Hi--
I was thinking of booking w/John Teng, based on the recs here. He's available when i will be there and has sent me a proposed itinerary, but is charging $15 extra (on top of the $50 car + driver) to take me to some more "distant" sites. Is this reasonable? Thanks.

Raquel,

It's not only reasonable--it's very customary for most guides. Some temples (Banteay Srey and others) are quite a ways outside Siem Reap proper and you're paying mostly for the gas costs.

It's worth the extra $15...it's actually worth much more than that to see some of those temples!

Happy Travels!

Yes, all drivers and guides charge extra for distant temples such as Banteay Srei.

Yes, it is reasonable. That seems to be the going rate for Beng Maelea and the Lingas, being around 1/2 day trip.

The cost for the 2 of us to go to Koh Ker for the day is going to be $150 for the car and guide, which turns out to be $75 each. We stop at Beng Maelea and another temple along the way, and, time permitting will go into the nearby animal reserve for an hour. Pon Heary gave us an excellent price for this trip . We're doing Koh Ker on our first full day....April 1.

when gas was much cheaper it was $5 extra so $15 sounds about normal for now a days...

I guess I can't compare practices - as we actually had John Teng as a driver. I did see a number of other references to guides who seemed to do the same when we were laying out the trip.

Just wanted to say that you wouldn't regret the time you spend with him. We really liked him for the information he shared (even though we only hired him as a driver - we may do that differently next time), but even more so as a good guy who was enjoyable to hang around with.