Why a vintage jeep
I started Adventures Cambodia with one used Willys jeep.
I grew up inside the walls of Angkor Wat. When I came back from thirteen years in Vietnam in 2013, I wanted to start something I actually wanted to run. Most operators in Siem Reap buy what's cheapest to maintain. White-painted tuk-tuks. White-painted minivans. I wanted the opposite.
So we started with one vintage jeep. Then another. We restore each ourselves: original body, original character, modern engine and automatic gearbox. They look 50 years old. They drive like a "normal car".
You can take an air-conditioned van to Angkor. Or you can take a jeep with no doors and arrive feeling like you've actually been somewhere.
What I tell guests: the jeep is not the point. The point is what it changes. You smell the dust. The village hears you coming. People wave because the jeep is older than they are. You stop because someone wants to photograph it, and that's how you end up at a tea stall in a place no guidebook lists, drinking iced tea with a family who keeps asking where you're from.
We're not the right operator for everyone. If you want air-conditioning and sterile predictability, every other tour company in town will sell you that. If you want Cambodia at eye level, that's what I built this for.
Akim Ly · Founder, Adventures Cambodia · Read Akim's full story →