Dear All,

We have decided to create our Blog to take you through our amazing experience and journey through time when we have decided to leave our comfortable life in Europe behind and to create something very special in Asia…We hope you will enjoy our story and one day will decide to come and experience what we have created with much passion and love…Alex and Olga x

Part 1
Doubts…

We are passionate travellers and have visited over 70 countries in our lives, although the last 10 years have been mainly about trips to Southeast Asia. All of our multiple attempts to go through the Globe or to run our fingers through the world map to choose new destination for our next trip ended up with the same decision – to travel to Asia again regardless if it would be Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia. And after another trip whilst looking out of our taxi window observing endless touristic crowds, french coffee shops, expensive boutiques we have come to realise that all of that is killing the true spirit of these places, that exact authentic factor that so many Americans and Europeans fell in love with 30 years ago for it's true exotic nature and spirit…Of course it is only logical that development and adaption towards tourists needs and preferences will get to the World's most far away 'corners' however it was quite sad to start loosing that 'Marco Polo' feeling of discovery…

And then we have started searching for places where civilization has not reached Champs-Élysées level in this part of the World. And it looked like Burma, Laos or Cambodia could fit that mark perfectly…Unlike Laos and Burma – Cambodia does come with a good choice of hotels and Siem Reap accommodation does offer a diverse choice for travellers, however we have felt that it still had a lot of potential there for us.

March 2015

It has been 20 years since our trip to Siem Reap. Many things have changed since then…With higher level of quality it is much easier now to choose a hotel near Angkor Wat. Every day in the heat we have been getting around in tuk tuk visiting Temples and after lunch it was relaxation time by the pool. After Angkor Wat we visited Burma but it is a different story…:)

November 2015

Where do we travel this time? Maybe to Nicaragua or Honduras? Decision has been made – off we go to Siem Reap! Have some good memories from our last trip…

March 2016

Where do we travel this year? Senegal seems quite interesting for a visit…Siem Reap it is then! Again, some good memories from last year's trip. Upon arrival to Siem Reap it really felt like we have arrived back home. On the way back, the streets are decorated with lights, locals are getting ready to celebrate Khmer's New Year. The feeling of celebration is overwhelming…

On the way back home we have an over night stop in Bangkok. Keep thinking about Siem Reap all the time..

Introduced my crazy thought – ' what IF…?' to my wife Olga. 'Are you out of your mind..??' – is the response that I got back. Spend all my time browsing internet checking out all of the possible info on Cambodia.

Learn that Cambodia is on the 150th place in the world of 'business ease'. Hmm…doesn't sound very optimistic…Level of living is roughly on same place as well…Lovely…

We return back to Spain. In the morning share my thoughts with my daughter who suddenly totally supports my idea. Olga is still lacking enthusiasm and tries vaguely to fight off the whole concept but towards dinner is already on our side.

Our characters and desire to start acting upon something 'RIGHT NOW' makes us think ' maybe we fly out tomorrow??' Pulling our inner strength together we postpone the trip by a few days to prepare all for departure.

A friend of mine lives and works in Panama city. He has invited us to visit, live and work there. I get in touch with him. He is inviting us back not insisting much on it. Getting the feeling of inner worry-calmness at the same time. The worrying feeling comes from understanding that you do not know a single person out there. Feeling calm is because it fits with your desires like a perfect glove.

Now it is time to do some reflection and explain what made us want to leave our beautiful 4 hectares of land in Spain with exotic gardens, heated infinity pool, Spa area, tennis court etc…The views stretching from all of our windows were across Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar and African coast. During the last 7 years we had very successful business DDG Retreat…However what lies inside our minds and souls is not always possible to explain rationally..

We have started growing tired from same daily routine, local Spanish authorities enforcing endless rules on taxes, licences…Plus the Time for new exciting challenges has come…Our chapter in Spain of the last 17 years has come to an end…

So..As it stands we are total homebodies who love spending time at home, watching TV and eating home cooked food – have made a decision to move to Cambodia and to create a very special and unique hotel in Siem Reap…

We are just 56 years old and our life is just beginning!:)

ps Below are the photos of our Retreat in Spain and what we have left behind…

Daria Dubinina

 Thursday, October 20, 2016 4:17 PM

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