From a flag with serious swagger to a New Year celebrated in April: here’s what makes this country absolutely wild
Thought you knew everything about Cambodia? Did you think it was just ancient temples, dense jungle, and heat intense enough to melt the soles off your shoes?
Well, get ready to be amazed, because this country has more surprises than you’d imagine. Here we’ve gathered 7 fun facts about Cambodia that will make you say “Wait, what?!” at least once per paragraph.
Catch them all!
Read also: What to see in Varanasi, the holiest city in all of India
1. The coolest flag in the world
Cambodia has a flag with real character, a brilliant change from the incredibly boring flags we’re used to: it’s the only one in the world to feature a building. And what a building!
We’re talking about Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on the planet. It’s like Italy putting the Colosseum on its flag—except Cambodia actually did it. Hats off!
Angkor Wat is a temple complex that covers more than 400 square kilometres—an absolutely astonishing scale. To give you an idea, it’s as if they took the entire city of Venice and filled it with temples. Then put it on a flag.
Spectacular!
2. New Year’s? Mid-April, thank you very much!
While we’re popping sparkling wine on 31 December, Cambodians are happily waiting for April for the biggest celebration of the year: Choul Chnam Thmey, which lasts for days and marks the end of the harvest. Imagine a New Year celebration, but with more food, more fun, and fewer people saying “new year, new me” before going straight back to their old habits on 2 January.
During this festival, Cambodians splash water on each other like there’s no tomorrow, all accompanied by rituals that perfectly reflect the country’s authentic spirit. It’s absolutely something you need to see in person.
3. Tonlé Sap Lake: the indecisive body of water
This lake has more mood swings than a teenager in the middle of a hormonal crisis. During the dry season it’s relatively small, but when the monsoon rains arrive it expands dramatically and even reverses the direction of its flow, feeding rivers that, for the rest of the year, feed it instead!
Wild, right?
It’s so unpredictable that its surface area goes from 2,700 km² to 16,000 km² during the rainy season. It’s a bit like waking up one day and finding that the inflatable pool in your garden has turned into a full-blown private lake.
And guess what? People live on it! Yes, really: entire floating villages that rise and fall with the water level.
Awesome!
4. As if we humans couldn’t damage Cambodia too
Unfortunately, the country is still filled with landmines. Millions of these dangerous devices are still active in rural areas, buried over decades of conflict and the kind of chaos only human beings seem able to create.
Thankfully, there are heroes helping to improve the situation: mine-detection dogs, trained to sniff out explosives and alert their handlers.
5. The gecko: Cambodia’s new Cupid
Forget horoscopes and fortune tellers. In Cambodia, your romantic future depends on… a gecko!
According to a local belief, if you hear a tokay gecko “call” seven or more times in a row, it’s a good omen for marriage.
What exactly is a tokay gecko?
Well, it’s a gecko, so far so simple. It’s a giant by gecko standards (up to 35 centimetres long—a kind of Godzilla among its relatives), and it gets its name because, apparently, the sound it makes is something like TO-KAY.
So if you hear it make its call at least seven times, it means you’re with the right person.
6. US dollars? Yes, please!
Even though Cambodia has an official currency called the riel, Cambodians are so used to the US dollar that 90% of transactions take place in the star-spangled currency.
The strangest part?
Cambodians use riel like the “cents” of the dollar. So you might find yourself paying with a bizarre combination of dollars and riel—like going to a café and being told: “That’ll be 2 dollars and 3,000 riel.” A proper brain-twister for your wallet!
7. McDonald’s? Never heard of it!
While the rest of the world is feasting on Big Macs, Cambodia remains completely unfazed, without a single McDonald’s in sight. There’s Burger King, apparently, but no sign of Ronald and his fast-food empire.
But don’t think Cambodians are short on street food. Oh no. They have specialities that would put any burger to shame. How about a skewer of fried spider? Or maybe you’d prefer a fertilised duck egg, cooked and eaten straight from the shell?
Lovely….
In conclusion
And that brings us to the end of our tour of Cambodian curiosities. The next time someone asks you, “Hey, do you know anything unusual about Cambodia?”, you’ll be able to overwhelm them with fun facts until they regret asking. Or maybe you’ll use this information to impress everyone at your next dinner with friends.
How about experiencing it all for yourself?
Backpack on and off to Cambodia! Actually, to Laos and Cambodia!
Here’s our suggestion: a 15-day itinerary through Cambodia and Laos, two of the most incredible countries in all of Asia—made even better with the company of Sto Gran Tour.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
Let’s go!
