| S Dey |
08 August 2004 |
Stayed at Raffles Hotel Le Royal - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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We visiited Siem Reap and stayed at Angkor Village, a truly boutique hotel in the heart of Siem Reap. We used motorbike taxis to visit Angkor, this helped to avoid the hordes of tourists in their coach parties. Our motorbike taxis also acted as guides, although we did do a certain amount of reading before we visited the temples. I recommend the FCC in Siem Reap for drinks & dinner.
We took the fast boat (5hrs ) from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. This boat leaves at 7am. It is a great way experience Cambodian river life and see beautiful scenery.
On arrival in Phnom Penh we found a driver who we used for 3 days, he spoke excellent English, and also acted as our guide, this was particulary useful when we visited the tragically harrowing Tuol Sleng museum and Cheung Ek (The Killing Fields). Recommended restaurants: Friends (restaurant run by street kids); FCC (Opposite the river); Bodhi Tree (opposite Tuol Sleng museum)- good veggie options.
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| S Chan |
28 July 2004 |
Stayed at Pavillon Indochine - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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We've tried several restaurants and found that Khmer Kitchen is really the best restaurant in town. Great food at very cheap price!! Beng Mealea is a must-go temple that is buried in the jungles. Great sense of adventure there!!
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| G Barrington |
28 July 2004 |
Stayed at Salina Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Temples fantastic. If you can allow more than 2-3 days to see everything it is much better. Eating out at local restaurants good value, tried Red Piano, Soup Dragon and Blue Pumpkin which were great. Don't go to Koulen Restaurant for Dance and dinner. Caters for large tour groups and was very poor value and food was only warm. Went to Chao Pra Ya was much better for the same thing. Far superior buffet meal and dancing much better. Found costs to get around high so allow for this. We took with us US money in lots of small denominations and made buying easy.
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| L Boyd |
28 July 2004 |
Stayed at Bopha Angkor - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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Visited Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, and others. We wished we had allowed more time for Ta Prohm! We were very thankful that we had arranged online for a guide and a van before we arrived ($110 for 2 days' worth of van, driver, and guide). One tip: American CASH is all that works. It has to be in pristine condition, too--we had a $100 bill with a very small cut on one corner and no one would accept it.
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| C Chia |
27 July 2004 |
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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We both had a great time in Siem Reap. It's a nice peaceful little town where you could truly relax. Locals there generally are very friendly. We shopped quite a fair bit and felt that should have brought more USD. Thai Baht is widely accepted as well. We went up to the north - Thailand and Cambodia border Poi Pet; my view is really nothing much to see there if you are not a gambler as the casinos are built there. According to our guide, all the casinos are being built near the borders and not in the city/province where the people can easily access to; which I think is good as the country is really poor should not make it easy to gamble. We do not mind to visit Siem Reap, Cambodia again. Probably next time should take more days off to cover other cities as well.
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| H Moss |
12 July 2004 |
Stayed at Pacific - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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In my first weekend I visited the Russian and Central markets; the Russian Market is cheaper for buying souvenirs although Central Market is definitely worth a look as its much larger and housed in a huge dome building. Sisowath Quay is also worth a look and has a stunning view of the Royal Palace - probably better than paying to go inside as it is quite expensive and you are restricted to only a few places inside the Palace courtyard. Of all the Wats I saw I'd also recommend Wat Phnom as the most impressive - a piece of tranquility in the midst of a busy city.
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| M Hanaya |
09 July 2004 |
Stayed at Passaggio Boutique Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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A beautiful place to visit but really all you would need is 2-3 days. Not much to do except to visit all the Wats (which are spectacular) and visit the old market. Highly recommend the speed boat to Phnom Penh or vice versa. What an experience!
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| J Goss |
27 June 2004 |
Stayed at Holiday Villa Phnom Penh - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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Central market and Russian market are nice trips. For those interested in "dark tourism": Tuol Sleng is a gruesome must-see; the "Killing fields" at Chuong Ek is a long drive, and it is not well preserved, but it can be a moving experience. Take plenty of sunscreen and water for the boat trip to Siem Reap!
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| L Chye seng |
13 June 2004 |
Stayed at Raffles Hotel Le Royal - Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
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Phnom Penh is actually not a great city to tour, besides Royal Palace, muzeum, killing fields, there are no other interesting tourist spots to visit. Of course, a walk along the river bank is a must at night where there are rows of restaurants and night spots to linger around.
For shopping spree, just go to Russian market, though stuffy and dusty, it is still a worthwhile visit as there are various types of goods to buy from local handcrafts, antiques, garment products, tapes, VCD, food and etc etc.
The holiday value for Phnom Penh doesn't really look good as there are more and more direct flights to Siem Reap from all over the world. One of the staffs in Le Royal hotel also admitted this fact as most of the holidaymakers now bypass Phnom Penh since their main destination is Angkor Wat.
Lastly, if you do not go to Angkor Wat, please patronise Artisan D'Angkor outlet at the airport, they produce fantastic sand stone carvings and also silk products. But if you go to Siem Reap, just visit their workshop.
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| J Njoo |
16 May 2004 |
Stayed at Ta Prohm - Siem Reap, Cambodia.
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I feel that the temple of Angkor wat itself is quite over rated but the other temples of Bayon and Ta Phrom are truly magnificent. We watched the sunset on the hill overlooking Angkor Wat and again, it wasnt as magnificent as I would have expected. Watching the sunrise was much better even though we had to get up at 4.30am! Check out the 'Red Piano' restaurant for really good local and international food and a nice atmosphere, which is located very near the hotel.
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Traveller's Tales: Places to go and see in Cambodia
