Craig Dodge - Blog

I wrote previously that I was putting the blog on hold, but I had such an excellent trip to Cambodia recently,  I have to write something here.

Cambodia hadn't really been on my "list of places to visit" before.  Not that I had anything against going there, but maybe I'd just lost my drive to visit new places. Then I was invited to join a company trip with Serenity Entertainment Group in September 2010. It was an amazing experience visiting the Angkor temples, but as it was a group tour, I didn't get to experience much of Cambodia's contemporary local culture. It was a good introduction, but I needed an opportunity to return.

When my friend Tom suggested we go somewhere for Lunar New Year this year, I immediately thought of Cambodia. We went independently, staying at the Golden Banana Boutique Hotel & Resort. This was one of the two places we stayed at during the first trip and seemed like the quiet, friendly, intimate place for the perfect, relaxing vacation with a local feel. We weren't disappointed.

The highlight of this trip were the good friends we made at the Golden Banana. They are the most genuinely warm, kind, friendly, helpful staff at any hotel I've ever visited. It starts with their own personality and character, but is enhanced by a good relationship with each other and hotel management. The hotel provides the staff with customer service training as well as subsidizes their higher education. All of these factors contribute to excellent customer service and a unique guest experience.

For sightseeing, we got away from the Old Market and the Angkor Temples and went more "off the beaten path". We visited one of the floating villages, swam in some waterfalls popular with locals, and went to the home of our friend/driver/guide Tay in a rural village about an hour from Siem Reap. I played volleyball with Tay and some of the other staff of the hotel, and spent some quality time chatting with them around the pool.

I invite you to see the pictures from both trips in my Photo Gallery or on Google+ . If you have any questions about the trip, please post a comment here, or please e-mail me.