Mini Trip Report - Siem Reap/Angkor Wat
 

We spent 5 nights in Siem Reap in early January as part of 3 months in SE Asia/NZ and OZ - following is a "just the facts" trip report - i.e. hotels/restaurants/sights - and a link to our blog which has lots of photos and commentary.

Air Travel

We traveled in and out of Bangkok to Siem Reap (and later to Luang Prabang) using the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass - it was a great deal for our itinerary.

Hotel

We stayed at the Angkor Holiday Hotel which is relatively new, Cambodian owned and operated and a short walk or tuk tuk to "Bar Street" and the restaurants

We were very happy with the hotel and the rate (approx $70US for a very nice, very large room with broadband access for a small $5 per day fee) There are so many hotels in Siem Reap - and many of them are slightly out of town such that visitors might not visit the market and the restaurants in the old market area - and we feel you miss something by not staying in/experiencing the town (well - for us anyway).

Restaurants

So many good/great restaurants - so little time!

Following is a list of restaurants we visited (sorry - no addresses but they're all around Bar street) and then a list of the ones on our list we didn't get to

- Red Piano - good bar food/great people watching
- Khmer Kitchen - we still dream about Pork with Basil - dinner was $20 with a good bottle of wine!
- Abacus - as we say in our blog - anyway the French have been the food is good!
- Carnets d'Asie - a lovely courtyard location and delicious duck curry
- Viva - Mexican - I know!! I know!! but the chips and salsa sounded good and were!

(lots of pix of food from the above on our blog - link below)

Other places we didn't have a chance to dine at but come highly recommended

- the restaurant at Hotel de la Paix
- Soup Dragon

Sights

Angkor Wat was on my "life list" of places to see and it was wonderful - as were the other temples we visited. List of temples follows

- Angkor Wat
- Angkor Thom
- Pre Rup
- Banteay Srey
- Ta Prohm

The temples were each beautiful in their own way - trying to pick a favourite is difficult....but Ta Prohm stays with me.

We spent one day visiting the fishing villages on Tonle Sap - highly recommended.

We hired Dara Ly and a driver (Hong) for the time we were there and highly recommend a guide and driver - it was quite crowded while we were there but somehow we were always where the crowds weren't - Dara did a great job at timing our visits to minimize crowds and heat - it was really hot while we were there the 3rd week of January this year (funny note - friends of ours were there 10 days later also with Dara - we warned them about the heat - turns out Siem Reap had the first cold snap in memory - our friends had to buy sweatshirts and Dara was freezing!).

Prior to departure I had reacquainted myself with the region's history - most particularly the war of the 60s and 70s (probably should include the 50s in that list).......but once I was there I was consumed with interest - have since read several books written from different perspectives.....our later visit to Lao (mini trip report to follow) increased my desire to learn more about the history of Cambodia and Lao.............the books are piling up.

In summary - it's a fascinating destination that is undergoing a lot of change - I'd get there soon before the hotels choke Siem Reap.

Link to our blog

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/2...wat/index.html

Elizabeth - Just now found this thread, and I went to your blog. Enjoyed the details in the blog and LOVED the pictures. Thank you for sharing. Your details will be helpful as we plan our trip for next March.

laartista - if you see this thread, go to Elizabeth's blog and check out the pictures of the mosaics at the Reclining Buddha

Your blog on Siem Reap is wonderful. Great photos, interesting text. Thanks.

Great blog. Wonderful phots. We only saw the "Mad Max" village when we went to the floating village. We were upset at the living conditions. They were the poorest of the poor. So glad to see for the first time photos and infor about a better floating village. What is the second one called?

Thanks for your comments - I have to disclose that most of the blog is written by my husband (I'm chief editor and typist!)

The other fishing village is call Kompong Phluk - here's a link to a web site about visiting it.

http://www.geocities.com/kompong_phl...o_get/how.html

Hi Elizabeth,

Can you tell me how to contact your guide & driver. How much did you pay for their service?

Hi - our guide was Dara Ly and the driver was Hong - Dara and his sister Ponheary Ly have lots of fans on this board.

Contact information for both is

[email protected]

It was $55/day for the guide and driver - there were extra charges for the day on Tonle Sap for the boats and lunch but it was very modest - maybe another $40-$50.

Elizabeth -
I just read your blogs from Siem Reap/Angkor Wat and Bangkok. They are excellent! All I can say is "wow - what an experience." I am even more excited to go now! I, too, prefer sampling food than shopping. Any other suggestions for good restaurants in Bangkok that you know of?

drms - sorry not to reply before now - just saw your question about Bangkok restaurants.

We had two terrific meals in Bangkok at the following restaurants

Chote Chitr

Here's a link to a post with menu suggestions

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34933704

Coconut Palm
Maharaj Road
(Near Wat Pho on the river side)

And the restaurant at our hotel was excellent - The Deck at Arun Residence

http://arunresidence.com/dining.htm

Lots of photos of food on the blog

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/2...kok/index.html

Also, Bob, a frequent poster has a great list of restaurants at this link

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34895678

Elizabeth, Thank you so much!