Sandstone carvings.

This was interesting as we could see a beautiful statue or wooden carving emerging from a block of wood.

Apsara dancer image was painted in the wooden block.

The carving process took place.

Finally, tada....!! Imagine the process to crave from the thick block to this very detail statue. So impressive.

At the end of the tour, there is a showroom showcasing various products in stone, wood and cloth where you can enjoy to look around Khmer artcrafts and also to purchase. They also offer shipping for large purchases. The price is little bit higher than local markets, but I think it's worthy because the store is related to Cambodian artisans with handicaps.

Finished the tour and returned the visitor pass into the box provided outside the exhibition hall.

Overall the Artisans Angkor is a good place to see on how the handicrafts are made. Items are more expensive than at a market, but everything here is made in Cambodia and benefits the people.

Lets think this way, you shop while on the same time you help the local community. It's a win-win situation right? After all everything here are really in nice quality and simply beautiful.
Definitely worth a visit. Also there's lovely gardens you can walk around:-)

Don't forget to drop here once you're in Cambodia!

Next... as it's almost noon, we went for our first Khmer lunch in Cambodia. What was that?? Till my next post.

Seeking Siem Reap, Cambodia : Day 1 - War Museum

Continued from my last post, as it was still early for check in to Hotel, we started with our first itinerary to visit War Museum.
Along the journey, I felt like been backward to the past like in 70"s or 80"s where the road was still empty, not much car mostly were motorcycle, bicycle and minivans. The weather was very hot, dry and dusty.

Not much trees planted on the road, the most greeny view I had was from this nursery.

The hot & dry weather of this country made it suitable for charcoal production.

If not because of the filter function, our faces were definitely looked oily and greasy.

ii) War Museum, Siem Reap
The War Museum Cambodia is located at Siem Reap in Cambodia, near National Highway No. 6 between the city of Siem Reap and the International Airport.
In February 2001 the Siem Reap War Museum was built in partnership with the Ministry of National Defense on more than 2 hectares of land. In 2013 the name of the museum changed from Siem Reap War Museum into War Museum Cambodia. The museum covers the last three decades of the 20th century when the Khmer Rouge was active in Cambodia, making use of guides whom are war veterans who fought for the Cambodian army, the Khmer Rouge or the Vietnamese army.

After about 20 mins, we arrived at our first destination.

Arrived and took photo with our driver, Kassim.

Kassim helped us to buy the tickets for entrance at USD 5.

The entrance ticket.

Being creative. Welcome signboard made from empty mortar shell.

Still at the entrance, posing with Cambodian flag. If you notice, the Angkor Wat, the world-famous landmark of Cambodia graces the national flag. Unfortunately the flag didn\"t wave that time.

OK now lets explore!

Lovely environment. You can see they planted lots of mango trees here for the shade. The hot weather and soil are suitable for mango\"s plantation, like in India, Perlis in Malaysia and Philippines.

The museum is a collection of tanks, aircraft, mines and guns primarily from Cambodia’s civil war with the Khmer Rouge and subsequent occupation by Vietnam.

Arrays of ruined tanks on displayed.

There is a vast array of vehicles, artillery, weaponry and equipment on display, such as a Soviet T-54 main battle tank, a Chinese Shenyang F-6 fighter, a Soviet Mil Mi-8 helicopter and the Soviet D-44 85mm field-artillery gun. The collection on display was gathered since 1999 from provinces in which the most savage fighting of the Cambodian Civil War took place (Siem Reap and Odor Meanchey) and is a mix of Chinese, American and Soviet military hardware.

T-54 Tank, Artillery and BM-14 launcher. Wooahh... suddenly I\"m an expert of war machines... Hahahhaha!

Before being used during the various conflicts that raged across Cambodia, some of the war machines have seen action during World War II. Amazing right? Most of these war machines were very heavy and it was difficult to gain access into dense jungle and forest areas to remove the items. Such an effort!

T-54 Tank, Howitzer, Anti-Aircraft Artillery and M46 Artillery.

The ghost of war. Mortar bombs, grenade and land mine.

We could also examine small arms from a M16 or a AK-47 (Kalashnikov) till a machine gun like the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). We were able to hold the weapons, which added to the experience.

Little devil.

Mortar frog.

AK-47 (Kalashnikov) Rifles.

Mortar shells on displayed.

There are guides that give you free tours, they normally expect a small tip at the end. It is really good though as most of the guides there have experienced the war first hand. Really interesting insight at the same town a very real experience.

Having a guide take you through this museum is a must and we were thrilled to have this guide, whose most of his family perished doing the war, take us around and describe the life of the citizens before and after the war as well as how different countries participated in funding and supply the various factions that led up to the tragic events during this time. His knowledge was impressive since the Cambodian school system still doesn"t allow published material about the war into the school curriculum. I can"t recommend this enough whether you"re a history buff or just a tourist looking to understand the past struggles of the place you"re visiting.

The guide was excellent. Very knowledgeable and told us all about the wars.

Photographs of Cambodian army during the war.

More photos of the war collections....

Posing with Anti-Aircraft Artillery. There are boards giving you lots of information that you can read.

A partially-ruined T-54 main battle tank exhibited at the War Museum, Siem Reap.

The description.

One of the star, The Soviet Mil Mi-8 helicopter.

A landmine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Up to date, there are still lots of active landmine all over Cambodia that yet to be found.Landmines were designed to maim, not kill, the rationale being that a wounded soldier is more expensive than a dead one.

Once activated, landmines will stay active and ready to go off forever. The exhibition shows the minesweeping process (The act of detecting mines using mines detector).

Interesting fact : It costs approximately USD 1 to produce one landmine. It costs approximately USD 1,000 to find and defuse it.

Overall the experience here was priceless. it gave me a mix feeling. In Malaysia, even not wealthy, we still can live comfortly compared to people in Cambodia who living in poverty, some losing their sights or parts of their bodies due to landmine. As a children in Malaysia, at least we have freedom to set our future. What we wanted to be, achieved our dream. In Cambodia, children here has been denied their right for education. That's why most of them become beggar. Some experienced war in such a young age.

Thinking back on my carefree childhood, playing with Transformer toys and G.I. Joes, I am reminded of just how lucky I am.
We finished our tour for about one and half hours and then move to next place.