Sky Venture Microlight flights range from 15 min to one hour, and can include many temple complexes as well as the Tonle Sap. This type of small plane only holds a pilot and one guest, and offers a different view than from a helicopter.

The visit this year has had us out bouncing over rutted roads past glorious green fields of rice, boys fishing, children waving, past laden ox-carts and thru rural villages. We thought that was fun and then we heard about Sky Venture, which is doing commercial microlight flights in Siem Reap. Whilst they cannot fly over Angkor Wat, we did head out over some of the more remote outlying temples and villages…. but that comes later. The day started with David picking us up from Journeys Within B&B and driving us out to his take-off site – which turned out to be a very bumpy stretch of ox cart track with his beautifully kept microlight tethered in the field nearby.

Watching him take off with my husband on board was literally a breath-taking experience – but suddenly they were up and soaring off across the horizon. I was still on the landing track as they returned buzzing me several times like a giraffe on the African airstrips to get me out of the way. Then around they swooped swinging in between the water filled ditches on either side of the track and coming to a bumpy stop – the beam on my husband’s face said it all! Then it was my turn and with helmet on, headphones tuned into the pilot I was bumping and roaring, then soaring out over the fields, lakes and villages.

Once up I felt completely peaceful and the views were amazing, you get a completely different sense of the temples and their size when you fly over them. I loved seeing the red dirt of the roads against the green of the rice paddies.