The Quiet Craft of Khmer Incense: A Morning in Siem Reap's Incense Village

We wake before the sun and ride north out of Siem Reap, the air still cool and the road quiet. Our destination is a small village in the countryside where incense is made by hand, a craft that has been passed down through generations. The smell reaches us before we see the workshops: a sweet, woody perfume of agarwood, sandalwood, and spices drifting over the dusty lanes.

A craft shaped by hand

In a wooden stilt house, a woman named Srey Mom sits on a low platform with a basket of fine sawdust and a bowl of water. She mixes the powders with a practiced hand, adding a little water until the paste holds together. Then she rolls it onto thin bamboo sticks, one by one, laying them in neat rows on a drying rack. The work is slow and rhythmic, and she tells us it takes years to learn the right consistency. The paste must be neither too dry nor too wet, and the sticks must be turned as they dry so they don’t warp.

Nearby, her husband tends a small fire under a clay pot, where resin is melted and mixed with herbs. The smoke curls up and mingles with the scent of the drying sticks. We watch as a young boy, maybe ten years old, carefully stacks finished incense into bundles, his fingers quick and sure.

The scent of the season

The village makes incense all year, but the best time to visit is during the dry season, from November to March, when the sticks dry quickly in the sun. In the rainy months, the work moves indoors, and the drying takes longer. We are told that the incense is used in temples and homes across Cambodia, and some is exported. The families here work together, sharing orders and helping each other during busy periods.

We walk through the village, past more houses where incense sticks are laid out on woven mats. The colours range from pale yellow to deep brown, depending on the recipe. Some sticks are scented with jasmine, others with lotus, and a few with a blend of spices that smells like warm earth. A woman invites us to sit and try rolling a stick. Our first attempts are clumsy, but she laughs and shows us again, her hands guiding ours.

Getting there

The incense village is about 15 kilometres north of Siem Reap, along National Road 6 towards Banteay Srei. We go by motorbike, which takes around 30 minutes, but a tuk-tuk is also fine and will wait for you. The roads are paved most of the way, with a short stretch of red dirt at the end. Ask your host or a local driver to point you to the incense-making houses in the village; they are not hard to find once you are there. There is no formal entrance fee, but it is polite to ask before taking photos and to buy a bundle of incense as a thank-you.

Good to know

• Visit in the morning, before 10am, when the air is cool and the families are still working in the shade.
• Wear shoes that can handle dust and dirt, and bring water.
• A small purchase of incense sticks is a good way to support the craft; prices are modest, but ask locally.
• The village is quiet and residential, so keep your voice low and ask permission before entering a workshop.

As we ride back to Siem Reap, the scent of incense clings to our clothes, a reminder of the slow, careful work we witnessed. It is a simple craft, but one that carries the memory of the people who make it.Staying in Siem Reap? Bungalow 1955 is nine private apartments around a shared pool, minutes from Angkor — enquire about dates.