Travel To Phnon Penh & Ankor Wat

[Spaniel]

We are thinking about taking a trip to Cambodia this summer, maybe in June, mainly to see Ankor Wat but thought rather then fly direct to Siem Reap from Bangkok (not cheap) would fly first to PP for a couple of days, then take a tour bus to Ankor, spend a few days there then a taxi to Poipet and cross back to Thailand at Aranyaprthet. Our niece lives not far from the border and will meet us there and drive us to Bangkok. So we will be looking for a midpriced hotel in PP and also one in SR. Our group will be Thai wife, 20 y/o son and myself. Also cn anyone recommend a guide for Ankor or better to just go what's availble on a tour?

[PhilHarries]

To be honest I went to Angkor Wat complex last year and just hired a tuk-tuk for the day and just did my own thing. The thing with guided tours is you are tied to a schedule, do your own thing and you can spend time where you want and skip the bits you aren't interested in. I can't remember the cost but it was ten or fifteen dollars (but don't quote me on that I might be getting mixed up).

Stayed in the Siem Riep Riverside hotel, nothing too fancy and $15-20 a night. You could probably get it cheaper than that but for me it was fine. I think there are cheaper rooms on the upper floors, that's where all the back packers were, but mine was clean, the a/c worked and it had hot water. What more do you want?

In PP I stayed at the Her Royal Highness Hotel, street 172 very close to the royal palace. A bit dowdy, definitely seen better days, but okay and fairly close to the river where there are plenty of restaurants.

[orchidlady]

I just got back from PP on April19, spent 7 days there and 2 days in Kampot at the sea coast as it was over the new year and most everything was closed in the capital. I stayed two days at the Casa Hotel-don't it is next door to a homeless encampment. They asked me for money when I walked by-beggars-Cambodia is worse than Thailand-(I live in Bangkok) much poorer if you get my drift. After that I heard about a new hotel that opened 5 months ago Long Live Hotel.http://longlivehotel.com/location.php

It is near Independence Monument and 5 minutes from the Royal Palace.It is not that close to the river but unless you plan to go bar hopping, it's only a $2 dollar moto ride(that is what they call Tuk Tuks there. It was $15 for a single and $20 for a double and then they have a family room...Everything is new as they have only been open for 6 months so it is so nice. The people in the lobby are very nice and willing to help you. They have 2 free computers with internet to use in the lobby, air con, parking, wi-fi in the room, cable with English and Thai and other foreign channels( I was able to keep track of what the Red shirts were during on stage from my room-go figure why it was on TV over there?)..tremendous water pressure in the showers, really hot water. I was so sold on the hotel that I went back to stay after I went to Kampot and returned. I plan to go back when Air Asia has flights on sale again as I want to see some more things. I was not able to take a ferry(hydrofoil) on Tonle Sap...that is one way to get from Siem Reap to PP.

They did not respond to my form filled online for a room so I just showed up-they have 88 rooms and I was able to get a room. I would try calling for a reservation if they do not respond to your email filled out on-line form within 3 hours.

Another tip-you can buy a sim card in Cambodia if you have a Thai cell phone for about $5 Us with 20-30 minutes time then you can just get a few dollars recharge if you want to have a phone to use while there. Unbelievable that the sim cards are so cheap. You just take out your Thai sim card, exchange the sim cards, when done, replace your thai sim card and resume service in Thailand!

Make sure you go to Wat Pnohm-skip the museum-not worth the money plus they do not run any fans or A/C-they have them but they just sit there-making it very hot. the grounds(beautiful park), the wat(has view of the city) and

I spent two hours watching/ getting close up photos of the monkeys! Make sure you go to the waterholes between where the food vendors are and the FAR entrance to the museum( there are two entrances-one close to the vendors-not this one). The monkeys go there to cool off in the afternoon and play in the water. One dominant monket kept pushing the smaller monkeys out of the water and dunking them under water. he occasionally held them under for a long time. I got some great videos of this. It was one of the highlights of my trip-free and no guide book wrote about this! You do not have to fear them-they will not try to jump on you or steal shiny metal things from you like the monkeys in Lopburi, Thailand. Don't waste money buying bananas from the vendors like I did. Either buy mango pieces or watch to see if there is an older woman feeding them. Mangos are sweeter than bananas so they prefer them.

The royal palace is hot minimal use of fans-make sure you bring water-they want $1 for small bottle of water/soda, etc.

LL Hotel does not have food but around the corner on Sotearos St at a wonderful French or belgium cafe, Le Patate2( next door to Royal Hotel (singles $35)), I ate breakfast everyday I was there. Got a huge breakfast for $4. I did not need lunch-I got eggs, croissant, french bread, and toast with butter and jam, with coffee or tea and juice. They served from early AM to at least 11 am. They do have some other selections... They aklso serve an Asian breakfast and are child friendly as I recall an Asian child crawling all over the tables and they did not seem to mind although it bothered me!They also have a lunch and dinner menu.

Central market is closed, the vendors are relocasted outside-unless you want counterfeit purses, I would basically skip it. The Russian market is huge and has more clothes, souvenirs, etc and the vendors are more than willing to bargain. If there on Sat or Sunday check out the night market, they have entertainment, great food and other goods for sale. Another great restaurant I ate at if you like mediterranean food, they also have French, Moroccan (which I love), Thai, and some others plus appetizers was Tamarind on 240 St (around corner from Royal palace). They had a wonderful mint tea served in a silver tea pot for 1.50... It has a beautiful outdoor patio area with a retractable roof. It rained so they closed the roof when I was there eating on the patio in beautiful rattan chairs. I also ate at the restaurants that support rehabilitating street children, Friends and le Rit's.

Don't make arrangements with the drivers that take you from the airport to your hotel-AS I DID. You can get better rates on the street near your hotel. The guy had to rent a car-as I later found out... so my "hard bargained" rate of $38 down from $45 was way overpriced. I could have gotten a car to take me to the killing field for $20 for a day or a tuk tuk for $12. When I realized I had overpaid I tried to change my destination to go out of town but he wanted $20 for gas and miles-that's when I realized he rented the car- I asked and he said yes...so I stuck with the original plan went to the killing fields, the museum, Russian market and a few things on the way...

Don't waste time with one particular moto driver...if they don't understand English there are ten more around the corner who easily do speak English just say no and get another.

If I left anything out ask...

[craigt3365]

Another option is to take the boat from PP to Angkor Wat. It's kinda fun...I would think better than the bus. Tour guides are all over the place. I would check with your hotel when you get there. Give yourself a few days as it is a really big area...and don't miss some of the temples outside the main area. Take some time to get to, but pretty cool for sure.

The road from Siam Reap to the border can be really bad. A few years ago I left Bangkok at 9am and got to SR around midnight. It was an incredibly rough road. It was during the monsoons, so only 4x4's could do the trip, people who took the bus ended up sleeping in it until the next day. We got stuck several times and even had to get out in the mud and water and help get the truck unstuck!

Has the road been upgraded since then?

[orchidlady]

I just got back from PP on April19, spent 7 days there and 2 days in Kampot at the sea coast as it was over the new year and most everything was closed in the capital. I stayed two days at the Casa Hotel-don't it is next door to a homeless encampment. They asked me for money when I walked by-beggars-Cambodia is worse than Thailand-(I live in Bangkok) much poorer if you get my drift. After that I heard about a new hotel that opened 5 months ago Long Live Hotel.http://longlivehotel.com/location.php

It is near Independence Monument and 5 minutes from the Royal Palace.It is not that close to the river but unless you plan to go bar hopping, it's only a $2 dollar moto ride(that is what they call Tuk Tuks there. It was $15 for a single and $20 for a double and then they have a family room...Everything is new as they have only been open for 6 months so it is so nice. The people in the lobby are very nice and willing to help you. They have 2 free computers with internet to use in the lobby, air con, parking,mini-refrig, wi-fi in the room, cable with English and Thai and other foreign channels( I was able to keep track of what the Red shirts were during on stage from my room-go figure why it was on TV over there?)..tremendous water pressure in the showers, really hot water. The hotel has security cameras on all entrances. There is a 24 hour market within a five minute walk of the hotel that i visited around 11-12 O'clock at night because i wanted diet soda to drink! I felt completely safe as a single woman traveler. I was so sold on the hotel that I went back to stay after I went to Kampot and returned. I plan to go back when Air Asia has flights on sale again as I want to see some more things. I was not able to take a ferry(hydrofoil) on Tonle Sap...that is one way to get from Siem Reap to PP.

They did not respond to my form filled online for a room so I just showed up-they have 88 rooms and I was able to get a room. I would try calling for a reservation if they do not respond to your email filled out on-line form within 3 hours.

Another tip-you can buy a sim card in Cambodia if you have a Thai cell phone for about $5 Us with 20-30 minutes time then you can just get a few dollars recharge if you want to have a phone to use while there. Unbelievable that the sim cards are so cheap. You just take out your Thai sim card, exchange the sim cards, when done, replace your thai sim card and resume service in Thailand!

Make sure you go to Wat Pnohm-skip the museum-not worth the money plus they do not run any fans or A/C-they have them but they just sit there-making it very hot. the grounds(beautiful park), the wat(has view of the city) and

I spent two hours watching/ getting close up photos of the monkeys! Make sure you go to the waterholes between where the food vendors are and the FAR entrance to the museum( there are two entrances-one close to the vendors-not this one). The monkeys go there to cool off in the afternoon and play in the water. One dominant monket kept pushing the smaller monkeys out of the water and dunking them under water. he occasionally held them under for a long time. I got some great videos of this. It was one of the highlights of my trip-free and no guide book wrote about this! You do not have to fear them-they will not try to jump on you or steal shiny metal things from you like the monkeys in Lopburi, Thailand. Don't waste money buying bananas from the vendors like I did. Either buy mango pieces or watch to see if there is an older woman feeding them. Mangos are sweeter than bananas so they prefer them.

The royal palace is hot minimal use of fans-make sure you bring water-they want $1 for small bottle of water/soda, etc.

LL Hotel does not have food but around the corner on Sotearos St at a wonderful French or belgium cafe, Le Patate2( next door to Royal Hotel (singles $35)), I ate breakfast everyday I was there. Got a huge breakfast for $4. I did not need lunch-I got eggs, croissant, french bread, and toast with butter and jam, with coffee or tea and juice. They served from early AM to at least 11 am. They do have some other selections... They aklso serve an Asian breakfast and are child friendly as I recall an Asian child crawling all over the tables and they did not seem to mind although it bothered me!They also have a lunch and dinner menu.

Central market is closed, the vendors are relocasted outside-unless you want counterfeit purses, I would basically skip it. The Russian market is huge and has more clothes, souvenirs, etc and the vendors are more than willing to bargain. If there on Sat or Sunday check out the night market, they have entertainment, great food and other goods for sale. Another great restaurant I ate at if you like mediterranean food, they also have French, Moroccan (which I love), Thai, and some others plus appetizers was Tamarind on 240 St (around corner from Royal palace). They had a wonderful mint tea served in a silver tea pot for 1.50... It has a beautiful outdoor patio area with a retractable roof. It rained so they closed the roof when I was there eating on the patio in beautiful rattan chairs. I also ate at the restaurants that support rehabilitating street children, Friends and le Rit's.

Don't make arrangements with the drivers that take you from the airport to your hotel-AS I DID if you are interested in going to the killing fields. They will hustle you hard. You can get better rates on the street near your hotel. The guy had to rent a car-as I later found out... so my "hard bargained" rate of $38 down from $45 was way overpriced. I could have gotten a car to take me to the killing field for $20 for a day or a tuk tuk for $12. When I realized I had overpaid I tried to change my destination to go to a different location out of town two hours away but he wanted $20 more for gas and miles-that's when I realized he rented the car- I asked and he said yes...so I stuck with the original plan went to the killing fields, the museum, Russian market and a few things on the way...

Don't waste time with one particular moto driver...if they don't understand English there are ten more around the corner who easily do speak English just say no and get another.

If I left anything out ask...

[rfukata]

The Inter-Continental in Phnom Penh and the Le'Meridien hotel in SR are very nice accomodations. Although a 5 star hotel, it is clean, safe and much more. (I would check out their websites to see if there are any specials).

For your tour of Angkor, once their you should check tour details to fit your needs. There are other temples within the complex such as Bantey Serai and Tonle Sap (river) that you should check out. Also for dinner, check out the Red carpet restaurant.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

I like the Red Piano GH in Siem Reap, right downtown, old town, close to "the scene," such as it is, and the old market area.

http://www.redpianocambodia.com/

Mac