Angkor Wat
 

we would like to hire a car and tour guide at Angkor Wat, (march time frame) and wanted to know if anyone had a particular guide they might recomend?

Just returned from a short trip to Siem Reap and would recommend LY Ponheary as a guide. She is a registered guide and can be contacted on (855) 012910759 or by email ([email protected]) <BR> <BR>This women is fluent in English and French and is very knowledgeable about the sites. You should beware that there are lots of people offering their services as guides, but many lack the language capability or have memorized a set dialogue for each site. Guides are necessary in order to gain a full appreciation of the historical, archeological and religious importance of the Angkor area. She will also arrange your car and driver, as well as hotel/pension if you like. <BR> <BR>I would recommend making reservations now. Rates will be in USD and plan to pay in USD. <BR> <BR>Enjoy your trip. You are wise to be going in the near future because if the country remains stable, tourism is going to overrun Siem Reap.

We just got back from Angkor Wat and used Suzanne's suggestion to hire LY Ponheary as a guide. She was wonderful and was doubled the pleasure of our trip. We only had 24 hrs there and we felt she made excellent use of our time. She picked us up at the airport and made everything very easy. She shared a lot of her personal experiences being Cambodian, which was really interesting as well.

We returned yesterday from a trip which included Siem Reap and because of the two about recommendations we used Ponheary Ly for our guide and was very pleased. She seeems very dependable and honest. She and her family also have a small guesthouse - but I don't know any other details.<BR>We chose to stay at La Noria guesthouse which was highly recommended by some one on this site. It is operated by French but we thought it was very poor value for $45, and not especially friendly. For example, there is a charge of $ 2.50 US if you add eggs to breakfast. The food was OK but nothing you would go out of your way for. Next time I would try another in town place.

We stayed in Ta Phrom which is in Siem Reap and found it very satisfactory. Has a restaurant in it that served typical Cambodian foods one night which was very interesting.

Hello-<BR>For those of you that have used Ponheary as a guide, did you stay in her guesthouse as well? If so, what did you think?

I liked La Noria and never felt cheated by them. On the contrary, they were very helpful and friendly. Two other places I enjoyed were Red Piano (next to the old market and on top of an excellent "watering place") and Secrets of the Elephants (a bit removed from town but situated next to an EXCELLENT restaurant called Madame Butterfly).

I had an excellent guide his name is Sovann and his email address is [email protected]. He speaks very good english and knows all the interesting stories and history of the various temples.

I stayed in Ponheary's guesthouse earlier this month, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly. The guesthouse is called Marina Villa, and two of us stayed four nights in a very clean room with a/c, cable TV, and hot shower for $15 per night. You can email Ponheary directly or call.<BR><BR>Ponheary was unavailable to serve as our tour guide during the visit (two others had already reserved her!), but she arranged for a tour guide and driver for us. I would definitely recommend visiting sooner rather than later. The tourist crowds are only going to get bigger.

Jimmy-<BR>Thanks for writing about Ponheary's Guesthouse. I have been in contact with her via email and will probably stay there in July.<BR>Can you give me an idea of where the guesthouse is located in the town (so I can find it on a map)? Was it a convienant location? Anything else worth mentioning? <BR>How many days were you in Siem Reap?<BR>Did you go to Phnom Penh? If so, where did you stay?<BR>Thanks!!

We returned recently from Siem Reap. We used the guide services of Pon Heary and saw her guest house (although we were staying elsewhere). It is on a side street in the middle of Siem Reap town. It looked like a simple, but decent, place. There are restaurants nearby. We were satisfied with her services as tour guide. <BR><BR>I would strongly advise visitors to Angkor Wat to visit that temple first thing in the morning, rather than the afternoon. It is so crowded in the afternoon that it cannot be enjoyed. Loads of tourists who come for day trips from Bangkok --with Angkor Wat at the top of their list-- all visit in the afternoon. So ignore your guidebook and see it in the morning when it is not overrun with crowds. <BR><BR>We found 2 1/2 days just adequate for seeing all the important temples and a couple of the less visited ones. They were all unique in their own ways, so it is important to see a number of them. It is the combination of so many of them that makes this such an important and amazing destination. <BR><BR>

Just got back from Cambodia and we used Ponheary as our guide and stayed at her guesthouse, the Marina Villa. She was an excellent guide and a very interesting person. The guesthouse is simple, but in a good location near many restaurants. The Chiang Mai Thai restaurant across the street is very good. <BR>She charged us $20 a day to be our guide and the guesthouse was $15 a night for A/C, TV, refrigerator, and private bathroom. A car and driver was another $20 a day and well worth it!You can still email her at [email protected]. Tell her Kristina and David recommended her.<BR>You'll be able to read about our trip soon at http://www.wired2theworld.com<BR>