Storied retreat

IT IS perhaps a little trite to say that were it not for the Angkor temples, the Cambodian town of Siem Reap would probably not exist. Barely a decade or so ago, this was a sleepy, dusty, one-street satellite town on the edge of the megalithic, 164-hectare complex of Buddhist and Hindu temples that date back to the 12th century.

Today, Siem Reap has grown, though, admittedly, not always in an attractive way. For all the tourism revenue and foreign aid that have flowed in, the infrastructure remains, shall we say, fairly basic, and the gross national income hovers around a meagre US$1,000 a month.

For Siem Reap's high-end hoteliers, these are difficult times. The Russian market is gone, and the marbled hallways of five-star palaces such as the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor echo.