Siem Reap

[beerlaodrinker]

this threads brought back a few memories , me and a mate flew down from PP to check out angkor and decided on the boat trip to get back , we were on the roof and departed early morning, fuk it was cold and we werent really dressed for it , The Tonle sap is amazingly chocka with fish , looking back at the outboards you could see em getting thrown up by the wake , We got stuck in fishing nets a couple of times and had to stop while they untangled them ,i was waiting for the gunplay to start from the owners of the nets , Interesting trip but would probably just fly these days, Like fondles i was a bit under whelmed with the temples though 1 day was enough for me some people cant get enough and spend days looking at them, fair enough if thats your thing

[SiLeakHunt]

I was thinking of giving Angkor Wat a look

[wasabi]

One day at the Temples was enough for Me,trouble was the Tuk Tuk driver wanted 2 days money. Second day ,more than happy to swim in the swimming pool and receive a Khema massage.
Temple steps are very steep,beware of falling,no railings.

[DrAndy]

I was told Barang (Cambodian for Farang) are banned from hiring motor bikes in SR the only way around it is you buy the bike then sell it back.

we hired a couple of blokes with bikes to ride around, maybe that is not allowed now? they didn't have tuktuks then

[DrAndy]

most everyone says it can't be done comfortably in a day and I move slowly as it is, so I'll try the 3-day pass and see the 7 major temples.

yes, get a three day pass and get there at sunrise each day

around 10am there are too many busloads arriving and all the magic vanishes

get to a couple of temples whilst it is still dark and watch the places come out as the sun rises

[LEGENDARY]

Have just come back from an 8-day vacation in Cambodia, crossing the border in at Choam Sa Ngam and coming out at Poipet. The way in was exciting and I did an overnight at Anlong Veng. No one was unfriendly, but I did get a feeling of coldness, in general, from the people there. Hard to know just staying one night, but that's my gut feeling... The Angkor temples in and around Siem Reap are stunning. I did the 3-day pass and visited about 16 temples. I had a great tuk-tuk driver and if anyone is looking for a good one in Siem Reap, I would be happy to pass on his contact info... Thank you all for giving me some advance intel. It helped a lot.

[LEGENDARY]

One day at the Temples was enough for Me,trouble was the Tuk Tuk driver wanted 2 days money. Second day ,more than happy to swim in the swimming pool and receive a Khema massage.
Temple steps are very steep,beware of falling,no railings.

Good point about the steps. I found I even needed to be careful on the sandstone flagstones, as they are not uniform and tend to collect mud. When mixed with water, you tend to slide sometimes and could actually lose your balance. At Angkor Wat, they carried a guy out on a morning after it had rained most of the night.

[Scottish Gary]

The night life in SR i thought was pretty poor. One club called Angkor covered in luminous paint and full of the Khao San Road crowd. You get the picture.
The temples are impressive when you first see them but after a while become a bit same same. Loads of street kids selling junk outside Angkor Wat. Funny little fuckers.
They shout abuse in English if you dont buy there stuff. One called me ''no hair bastard'' when i didnt buy her bangles and i heard another shouting ''big ass'' at some fat female backpacker. They are sweet looking little things until all this abuse comes out their mouths. I thought it was funny but i heard other tourists complaining about it.

[colinc1]

Try the Angkor draft beer for 50cents, its not a bad drop at all.

With the temples, i got my tuk tuk driver to go in the opposite way the general tourist go, that way i missed most of those tourist buses full of rude jap cnts.

beware of ladies of the night, there are a few mamasans who wonder up and down the main streets looking for customers for their girls, around $30 - $50 for maybe 2 -3 hrs at the most.

I think 3 -5 days is enough if you are into photography

[Lostandfound]

Hire a bicycle. Enter the teme complex through back road dirt tracks nw of angkor thom and use the $$ you save on entry ticket to pick up vietnamese hookers at local nightclub

[LEGENDARY]

Yeah, I had some bad experiences with kid vendors; nothing that got me out of my stride, but one was particularly ugly... I developed my own strategy of dealing with the groups. I'd just hang until they passed on, and stayed ahead of the next one. That way I had the temples pretty much by myself... You're right, though. It's amazing how impolite Japanese and Chinese tourists can be... As for the girls of the night, did not taste this time, although I was nearly dragged off the street to have a massage not far from the night market. Good thing I have zippers on my pockets... Try the BBQ croc. It's pretty good... Am writing about my first trip to Cambodia at my blog, "The Isaan, Life in a Thai-Lao Village."

[Phuketrichard]

Hire a bicycle. Enter the teme complex through back road dirt tracks nw of angkor thom and use the $$ you save on entry ticket to pick up vietnamese hookers at local nightclub

What a bullshit answer, EVERY temple has ticket takers that will ask for ur ticket, NO ticket... NO entry.

The entire complex u don't need a ticket to enter if u only desire is to ride around on the roads and view the temples from afar.

[nedkellylives]

We are stopping at the Royal Angkor Resort which is very nice for 8 days
Spent a day looking at the temples which was enough for both of us
Not much to see in town except for night market and pub street
Hotel pickup smiled when said we were staying for 8 days now we know why
Seen the temples we wanted to and done the lake trip, 3 days would have been plenty, the tourist guide who we went to the lake with agreed

[nedkellylives]

Hire a bicycle. Enter the teme complex through back road dirt tracks nw of angkor thom and use the $$ you save on entry ticket to pick up vietnamese hookers at local nightclub

What a bullshit answer, EVERY temple has ticket takers that will ask for ur ticket, NO ticket... NO entry.

The entire complex u don't need a ticket to enter if u only desire is to ride around on the roads and view the temples from afar.

You are right no ticket no entry to the temples, you are allowed to look at them from the roads without one from your bicycle if you are a cheapskate

[Lostandfound]

Hire a bicycle. Enter the teme complex through back road dirt tracks nw of angkor thom and use the $$ you save on entry ticket to pick up vietnamese hookers at local nightclub

What a bullshit answer, EVERY temple has ticket takers that will ask for ur ticket, NO ticket... NO entry.

The entire complex u don't need a ticket to enter if u only desire is to ride around on the roads and view the temples from afar.

That's what I do. Seen one, seen em all.

[dirk diggler]

I bought a day ticket and went on my way. Not once was I asked to provide it after that.

[Phuketrichard]

every time i have been, i am asked at the entrance of each and every temple I wish to enter for my ticket.
and we are talking numerous times over the past 7 years i have been going
I cant see how u got by without being asked.

[dirk diggler]

Maybe I went on a free day and only got ripped off at the first gate!

[nedkellylives]

Just got back from Cambodia, we booked for 8 days and changed are flight booking to come back in 4 days
One day was enough for us at the temples, paving was very uneven which made it difficult to walk for me also very crowded 5000 people a day even though it was the low season or so i was told
Did a lake trip which was supposed to include a crocodile and fish farm
The crocodile farm consisted of a skull and crocodile skin in a room and a few fish and the fish farm was a small fish pen with a few catfish in it at the same location
Found a nice bar/restaurant in the night market area called Homecocktail
pint of draught anchor beer 16 baht, small bottles of beer between 32 and 48 baht
large bottle of beer lao 80 baht and they had good and reasonably priced western food as well
Really not much to see or do there apart from the temples
They asked to see entry ticket at every temple

[Phuketrichard]

All depends on what temple u visit an at what time the amount of people u will encounter

There are two different lake trips, ( seem the one u went on is the one to avoid) the other starts heads to Kampong Phluk

Next time anyone is up there , try the Loft restaurant , on the main road heading towards Pup street ( on the left) and night market ( on the right) Its on the right hand side as your heading to pup street. Great food

[Lostandfound]

In SR at the moment. The town is heaving with plenty plenty $$ being spent

Hotels pushing up rates and the tourists here seem genuinely high quality for the most part. Bangkok's loss seems to be Cambodia's gain.

[Johnny Farang]

I was there last year and did the aerial tour with these guys. A small operation run by a Brit and a Yank with a couple of microlights.

Not exactly cheap, but well worth it imho.

[DJ Pat]

Spent new year 2004-5 in Siem Reap. Was told beforehand that the 'culture & temples and vibe will give you a new outlook on life' That was a load of bollocks. Went out once to the market on a slow bicycle taxi, saw the same old shit being sold as in Thailand, thought ''fuck that'' and got a case of Angkor beer and stayed in my hotel room for the few days, at the newly built Le Meridien.

[DJ Pat]

Found the picture of my fridge in my hotel room that trip

Lightweight!!! I hear you shout....

[Lostandfound]

^agree with DJ, but I prefer Siem Reap to most thai places- better western food, cheaper wine. Countryside is flat and good for cycling

As for temples nothing beats places like Canterbury, Salusbury, Notre Dame. All of which are similar age to Angkor. In fact they make angkor look like an over decorated pikey bungalow camp in comparison