Bambu Battambang Hotel

After the rush of Cambodia's cities, your trip slows to a gentle chug in Battambang, and the Bambu sees to it that your days are relaxing. In the walled garden, there is a small but refreshing salt water pool surrounded by shaded wooden loungers. The Russey Restaurant offers a menu of local and international fare, from prawn poppers and Khmer fish amok in banana leaves, to desserts of braised banana cream caramel. Happily, the hotel has a firm focus on sustainability, using only local labour, solar power and mostly local materials.

Bambu Hotel is comprised of four traditional buildings, which have 16 rooms between them. Each room has an antique king-sized bed, TV with a DVD library, and a private balcony. The rooms are decorated with geometric tiles, dark wood furnishings and colourful textiles. There are four suites, each with a large veranda with a sitting area and hammocks for an afternoon doze. The rooms have plenty of natural light through wide, glassless windows or French doors leading into the garden.

Start your morning off right with a bicycle ride past the ride paddies and hushed monasteries, before stopping off at a local spot to see how rice wine is made. Join Bambu's chefs on a trip to the marketplace to pick out fresh ingredients, before learning to cook a traditional Cambodian dish. Get to know the country's tragic yet triumphant history at Phnom Sampov, where many victims of the Khmer Rouge regime are laid, then enjoy lunch beside the Kamping Pouy Basin, its waters embellished with hundreds of lotus flowers.