Cambodia: Ideas, anyone?

[bao-bao]

Having done some rudimentary research on Cambodia (I enjoyed reading the reports by MMB on GTT and funtop here) I'm seriously considering venturing into this new area somewhere after the first of the year - maybe February.

I've been told that 3 or 4 days in Siem Reap will give me a fairly good look at some of the multiple sites in the Angkor Wat area, and a couple of days in the Phnom Phen area is enough to get an idea of that area, too. Are there any thoughts on this? Am I expecting to do too much in a week?

I am NOT much at all of a clubs/partying/boys kind of guy so I plan to make the most of daylight hours to do actual sightseeing. A gay hotel might be nice, but is certainly not a requirement. I may or may not have a Thai friend accompanying me, depending on his work and vacation availability. A place like Om Yim, Baan Dok Mai or a more traditional hotel would be fine. I'd like to keep it to between $50 and $75 per night.

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on hotels, tour companies, guides, etc. that they'd be willing to share here or via PM? I'd appreciate any and all constructive input.

[Jun]

I would stay for at least 4 nights in Siem Reap. That gives you 3 full days to see all the temples.
I stayed at Ei8ht Rooms, but for your room budget, perhaps you should go for something a little better. A couple of the other forums contain some trip reports.

At least a couple of nights in Phnom Penh also, maybe 3 nights if you venture out of town during the day. I stayed at The Manor House. The rooms were a little below the Om Yim standard, but certainly OK and the guesthouse had a nice pool, which is a good positive point.

If you don't bring a Thai friend, it is quite easy to make some new Cambodian friends.

[kenc]

A most beautiful, poignant country.

Siem Reip - If you're really, REALLY into fantastic temples, glorious friezes and Angkor Wat (as I am) 3 days might not even be enough. If all you want to see is Angkor Wat one day is enough.

Phnom Penh - the most quiet and sublime Capitol City in SE Asia. Very Frenchified if that's your thing.

Just imagine the quietest area you can think of in Thailand. Cambodia is even quieter.

It's absolutely beautiful.

For tour companies I'll never cease to recommend Purple Dragon. The only thing they did better than Cambodia for me was Vietnam.

[Brett]

I agree three or four days is the minimum you should stay in Siem Reap. The temples can easily take 3 days if you want to spend a fair amount of time exploring them all. We stayed at Golden Banana (boutique hotel). They arranged a guide for us - a really friendly guy with tuk-tuk (cannot remember if thats what they are called in Cambodia).

We spent three days in Phnom Penh which seemed long enough to see the basics (palace, museum, genocide site etc). We stayed at FCC (Foreign Correspondence Club) and found it a bit overpriced and over-rated. I would try the Manor House next time.

Suggestion... Do not take the so-called high speed boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. It was hot, crowded and very uncomfortable for a five hour plus journey (and it leaves Siem Reap at crack of dawn).

[bao-bao]

Thanks, guys. I haven't set any plans in stone yet, and maybe I need to either allow a few more days in Cambodia... or go back again another time! I'll certainly look into the places mentioned.

I appreciate any other input people would care to add here - hotels they liked, etc. Again, I'm not going for the guys but as I may be going with a Thai friend I like the idea of staying someplace where we wouldn't raise eyebrows.

[Jun]

Thanks, guys. I haven't set any plans in stone yet, and maybe I need to either allow a few more days in Cambodia... or go back again another time!

Allow a few more days AND go back there again! The temples are worth 3 full days.

Tour companies: You don't need them.
Just hire a Tuk tuk driver, which is something like $15 a day. He should take you around all the temples & wait for you at each one. He's your tour company.
I'm not sure where you are starting from, but for the tourist who likes to take his time and see something on the journey, there's a really early train from BKK that goes to Aranya Prathet in a slow 6 hours. A tuk tuk to the border, followed by a $40 taxi should see you in Siem Reap by about 4~5:00 pm.
Once you have done Siem Reap, it's possible to travel to Phnom Penh by bus in about 5 hours, or by boat.
Then you could fly out of Phnom Penh by Air Asia.

I only know Ei8ht Rooms, which was quite elegant, but a little basic. If you normally pay $50~75 for a room, perhaps you might be better off going elsewhere. If you pick through the Ting Tong & Gaythailand reports, there should be reviews on some of the other hotel options.

[ceejay]

Most of my experience in Cambodia has been covered in one or the other of the above posts, but I hope you find this helpful. I visited Cambodia in November, timed to coincide with the Bon Om Tuk Festival in Phnom Penh. Bon Om Tuk is a long boat racing festival that takes place over three days. Teams from all over Cambodia, and from other countries in Asia and farther abroad compete. It's well worth a visit some time. I flew from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, took the bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, then flew back from there to Bangkok.

I too, stayed in the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh and agree with Brett - over priced and over rated. Services like laundry are really expensive there too.

I agree 3 days is a bare minimum for Siem Reap. I spent five there - 3 visiting the main Angkor complex, one making a visit to two outer temples, Koh Ker and Beng Melea, one for a boat tour of the floating village on the Tonle Sap. Beng Melea has been left in it's ruined state deliberately (although much tamed by walkways and safety fencing by the time I got there). Koh Ker was meant to be an add on to the trip to Beng Melea - but of all the temples it's the one that sticks in my memory. Rather less visited, it's a "mountain" temple, much taller and more imposing than it looks in the picture (due to the foreshortening of the camera). The second pircture gives an idea of scale. The last picture gives you an idea of why you need a car, and probably wouldn't want to make the trip at all in the rainy season!

Koh Ker_Beng Melea0023 by ceejay19N, on Flickr

Koh Ker_Beng Melea0030 by ceejay19N, on Flickr

Koh Ker_Beng Melea0002 by ceejay19N, on Flickr
It's easy to imagine old gods waiting patiently for their time to come again at the top of Koh Ker. There's a real air of mystery about the place.
In Siem Reap I booked Mr Tee as my driver for four days:
http://www.angkorholiday.blogspot.com/
It's true you don't need a car for the main Angkor complex, but I appreciated the aircon! It was also necessary for the outer temples. Tee was a nie man who really looked after me. I have since recommended him to a friens, who was equally satisfied.
I stayed in the Golden Banana Hotel.
http://www.goldenbanana.info/html/hotel.php
It's definitely gay friendly. I had no problems at all there.

Additional things you might like to see around Siem Reap:
Artisans D'Angkor. A training school and workshop for wood and stone carving and silk screen printing. You can tour the workshops. There is a shop which has souvenirs that are a grade or two above the usual tourist tat.

Artisans D'Angkor0005 by ceejay19N, on Flickr
The War Museum. This is a collection of tanks, guns and Khmer Rouge era artifacts that the owner has just picked up from wherever it was left lying around. It teels you something about Cambodia's history over the last 50 years that such a collection could be made up from stuff that had simply been abandoned. The kit has just been left out in the open and is quietly rusting away. Best thing for it.

war museum Siem Reap0015 by ceejay19N, on Flickr
A couple of tips:
US dollars are acceptable everywhere as money. You'll just get very small change in rials. Get hold of as many 1 dollar bills as you can before you go (5's and 10's too). There are ATM's that pay out dollars, but the ones I used only has 20's and 50's. Many ordinary traders can't change these and if they do, you will end up with a huge bundle of rials, which you need to get rid of before you leave the country. They can't be changed outside.

If you take the bus in the direction Phnom Penh to Siem Reap they sell tuk tuk tickets on board, good for a trip anywhere in town. It's a good idea to buy one, or to get your hotel to pick you up from the bus terminus. That can save you a deal of trouble from tuk tuk drivers who tout for hotels, who have even been known to take people to the wrong hotel. It's especially a good idea if you are going to arrive after nightfall. My bus offloaded in a barely lit terminus in a totally unlit street. It was so dark I wouldn't have known where I was 100 yards from my own house, let alone in a city I had never visited before.

[Pattayamale]

Here is the email address of a very good tuk tuk driver/guide in Phnom Penh [email protected] and mobile +855 17773460 phone number. He has been my driver and for 2 friends. Excellent!

The Manor House was ok for the price. You may get a very good price online for the New World Hotel and Casino. The rooms are very nice. No problems with guests and the breakfast buffet is also very good.

[golf89]

I visited S. R. 2 years ago and ....following the advice of the receptionist of my hotel...went to Angkor Wat in the late afternoon in order to buy my ticket for the next day. If I remember correctly there is no entrance fee if you enter the site after 4pm or 5pm. I enjoyed an incredibly beautiful sunset and did not have to queue among 6872 Japanese tourists next morning. For me 1,5 days at Angkor Wat were enough, but if you REALLY are into temples you can easily spend 3 days. I recognized the monk on the ...great...pictures Ceejay posted. I met him and another monk and he invited me to his monastery. It was obvious that he intended to show me "more" but his home. Unfortunately I had already booked my flight and could not accept his invitation. BTW At one temple I witnessed two "local talents", too

[bao-bao]

ceejay, a man after my own heart... thank you for the photos! Along with the nature of the people (which can't be shown properly in pictures) the most important part of visiting places - for me, anyway - is recording the images that hopefully will be reminders for me as my mind goes, and who knows when that'll happen to any of us.

I appreciate the tips, people. I have what I believe will be a reliable guide for Siem Reap, but am happy to hear about one for Phnom Phen.

One thing I haven't read yet about visiting the areas for photographs: does anyone have a recommendation on mornings or afternoons for light on the temples? My guess is that as was mentioned tour buses are there in the mornings, but I have no problem being there just past dawn if the light's going to be better and there will be less people "in the way," so to speak. My guess was that afternoons would be more crowded with tourists.

Thanks again. I'm taking notes