To rhkkmk and others
I have been reading these messages with great interest and intrigue, particularly with regard to hotels and malaria pills. My friend and I are off to Thailand for 17 days on Dec 12.

You mentioned that you did not find comforts at Angkor Village hotel. Could you elaborate? We are booked in there for 2 nights from Dec 24. We have not yet paid and I am wondering if I should change. Our internet travel agent, Circle of Asia gave 3 choices - Princess Angkor, Angkor village and the Pansea. What say you - or anyone else for that matter?

I say call that travel agent FAST as your fingers can dial, and switch to the Pansea. I have heard very good things about that hotel.

On the other hand, I spent the MOST miserable night of my life in the Angkor Village. The room smelled of mildew and there were red streaks of it on the walls in the bathroom. The towels were threadbare. The aircon did not work properly, so everything felt damp. Neither of the floorlamps worked. The bed consisted of a wooden platform with a very thin foam pad on it. The pillows were small, flat squares, that even when 3 were stacked up, would not properly support your head.
We were booked to stay 3 nights. When we informed the management that we were checking out after only one night, they did not even question us, or try to charge us for the unused room nights. I think it's because they must know how awful it is to sleep there.
I have heard people complain about mosquitoes there and the noise from the dance show, but thankfully we did not have those problems on top of everything else.
We hightailed it over to the Sofitel, where we got a great rate because it was in the middle of the SARS crisis. But I am sure you will be much happier at the Pansea, which looked quite charming from the outside. (We tried to get in there, but they were sold out.)

Oops, just reread your post and realized that it was an internet travel agent. So revise that first statement to read FAST as your little fingers can type!!

OK, one last comment and then I'm done. I noticed you will be there over the Christmas holiday.
If you are looking for something festive and special in the way of a holiday meal, contact the Raffles Hotel there to see what they are offering. Nothing like colonial charm and great food to make a holiday memorable.

People have had different experiences at the Angkor Village Resort. I spent a week there in December, 2001 and had a wonderful experience. We had a room on the second floor with soaring ceilings. The room was lovely, no mildew, fine towels, etc. The only complaint I had was that the beds were traditional so were very hard. I've read Lindsay's experience, and clearly it was awful. I've heard from someone else recently that they had a great experience at the Angkor Village resort. So clearly, the stays can be variable.

I stayed at the Pansea in Luang Prabang and it was lovely. I did hear from someone who stayed at the Pansea in Siem Reap that they had a good experience, and I heard from someone else that they thought the pool was "gross."

I think the problem here may be that the care of these hotels is variable, so no guarantees.

ok---angkor village...it is very attractive--the most authentic looking place i saw---at least from the western eye....there were lots of bugs at nite, attracted to the many lites around the place which made the place very appealing, but the bugs (flying) detracted from that....like the 2000 flying things on our bathroom window (outside) in the nite...

the bed was hard as hell 9as noted above)...it gave me such trouble that i could literally hardly walk the first day (my wife had to assist me, even after strong pills)...this was the main problem


we had a mid-level room (price-wise)..it was on the ground floor and was quite large and had loads of floor to ceiling windows looking our on the water and plants...

there was an all nite wedding going on at the next property which caused loud music for hours....

the food was only ok in my opinion although the dining room was lovely...

there were only about 15 lounges at the pool and everyone else had to stand up or stay in the pool---the pool was small but very nice....mosquitos at dusk...

the furnishings were spartan and there were a few grass rugs on the floor....
the bathroom was large as was the tub, but no shower curtain and only a hand held shower head.....plenty of hot water, however...

they arranged for a very nice driver and guide for us...

IN SHORT, I'D MOVE TO EITHER THE ANGKOR HOTEL, THE SOFITEL OR THE PANSEA, DEPENDING ON YOUR BUDGET OR ANY NEW HOTEL RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED

I stayed at the Pansea in Aug and the property is very nice. Centrally located - we could release our driver and walk home after dinner every night. Our guide also told us it is one of the more premium properties. Small things in the room design could have been improved but in general +ve exp and no complaints. I would ESP recommend it for u and a friend - I was also with a friend and rooms are large with 2 twin beds, bathroom is big with large dressing area, lots of place to keep bags etc. so quite well suited to 2 travelers. Out of int I went to see the rooms at the Grand and while charming they are small hence ideally suited to couples. Breakfast is great, choice of indoor or outdoor seating, staff is very friendly, lovely first floor semi outdoor bar - on the whole for what I paid I thot it was excellent VFM. So, switch!

I second Lindsey's suggestion - if u are in the mood to splurge. We splurged 2 nights - once on dinner at Amansara and once on a post dinner liquer at the Grand. Both hotels are well worth seeing - as we went off season staff in both places gave us guided tours incl rooms which was amazing - seeing how the other half lives always appeals to me!

Friends of mine stayed at Angkor Village on their 2nd trip to SR just a few months ago and were quite disappointed and uncomfortable. We have stayed in quite nice hotels in SR for about $50/night for a double. Air con worked great, scrupulously clean, very comfortable beds, etc.

Lindsey, do you really mean Raffles, or do you mean the Grand?

raffles and grand are the same....the grand hotel AW is run by the raffles group

I know, but if you were looking for Raffles in SR you wouldn't find it, at least I never saw anything on the Grand that said Raffles. Just didn't want shazip to be confused.

The full and proper name of the hotel is Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor.
I just did a search on Google for "Raffles in Siem Riep" and it popped right up.

Oh, yes, the Grand Hotel D'Angkor, aka The Pretentious. Staying at this hotel in Siem Riep is like wearing a Balenciaga ballgown in a canoe. I am sure this hotel was once full of colonial charm, but Raffles ruined it with refurbishment, reducing it now to a Bombay & Co. that you would find at a local mall. My mother and I went there for drinks and were entertained by a woman in a safari outfit (it was 10 PM) who looked like she stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad. She must have thought that the upper classes dress in ridiculous outfits and parade around like Naomi Campbell. What was worse, however, was the piano player, suited up in head-to-toe black cashmere, playing Cole Porter in the Monkey Bar. Talk about inappropriate. (Well, at least we had a good laugh and amusing ancedotes to tell when we returned home.) If this keeps up, soon there will be a LEXUS dealership next to the Central Market.

ThinGorjus, I hope some day that my wife and I run into you in one of those upscale places in SE Asia. You have certainly brought "attitude" to this forum and I for one, appreciate your perspective.

I stayed at the Pansea last November. I felt that both the grounds and the rooms were lovely and the staff was extremely accomodating. It was very wekk situated and I found that I could walk to the post office and the market easily. What amused me was that there was a price list posted near the desk with the prices of the various room furnishings and decorations on it, just in case you liked the room so much that you wanted to duplicate it at home. Enjoy your trip

Thank you everyone for your prompt and details replies. I got my fingers typing fast and have secured accommodation at the Pansea instead of Angkor Village. What attracted me to it initially was it's architectural style but I guess that all glistens is not gold.

I am taken with all your passions of opinions and advice. It certainly gave me some useful first hand information for which I have been searching.

I hope our trip will work out well. I am so looking forward to it. My friend found some good hotel deals through priceline in Bangkok, 3 nights at the Banyan Tree at the beginning of our trip, 2 nights at the Sukothai at the end and our one splurge, the Peninsula on Xmas eve.

Inbetween we are going to Phuket and flying from there to Chiang Mai continuing with a 3 day tour through the hills up to Mae Hong Son, then back to Bangkok by overnight sleeper by train, Siem Reap, Bangkok and then home to San Francisco. Quite a hectic itinerary! I hope we are not attempting too much in 17 days.

Any more general tips?

a restaurant that we liked in SR was the La Noria, just across the river from the Grand....some here have not liked it but we did and had a great meal there...nothing fancy but good and very reasonable....open air

we also liked the red piano in town...really just a bar with good food....we had drinks there one day and lunch another day...no a/c, but fans...

we had our driver take us off the beaten track one afternoon for a change....we had been out at the artisians school (the location way outside the town) and on the way back he took us to a large resevoir (boring), but the market nearby was interesting for local color...he also took us on a long country road on the opposite side of the main road from the resevoir which took us through a farming?? community--lots of photo ops....we really liked this and thought we saw some "real cambodia"...

you have a great hotel experience awaiting you in bkk...you have choosen very well....at the suk, try the thai restaurant....at the penn try jesters; at bay tree try the dim sum at the rest. on the top floor....a couple of years ago this was one of the top hotels in bkk when it opened...i don't know what happened to the westin name???

The best thing about the Grand, IMHO, is the happy hour 2-for-1 margaritas. Otherwise, I tend to agree with Thin. Siem Reap is just not the place where I choose to stay in the most expensive hotel in town.