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Skip the night markets if you’re after authentic handwoven textiles (most of what’s there comes from Thailand and Vietnam) and instead make a beeline for Weaves of Cambodia. Located in a sleek contemporary store attached to the Angkor Hospital for Children, the proceeds from your purchases go directly to the hospital, which provides free medical care to Cambodian kids an the disabled weavers of Preah Vihear who make these beautiful handwoven textiles, garments, accessories, and woven products, like cushions. I love the large vibrant textiles which make wonderful wall hangings and sideboard runners, however, there are also small inexpensive embroidered purses and wallets, like those above, that make great gifts that give back.

Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, which ruled Cambodia brutally from 1975-79, when it forced city dwellers into the countryside to work on collective farms. The result was some 3 million deaths due to executions, torture, beatings, hard labour, malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical care. The Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was Brother Number One, while its military chief Ta Mok was Brother Number Five. Responsible for countless massacres as well as purges within the party, Ta Mok was also called The Butcher. Ta Mok remained powerful after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown in 1979, controlling much of this northern area of Cambodia and 3-5,000 guerillas from this base. After a party split in 1997 (yes, the Khmer Rouge survived almost 20 years after it was ‘overthrown’), Ta Mok took control, placing Pol Pot under house arrest. Following a government attack on Ta Mok’s house in 1998, he fled to the forest with Pol Pot, who died a few days later. Ta Mok was captured at the Thai border in 1999 and died in prison of heart complications in 2006. Travelers interested in Cambodia’s history can combine a visit to Pol Pot’s cremation site with a stop at Ta Mok’s House. Overlooking a lake that Ta Mok had made, the rustic house is decorated with a map of Cambodia and murals of Angkor Wat and nearby Preah Vihear. The cages at the front of the house apparently held tigers. The house is popular with Cambodian tourists, canoodling couples and monks.

Most travelers to Siem Reap are here to see the magnificent remnants of the Khmer Empire and don’t have Cambodia’s gruesome genocidal history high on their to-do lists. Those sorts of sites – the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, where hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were buried in mass graves, and Tuol Sleng prison, where some 17,000 were tortured and executed – are reserved for the capital, Phnom Penh. However, for the curious, the completists, and those interested in Cambodia’s modern history, there are a couple of sights at Anlong Veng, not far from the Thai border. Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country brutally from 1975-79. The communist regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians by execution, torture, hard labor, malnutrition, and disease. The cremation site of former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has been given the attention it deserves. None. After Pol Pot died while on the run, presumably of a heart attack, his body was hastily burned beneath a pile of rubbish. The site is covered by a rusty corrugated iron roof in a littered gully behind some decrepit buildings on the edge of Anlong Veng. On the main road a small hand-painted sign points in the direction of a gravelly track leading down to the site. Blink and you’d miss it. The site takes all of a few minutes to visit and is not worth a second longer. It can be combined with a stop at Ta Mok’s House if you’re heading to/from Preah Vihear.

As an alternative to hot-air ballooning, scenic helicopter rides over Angkor Archaeological Park offer visitors another thrilling aerial take on the relics of the Khmer empire. What’s more, a helicopter provides possibilities for even wider exploration of Siem Reap and its surroundings, bringing remote temples and even the magnificent Preah Vihear complex near the Thailand border into play. Other highlights include views over Banteay Chhmar, a large and often overlooked temple area, and Koh Ker, which served briefly as the capital of the country. Reliable operators include Helistar Cambodia and Helicopters Cambodia.