Vimean Sokha Museum
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this museum. I was searching Google Maps for hidden gems I might have missed in Siem Reap when I stumbled upon Vimean Sokha Museum. Once again, I climbed onto my scooter and made my way through the dust and mud of Siem Reap in September, eventually arriving at a villa seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Picture this: a colonial-style building with a yolk-yellow façade and white mouldings, vintage motorcycles and cars parked outside and complete silence. Even the ticket counter was empty. I drove farther into the courtyard until a door suddenly opened and a young woman around my age stepped outside.
“What are you looking for?” she asked.
“Is this the museum?”
“Yes. It’s 10,000 riel. Let me open it for you.”
She ran upstairs to switch on the lights and fans, and I followed her inside, still slightly puzzled.
What I found was an astonishingly eclectic collection: vintage motorcycles and bicycles, rows of clocks, old cameras, chandeliers made from cameras, gramophones, banknotes and currencies from different periods, and all kinds of mechanical objects whose original purposes I couldn’t always identify.
It was the kind of collection only a true obsessive could have assembled.
After wandering through the large villa and examining its treasures, I asked the young woman who had created all of this. She explained that the collection belonged to her father, Ly Peng Heng, and that he had gathered the objects from around the world, including motorcycles from places such as Ukraine and Russia, a true punk.
A little later, her father emerged from the family’s residence and invited me to see his garage. He told me he had been collecting for 28 years. When I asked why, his answer was wonderfully simple: he was just made that way. He loves older times. He designed and built the museum himself, carefully restoring and displaying everything he had collected, and apparently, he still has even more in storage.
Ly and his daughter showing me the many mobiles that are for rent
The most surprising part? Many of the motorcycles are still functional, and some are even available to rent. Imagine exploring the temples of Angkor on a vintage motorcycle. Honestly, what a dream.
Cambodia keeps surprising me. Beyond its major monuments and established institutions, there are places like thism, built almost entirely from one person’s curiosity, dedication and desire to preserve objects that might otherwise disappear.
Knowing that Ly created this museum himself, without the kind of government or institutional support museums usually depend on, made me want to support it even more.
Vimean Sokha Museum isn’t polished or predictable. It is personal, eccentric and completely shaped by one man’s passion, and that is precisely what makes it worth visiting and supporting!
