Hotel Cambodia - Orange Horizons

When the sun sets in Cambodia, there's a distinctly hazy orange glow that lingers in the air. Everything in the sun's path has an orange aura about it. At day's end, the final beams of sunshine filter through dust particles kicked up from red dirt roads that criss-cross throughout the country. This is a truly unique Cambodian sight.  It's dry season, and hasn't rained properly in months. Dust is omnipresent. It's as common as snow in Canada, wind in Holland, or rain in England and part of the natural life-cycle of the country. Two seasons exist in Cambodia - dry season and wet season, both are hot. This year is exceptionally hot, even by Cambodian standards.

Sitting in the office of the Lotus Lodge Hotel in Siem Reap, I came to the conclusion that dusk is my favorite time of day. The beautiful orangeness that blankets the hotel's surroundings as the day wanes brings a sense of peace and tranquility. The same qualities that are often reflected in the Cambodian people themselves.

The office window looks out to the front of the hotel property where one of the authentic red dirt roads passes our gates. Unlike many of the hotels in Siem Reap that are located in the center of the tourist district or directly off a busy road, the Lotus Lodge is situated away from the main thoroughfares in a more local environment. It may seem a world apart from the souvenir shops selling replica relics of a bygone Angkor Wat era, but it's only a short 10 minute ride to the city center where foreigners from around the world converge.

Almost any time of day, looking out the office window, I can see a variety of interesting sights pass the front gates. As locals live their daily lives in the unassuming presence of a hotel that primarily caters to foreign visitors, I can see people of all ages passing in both directions. I see children dressed in school uniforms laughing and playing on their way to class. I see cattle being herded to the next patch of grassy fields, occasionally they venture through the gates into the parking lot before being ushered out. I see people riding bicycles, tuk tuk drivers passing and motorbikes puttering along. There's also cars, trucks, and minivans, all of which are passing by, kicking up red dust in their wake, and without even knowing it, helping create the orange sunsets that I love so much.

The following posts are the story of Hotel Cambodia. They are real life situations, scenarios, thoughts and anecdotes that take place in and around the Lotus Lodge Hotel. The hotel is located in Siem Reap, an intricate, interesting and sometime puzzling little city on the fringes of the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. I am Skot, co-general manager and owning partner of the hotel along with my longtime friend Mitch and his brother Javier. The intention of this blog is to share our story, the story of how a few Canadian guys with no hotel managerial experience, ended up moving to a developing country on the other side of the world to run and operate a hotel. We also want to share the stories of the intriguing people we come across as well as the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs, the funny and the arcane. We welcome you to Hotel Cambodia.