Siem Reap, Cambodia travel tales and tips

Siem Reap, Cambodia travel tales

Our customers share their travelling experiences in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation. Also, you might want to read our Angkor / Siem Reap city guide, and Phnom Penh city guide.

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C Oliver	31 January 2005
Stayed at Angkor Century Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
So much is said about the temples nothing more needs to be added - what I would strongly recommend is a visit to the floating village - truly an experience and one not to be missed. As for transport we would catch a tuk tuk at night when going out to eat as they as such good fun but during the day we hired a driver (arranged very efficiently by hotel - he was very good - spoke good english and made sure we got to see all the sites + a few other off the beaten track temples). I would thoroughly recommend both the hotel and the driver - his name was Mey-Buntheon, Bun for short and his email is buntheoun_mey@hotmail.com - he charged $25 per day and was worth it. He works independently of the hotel so you can contact him directly.
A Mccullen	30 January 2005
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Moto-trailers and motorcycles are absolutely everywhere so you will have no problems in finding transport, though contact lens wearers, be warned - the roads are very very dusty! There are plenty of great restaurants around Siem Reap ranging from Khmer to Indian to French, or if you wanted to go local, you could always eat at one of the street stalls serving Khmer noodles, rice, and baguette sandwiches. We even saw fried beetles with garlic for those with a more adventurous palette! Although I only saw them being sold by one vendor on the East bank of the river, over the bridge from the Old Market. There are loads of souvenir shops round the old market area as well as classy little boutiques that support local Cambodians like Rajana, Senteurs and Artisans D'Angkor which also had tours around their workshops if you wanted. The Khmer Kitchen is a gem - their amok is wonderful with the coconut milk made fresh (we could hear them grinding the coconuts!) and deservedly popular. It's tucked away in a small lane behind Bar Street so look out for its sign or you'll miss it! We also tried the Soup Dragon which serves a great pho (pronounced 'fur') noodle soup dish in the mornings and the Red Piano restaurant with international food and generous portions. Most of the restaurants have upstairs balcony seating, nice for the street views. The Blue Pumpkin cafe serves great pastries, breads and ice cream. If you wanted to visit some bars, there is 'Bar Street' with the very popular Angkor What?, Temple Bar, Buddha Lounge to name a few, and Linga bar just around the corner, a very trendy affair and SR's one and only gay bar. One thing I would definitely recommend visitors go to is the Beatocello concert held every Friday and Saturday evening at the Jayavaraman VII pediatric hospital next to the Sofitel hotel. The founder and director, Dr. Beat Richner puts on informal concerts playing the cello (hence Beatocello) combined with talking about the hospital's activities. Their services are offered completely free and it is depends very much on donations. You can see that it is put to good use with world-class facilties having been built for the Cambodian children. Even if you can't give any money, you can give blood so I would urge visitors to support this project in either way. If you hire a local guide, around lunchtime they will 'suggest' a Khmer restaurant for you to go to. As it was our first day, we thought why not? and were taken to a nice enough restaurant. We were the first customers, but one by one, we saw tour guides bringing in their guidees(?) until the whole restaurant was filled! It wasn't that the food was bad, it was alright but it was expensive by Siem Reap standards ($18 for three dishes) and we thought Khmer Kitchen and Soup Dragon were much much better. So insist that you go to a restaurant of your choice or just ask them to drop you off at the Old Market where you can walk around and pick for yourself where you want to eat. You'll spend less and get more authentic food! There's a balloon ride that gives you a great view over Angkor Wat and Phnom Bakheng, $11 for 10 minutes but worth it! Would have been nice for sunset but book ahead because the tour groups often go for this option. There are also helicopter tours, I can't remember how much they were but it is very very expensive! Take a break in the middle of the day from touring the temples (we usually stopped from 12-2 or 3) because it was hot, hot, hot! However, if you can stand the heat, you'll be rewarded by an infinitely more peaceful wandering-round-the-temples experience! Have fun, we certainly did!
M Mok	24 January 2005
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Besides Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon... should also try the far-out places like Banteay Srei & Banteay Samre. Banteay Samre...less touristy... very serene... my favourite. Be prepared to do some climbing up Phnom Bakheng but it is worth the climb for the beautiful sunset lookout. Must try Soup Dragon Restaurant for their Green Mango Salad & Vietnamese Spring Roll. Molly Malone is also good for their French onion soup, salads & desserts but have to wait quite awhile for the serving. Le Grande Cafe has a beautiful balcony lookout upstairs. Have tried their Vietnamese food "Amok" over here. Quite good.
D Brickell	24 January 2005
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
For our first day of visiting Angkor Wat and other temples we hired a driver and a guide. We paid $20 for the driver and another $20 for an English speaking guide for the day. (with an hour and a half break for lunch). Our guide took us to all the major sights of Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Angkor Thom area. One of the things we did, that was a lot of fun for us, was to take an elephant ride. Just outside the Angkor Thom south gate there is a group of elephants at a road-side facility. You can hire an elephant with a handler. The cost is $11. Our ride took us through the south gate into Angkor Thom along the jungle. Our ride lasted about a half hour. It was a great experience. For the second day we didn't use a driver or guide, but hired a tuk tuk (mortorized rick-shaw) for the day for $10. We merely told our tuk tuk driver where we wanted to go and off we went. Our first stop was at Ta Prohm where we hired a guide for $4 for a 1 hour tour. This was very worthwhile as our guide showed us all the best locations to get good photographs as well as explaining some of the history. (The guides at this location are local young men who seem to hang out at the temple -- they do not have official guide badges, but are very knowledgeable). We also visited several lesser known places in the area that we spotted while driving through the Angkor Wat complex. One of the best restaurants we ate at was the Chivit Thai. It is a Thai restaurant and the food was outstanding. The price was also very reasonable (Under $20 for dinner and beer). Another restaurant that had good food was the Foreign Correspondent's Club (FCC). However, it was more expensive than the Chivit Thai. In our opinion the food at Chivit Thai was better.
K Parker	24 January 2005
Stayed at Mysteres d' Angkor - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
For anyone travelling overland between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and thinking about taking the boat, all I can say is DON'T DO IT!! We caught a bus up to Siem Reap and the boat back to Phnom Penh. The boat was an uncomfortable and unsafe 7 hour trip. It was packed full of tourists and I think nearly everyone had a look of disappointment on their face when they realised what they were in for. Inside the boat there were narrow seats with very little leg room. If you were sitting next to any wall you had to crick your neck for the whole journey. There were no windows at all and only two entry points both at the same end of the boat. If this boat had sunk anyone sitting inside wouldn't have a chance! Additionally there was only one toilet for about 70 people for a 7 hour journey. When I enquired about it midway through the journey I was told not to go unless I was absolutely desperate. I held on! We decided we’d rather sit on the roof, as did as many other people who could fit on the roof. It turned out to be a long, hot, uncomfortable journey which ended with a painful bout of sunburn. And all this was provided for the hefty price of US$25 each. By contrast the bus was comfortable and there were regular stops for food and the toilet. Admittedly our bus did have to stop because of a problem with the radiator but this was quickly fixed. In the end the journey took the same amount of time as the boat but it only cost US$7.
C Ryan	23 January 2005
Stayed at Borei Angkor Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Compared with Phnom Penh Siem Reap is very laid back + friendly. Getting around is easy you can use your legs although it does get a bit hot walking everywhere! We used a tuktuk + our driver was Mr. Saleap - he is found outside Borei Angkor hotel, took us to the temples + basically everywhere else we wanted to go - look him up he is ultra reliable. We liked Angkor What?, a bar where everyone crowds in good atmosphere everyone chatting away, dancing + having a good laugh - we also went to Laundry, a late drinking joint which unlike Martini had no women of the night!! Restaurants we liked were Khmer kitchen + soup dragon.
A Farber	16 January 2005
Stayed at Angkor Diamond Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Angkor wat and the surrounding temples are phenomenal. We had a guide ($20/day) and a car ($20/day) take us around; while that's not the cheapest way, it was the most informative because the guide knew all sorts of information and when you've seen that many temples, you don't want to inhale exhaust or feel the heat. We did two days, which we think was enough to see all of the 2stars + temples and more would be too much to remember anyway. We also had a really good meal at the Buddha Lounge and a really good massage at the Island Traditional Khmer Massage place catty-corner from the old market. Siem Reap is very walkable and cute, but again, for two days not more. Also, the guide told us that if you stay in a 5-star hotel, like the Raffles, you end up paying more for EVERYTHING!
M Fisken	14 January 2005
Stayed at Borei Angkor Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We were only in Siem Reap for 3 days and wanted to make sure we got to see the temples we wanted to see in this time without having to race around like headless chooks. We took the advice of many travellers comments on this website and also friends who have travelled to Siem Reap and booked a travel guide (Phan Virak phanvirak@yahoo.com) and driver organised by the guide. We decided to book before we arrived so we did not lose valuable time to see the temples, but could also take breaks during the heat of the day and have a swim at the hotel. We also read up on the temples and made a list of what we wanted to see. Our guide was recommended to us and he was very knowledgeable and interesting having worked with the Tomb Raider film crew. Some of the temples were a great distance across rough roads but we were so pleased that we chose to visit them as you could immerse yourself into the temple without being surrounded by tourists. We were told that we had chosen the best time to travel to Cambodia (mid January) as it was cooler (but still over 30 degrees Celsius) and the humidity was low. Some of the temples we visited were in remote areas and we got to see how everyday villagers lived. These areas are very poor and parents struggle to send their children to school. Any assistance with pens, pencils, writing pads etc will be welcomed. We were so pleased that we still had pens and pencils left to hand out to these children and they were so excited when we gave them to them (they did have kiwi themes all over them as well).
L Langley	10 January 2005
Stayed at Borei Angkor Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We spent 3 nights in Siem Reap and would definitely recommend at least 4 or more if one has the time. We took a guide and driver recommended by the hotel and spent 2 days visiting the temples. It was completely fascinating and we were pleased that we had a guide as we felt we would have missed a lot had we done it alone. That said, we were exhausted at the end of each day. Extra days would have been good so that we could return to our favourite temples and just sit and soak up the atmosphere. Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor, was sold at all the temple complexes. This is a must read and we would highly recommend buying and reading it at home before your visit. Passes to the temple complex cost $20 for a 1-day pass and $40 for a three day. Passport photo required. Passport photo also needed at Siem Reap airport for a Cambodian visa which costs US$20. No autobanking machines in Siem Reap so we just ensured that we arrived with plenty of US$.
S Chu chee louh	06 January 2005
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
This time of the year (Jan 2005), siem reap is all dusty and full of tourists. Four days of visit starting with the ancient ruins were just nice and beyond words. The local guide book & 3D maps are available at hotels for free and they are full of information. Restaurants to visit: Blue Pumpkin (a must try) with it "white" decorated restaurant/cafe on the 2nd floor. Food served are fusion food and portion is big and nice. Their Banana youghut shake is just to my liking. Soup Dragon Restaurant (Opposite Blue Pumpkin). A variety of western, cambodian and vietnamese food served. Must trys - Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Cambodian Green Mango Salad, Cambodian Beef Fondu. Price reasonable.

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