SIEM REAP

Nestled between rice paddies and stretched along the Siem Reap River, the small provincial capital of Siem Reap Town serves as the gateway to the millennium-old temple ruins of the Khmer Empire. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Angkor Archaeological Park encompasses dozens of temple ruins including Bayon, Banteay Srey and the legendary Angkor Wat whose artistic and archaeological significance and visual impact put it in a class with the Pyramids, Machu Pichu and the Taj Mahal. Unlike many other world class monuments, the ruins of Angkor are as yet unspoiled by over-development. This will not be true in a couple of years. Though the major temples are relatively well touristed these days, it is still possible get away from the crowds, to explore the area and discover Angkor.

Siem Reap Town is where you will stay during your visit to Angkor. The area has been receiving foreign visitors to the temples for over 100 years. The town is actually a cluster of old villages, which originally developed around individual pagodas, and later overlaid with an French colonial-era center. Note the colonial and Chinese style architecture in the town center and around the Old Market. Nowadays, Siem Reap offers a wide range of hotels, restaurants, pubs and shops including several upscale hotels and dozens of budget guesthouses. Often missed are the many opportunities to experience traditional Cambodia: ‘Apsara’ dance performances, craft shops and silk farms, road tours through rice-paddy countryside, boat trips on the great Tonle Sap Lake to fishing villages and bird sanctuary, and much more.

http://www.canbypublications.com/siemreap/srhome.htm



GETTING THERE

Airasia... now everyone can fly.....

Siem Reap is 1 hour behind Malaysia. Flight is 2 hours.

Dont forget the airport tax flying from Siem Reap is US25

All set to go and filling in the disembarkation form.

Despite all the warning. U cant stop passengers from taking photos outside that plane.

The first thing you'll notice about the airport is the american styling of the imigration hall. Outside the imigration hall, a contemporary modern structure was on top of the hall.

Hotels usually picked up their guests for free so its pretty easy to go from the airport. I recommend taking the slow ride, via tut tut (its actually a bike pulling a cart). No worries, it can fit four ppl max, so its quite comfortable for 2 people. Taking the slow ride will get you to slow down and be in the Siem Reap mode. A bit slow(20min to the city) but it gives u a chance to absorb the dust, a glance of the deprived life in the city and the experience of seeing Siem Reap far more then a taxi ride could offer.

WEATHER



Cambodia has 4 seasons: 1.Nov-Feb(Cool/dry), 2.March-May(Hot/dry), 3.June-August(Hot/wet), 4.September-October(Cool/Wet) Temperature may regulate between 20-35 degrees celcius. We were there during the cool/wet season. Even so the clear skies reminded me of being in the US where the strong sun light and dry air makes it very cooling to walk around. The downpours however gave us a bit of inconvenient whilst walking around the town.

SIEM REAP TOWN

Essentially a village and a cowboy town, Siem Reap was converted to a tourist destination to have all needed facilities.

Money Changer. The currency used was Riehl and US dollars.
RM3.50~1US1. RM1~Riehl1000.

Many man and woman in town were amputated and suffers from lost of limbs due to land mines.


John , Ooi & Osman	Osman & Michael
As the darkness falls, the Pub Street in the town of Siem reap comes a live. Tired from a long day of site seeing, hiking and temple climbing, all tourists will converge there for dinner and a scene of the night life.

MOVING ABOUT

A tut tut and driver will be at yours for US12 per day to the temples or around the city of Siem Reap. If u plan to take only a few stops per day, u might wanna negotiate with them(~US3/per trip i think), otherwise US12 sounds reasonable. That what we opted. The temples is located around 15km (20 minutes) from town. Other alternatives includes bicycles around US2-3/day. Car taxis are around US20-25 a day which is the same as a price of getting a tour guide.


Thats how the tut tut looks like. Capable of carrying 4 passengers.

Its wise for u to remember the number of the tut tut driver, and its color for you to spot him after the site trips. Its advised u get a driver from your hotel to avoid scams and obtain a trust worthy driver.

Alternatively tut tut could be found everywhere in town.	their favourite mode of transportation - motorcycles.
Yes... and they do carry almost everything on these motorcycles.
	The ride back to the airport costed US3.

ACCOMMODATION

Big hotels are located outside of the town. Hence we stayed at a guesthouse need the town/pub area to ease our walks to the old market, new market and enabled us to get quick access to food. A friend recommended a place called the RIGHTROOMS. It is also located beside the ARTISANS ANGKOR arts and craft workshop. It is however on a dark road...and seemed to be situated in a red light district.

Eightrooms website is at http://www.ei8htrooms.com/home.html

The entrance seemed somewhat welcoming

There's actually PCs in the lobby for free internet access at nights.

Each rooms were around US18. Breakfast not provided tho. With the early morning sunrise sight seeing,
u'd probably wont need it on some days.

Its clean and comfortable.

Ran by a group of young cambodians, its a home like place to be.

We didnt get a chance to join them for dinner, but their friendliness made the stay to be very pleasant.

Alternatively, the other guesthouse I would recommend is the RED PIANO. Thats where Ooi & Jon stayed.
Its US20, includes breakfast at the famous RED PIANO restaurant and is located on a parallel road nearby from our guesthouse.

ARTISTANS ANGKOR