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 Traveller's Tales: Shopping suggestions in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Get the best advice on shopping in Siem Reap, Cambodia. You may read about shopping malls, souvenir items and best buys in the area. Also, you might want to read our
Angkor / Siem Reap city guide,
and Phnom Penh city guide.
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| I Kirino |
08 March 2003 |
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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-Nearly Kumehr Beauty Shop-
A store specializing in Cambodian silk. Left side of the Soup Dragon restaurant.
A very nice lady and her mother are running. You can touch in very high quality Cambodian traditional silk product.
-The Museum of Land Mine-
A small museum run by a man who survive in the day of disaster and volunteers. You should visit.
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| T Ryan-pefianco |
03 February 2003 |
Stayed at Angkor Village Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Cambodia is a very expensive holdiay destination. So crowded during the peak season that it is difficult to get many good photos of the temples. If I went back, would prefer to go in the wet season.
Easy to get "templed out". Was worth taking an afternoon away from the temples and visiting Tonle Sap river and the Vietnemese boat people. Great photo opportunity. Don't bother watching the sunset from the 3rd level of Angkor Wat temple like some guide books recommend. There are many better spots.
Recommended restaurants: Foreign Correspendents Club, The Red Piano, Kampuccino Pizza. Went to Artisans d'Angkor. Quite interesting, but items in the shop are way over-priced.
R
When you arrive into Cambodia, you have to have a visa. These can be purchased at the airport before going through immigration. Make sure that they actually put the visa in your passport. My huband paid for his visa but they never put it in his passport. We thought this may be a scam to try and hassle him for money when exiting the country.
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| B Cutillo |
16 January 2003 |
Stayed at Princess Angkor Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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General Tips/Observations:
1. Rent a car w/driver if in your budget. $20-25/day and well worth it. Our driver spoke English well and we found that we did not need to hire a full-time guide at the temples if we read a bit about the best parts to see.
2. Cambodian people are VERY nice and help make the trip worthwhile. Looks a lot like Thailand 30 years ago.
3. Don't buy 'rubies/sapphires' in the Central (Old) Market, unless you just want them for costume jewelry. Most are not 'real'.
4. Bargain in the Old Market - start at around 50% of the asked price - or lower, depending on the item.
5. Get to the temples EARLY - by 7:00 or 7:30 am - Bus crowds start showing up around 9:00 am. Light is better for photos then, also.
6. Tonle Sap lake tour in dry season was disappointing. Channel water very polluted. Don't pay more than $10.00 - even for having a boat to yourself. Not worth more. Some interesting photo opps, though, and a break from temples. One hour is enough.
7. Start Angkor Wat at around 7-7:30 am from the East entrance (back side). Barely anyone there, great light.
8. Keep lots of small change handy (USD/Baht/Riel). Lots of people work for 'tips', helps with small purchases.
9. Better Thai food was at Chiang Mai Restaurant. Forget Khmer Phuket near Old Market-really quite bad.
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| A Richter |
08 January 2003 |
Stayed at Angkor Century Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Angkor Wat may be the most amazing place I have ever visited - truly a once in a lifetime experience. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys history and culture. I visited in early January, when the weather was perfect (dry and not too hot).
Contrary to what seems to have been the case before, small children no longer work as tour guides at individual temple sites, so you should either invest in a good tour book (I used "Ancient Angkor" by Freeman and Jacques), or arrange for a guide separately. Regarding souvenirs, the selection at the temple sites are rather limited - the Old Market offers much more.
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| R Cetin |
30 December 2002 |
Stayed at Ta Prohm - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Apart from being the stop off place for the temples, Siem Reap is a good place to spend a couple of days. We enjoyed the FCC (the Foreign Correspondents Club) and the food at the Red Piano and the Soup Dragon. The markets are worth a visit. We did two day tours to the temples, which are quite spread out and transport is required. Wear flat shoes, the climbing around Angkor Wat is not for the elderly.
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| S Goh |
20 December 2002 |
Stayed at Ta Prohm - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Expensive food, in US$, unless you want to eat what the locals eat. Arun's is nice Khemer restaurant with reasonable price. For French food try Gecko.
Place is dusty and hot. Bring your climbing shoe. There are a lot of stalls selling T-shirts. If something caught your fancy, buy it because you might not come across the same design with the correct size elsewhere. Most of the T-shirt design are similar, with difference only in colour of wording or combination of front and back picture. Personally, I feel the variety and quality of T-shirts in Central market in Phnom Penh is better.
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| S Choi |
12 December 2002 |
Stayed at Angkor Saphir Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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The temples of Angkor are perhaps the most spectacular sight I have visited in the world. Seeing this ancient beauty and splendor aided my understanding of Cambodia's history and people, the tragedy they've endured and their continuing struggle to survive from day to day.
See as much as you can; make the trek out to Bantay Srei and its lovely pink sandstone, and the the earliest Khmer temples of Roulos Group. Mr. Rett will be happy to take you there.
The town of Siem Reap itself is nothing to write home about. The restaurants near the hotel are okay. Visit Artisans D'Angkor, where you can buy beautiful handicrafts made by young people from impoverished backgrounds, learning the traditional arts at the school there. It's a good deal for everyone.
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| P Wilson |
21 September 2002 |
Stayed at Angkor Saphir Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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The tour of Angkor Wat organised by the hotel staff was excellent, and our tour guide was excellent. There is lots of good shopping in Seim Reap town, more so than Phnom Penh. There are lots of good places to eat. The Bayon was good and it has shodow puppet shows nightly. The Red Piano in town was also a good place to relax, have a beer and excape from the heat.
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| M Stelbrink |
19 September 2002 |
Stayed at Angkor Century Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Angkor is a must for any traveller in South East Asia. We stayed two days and were able to get a good overview of the main attractions by starting at sunrise and finish at sunset. We could have easily spent a week. I can recommend the book "Ancient Angkor" by Micheal Freeman and a Frenchman whose name I forgot. Buy literature before you come to Cambodia (as normal uncopied books are extremely expensive, e.g. 25$ for a normal paperback) and buy nothing at hotels (prices are ten times higher than the prices on the streets and around the temples).
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| P Saengswang |
13 September 2002 |
Stayed at Angkor Village Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Siem Reap is very different today than it was only a few years ago. Lots of new hotel construction, lots of tourists, and everything is priced in dollars. EXTREMELY expensive relative to everywhere else in SE Asia. That said, Angkor Wat, Angkot Thom, etc. are still magnificent. It is good for Cambodians that they are starting to build the infrastructure necessary to grab tourist dollars for their economy, but for you intrepid travellers out there - go now before it changes even further!
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