Tourism & Destination: Far from the hustle and bustle of the capital with the Farming House of the NGO Smiling Gecko

Life in Phnom Penh can be stressful in the long run. The noise of motorbikes, the heat and the chaotic traffic are a big part of it. It is therefore not uncommon to want to treat yourself to a weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the capital. The Farming House of the NGO Smiling Gecko offers a welcome change of scenery and an impeccable welcome.

The chef of the Farming House restaurant

History and Concept

The Farming House is located 80 km north of Phnom Penh in the province of Kampong Chnanng. The site covers more than 220,000 square metres. It includes a hotel, an agricultural site, a carpentry workshop and a training centre. More than a farm, it is a real little village that we are visiting. The stated objective is to help ‘poor families and children by offering them long-term means of subsistence’, says Hannes Schmidt, the NGO's founder.

Hannes Schmidt is a world-renowned photographer. His work has been published by the biggest fashion magazines such as Vogue, GQ and Elle. Nevertheless, he ended up settling in Cambodia one day and decided to start his ‘biggest artistic project’: Smiling Gecko.

Hannes Schmidt does not believe that the rural exodus can completely stem the tide of poverty. In his opinion, to curb this phenomenon, it is necessary to ‘make the countryside attractive by offering it the facilities necessary for the well-being of its inhabitants’. To this end, the Smiling Gecko project is based on three pillars: hospitality, agriculture, and education. These three pillars should serve to make the complex self-sufficient.

The Hotel

The Hotel has 34 rooms divided into 17 bungalows on stilts. Built in a traditional style, the rooms are very well insulated and keep cool. The beds, coffee tables and wardrobes are made by the local carpenter. The very spacious bathroom is equipped with an elegant bathtub. When you walk through these rooms, you might think that it could be a 21st-century house in a Cambodian village because of the mixture of styles.

Smart village

During our visit, Hannes Schmidt likes to talk about the ‘Smart Village’ to describe his complex. Here, there are no long corridors to cross to reach your room, the bungalows are surrounded by numerous tropical plants. The hotel also has a spa, a space dedicated to yoga, a conference room and a rather impressive swimming pool. The hotel restaurant also offers a rich cuisine, with almost all the products coming from the Smiling Gecko farm.

Chef Mariya trained at the Swiss Hotel Management School in Lucerne. She has successfully taken up the challenge of fusing Western and Asian cuisine, creating a rather tasty blend of flavours. The service is impeccable. The hotel is therefore the ideal place for a romantic getaway or even a company seminar.

The hotel swimming pool

The farm

The construction of a farm was the first project initiated by the NGO Smiling Gecko. The aim was to offer alternatives to rice in the countryside. The farm is home to both pigs and chickens. Aquaculture is also practised there.

The farm also has an area used to experiment with different crops from all over the world, to determine whether they can be grown in Cambodia. Many Swiss students regularly visit the farm for these experiments.

The produce harvested is organic and intended for sale. However, it is also used to supply the Farming House restaurant and the Smiling Gecko staff cafeteria. Some is also distributed to families living in the surrounding area. Some of the farm's employees are former slum dwellers who have returned to rural life.

Hannes Schmidt guiding us in his fish farm

Educating the local people has been one of the NGO's main projects. Each project, each of the Farming House's structures, from the construction of the bungalows to the cultivation of agricultural products, has been carried out with the cooperation of the locals. They have of course benefited from the support of professionals from Western countries, especially Switzerland. Smiling Gecko has set up an agricultural school, a carpentry workshop and schools for children so that the Cambodians can gradually acquire the techniques necessary for the preservation and management of the Farming House.

For example, the hotel staff were trained by the hotel management school in Lucerne, and the bungalows were built in cooperation with Swiss architects and carpenters who trained Cambodians in carpentry and construction.

This clearly demonstrates the NGO's desire to build a long-term, viable economic model. All the activities complement each other and are interdependent, creating a very promising ecosystem for researchers, civil servants and NGOs interested in development policies.

Website: https://www.farmhouse-smilinggecko.com/

Text and photographs by Hugo Bolorinos

More photographs here...