siem reap, cambodia (the journey)

travelmates:

• raymond, lj, albert, yumie

date of travel:

• may 2008

duration:

• 4 days 3 nights

route:

• siem reap -> angkor wat -> angkor grand circuit -> koh ker -> beng melea

accomodation (min 1*, max 5* based on my personal opinion):

• viroth's hotel, 4.5* great experience from this boutique hotel. friendly owner and staff, especially sokha and say who have been very attentive and accomodative to our request. the hotel is tastefully designed and ambience is perfect. it is located a short 10mins walk to a nearby supermarket, and city center. there are only 7 rooms in the hotel and most of the time, we have the whole place to our own, swimming, drinking and chit chatting beside the salt water swimming pool. the breakfast was fantastic, simple and yet tasty and you can choose any combination that you want on the night before, and it will be served the following morning at their roof top restaurant. the actual viroth's restaurant is located about 10mins walk away and we had our best meal there, but that doesn't come cheap. i would recommend the hotel to have a shower located beside the pool, so that the guest can clean up a bit before spending the rest of the time on the sun deck. second recommendation is to work on the very pathetic hot water pressure in the room and lastly, something got to be done with the mosquitoes around swimming pool area.

~ angkor, koh ker, beng melea ~

• sunrise at angkor wat is a "must-see" in siem reap. the morning ray emerging behind the temple, couples with reflection from the lake is superb. was told that the best time for sunrise shot is end of april when the sun will rise in the middle of the temple. the good thing about visiting during the dry season is you don't have to "fight" for a place to watch the sunrise, but still it was quite crowded. the temperature throughout the rest of the day was very much unbearable, so it is best to visit in earning morning and late afternoon, take my advice, skip the mid day! otherwise, visit siem reap during november to february period for a cooler weather.
• out of all temples in angkor grand circuit, koh ker and beng melea, the one that impressed me the most are angkor wat for the sunrise, ta phrom for the view of vegetation and the pyramidal temple at koh ker for the unique architecture (sadly, the staircase to the top of temple was closed due to some accident involving tourist). the rest of the temples were not too appealing to me, but if you are interested in the history and religious stuff, it might be a totally different story for you. angkor wat is reachable by 15mins drive from siem reap city, whereas koh ker and beng melea is located about 3 hours drive away.

~ siem reap city ~

• perhaps the closest place to home is the pub street where you have lots of good restaurant with nice ambience. we tried red piano, a restaurant which is highly recommended by lonely planet but it was a total disappointment. head to khmer kitchen as a cheaper option or a more upmarket one, viroth's restaurant for tasty meals and great service. our favourite dish being stir fried beef with basil leaves and we had that numerous time during our stay in siem reap.
• we had a great massage session at body tune. it did live up to it's reputation from various positive reviews. usd14 for a 60mins thai massage might sound expensive comparing to other shops at around USD6-8 but the ambience and "balinese" setup worth every cent you pay for.
• siem reap night market is a very sleazy place, avoid it unless you have a lot of time to spare. old market is pretty interesting but we ended up purchasing all the stuff from one of the chinese shop just opposite the market, which gave a better price without the need to bargain.
• cambodia is a poor country, please help the childrens as much as you can. the least you can do is to donate the loose change at the airport donation box for children hospital. our tour guide mentioned that children hospital provides free medical service to the children and i think we should do our bit to make this world a better place.
• don't be too calculative while doing a purchase, 1 or 2 dollars are not a huge sum for us but it meant a lot for those earning averagely 30 dollars per month. don't give money to the innocent kids, we don't want to turn them into future beggars.