To my friends Travelling to Siem Reap Cambodia.

- Travel Tips -

Before our trip to Siem Reap, I have been researching the "things to do" in... read more the country,
Based on my research I have 4 options on touring the Ankor.

#1 was to let the hotel book a guide and a tour for you. roughly you will spend Guide+Tuktuk around 140 usd for the whole tour which includes the majority of the temple in ONE day. If you prefer Guide+Car,Guide+Van then it will cost you much higher.

#2 was to rent a tuktuk 25usd that is already good for the whole day. but my problem with this is that I will have to tour the temples by myself. considering they are miles apart. they will only wait for you at the parking lot then you will be on your own.

#3 You can rent a motorbike, since I dont know how to drive a motorbike, I didnt even consider it.

#4 Book ahead for a Guided tour, You can find alot on the website.

Ofcourse, I wanted to maximize my time, and I wanted to save some money. thats why i opted to fly to siem, without any booking prior to my arrival and just play it by ear. When I arrived, around 9am, I inquired at the hotel for a guided tour, but I wasnt satisfied with the offer, Then a tuktuk offered a tour, I declined, and so the same day, I looked for a tour guide/company on the website and found ASEAN ANGKOR GUIDE. I emailed alot travel agencies, they all replied promptly. And as I study their proposed Itinerary, I decided to go with ASEAN ANGKOR GUIDE. by the way, when you book a tour, You dont have to pay immediately, You can pay them after your tour. Their Itinerary best fits my time and budget in siem reap. they offered me 75USD for a guide tour for 2-3pax, tour
the Ankor wat, then tah prom then ta keo , bayon, and so on. including cold towels every after the temple, free water, and it comes with a car with good airconditioning system.
Since we only had limited time
( 3 days 2 nights, We arrived July 11, departing on July 13) We decided to avail the tour.

And so the next day, We were picked up at 4:30am. I met our tour guide Mr. RAMAN and our driver Mr. DORA. Raman. I dont even know where to begin with. He is really good on his craft, he knows all the timing, when to enter a certain temple, I noticed that everytime we enter a temple, there are no people yet, but the time we exit, we see them all coming in. its as if we were going in a different direction, in a very good way. We get the best of everything, Even our spot during the sunrise at Angkor wat was outstanding. he cares for us alot, you can see that it is innate to him to be concerned and caring for the people he is with. to top it all, he knows all the best picture perfect moment. aside from that, he is also an AMAZING photographer. He made our tour in Cambodia memorable. he is a complete package. he speaks english very well, he is very knowledgable with the history. there are times he goes so deep with the history that I will start taking my own selfies. then ask him to take a picture of us. hahaha. kidding aside. by the way please bring extra clothes, extra towel to keep you dry and a fan because surely you will sweat alot. and it is really hot even on a rainy season.

they even suggested to us a great place to have dinner at koulen II. which is a cultural dance/performance with a great ambiance and authentic cambodian cuisine (buffet).
During our temple tour I realized, It is really important to get yourself a tour guide. REALLY. It will save you time, hassle, efforts. going from one place to the other is really difficult specialy if no one is telling you what you are seeing, and where you should be going. overall our visit here became worry free. we were secured, comfortable, and more importantly, we had the best time of our lives. thanks to
ASEAN ANGKOR GUIDE and specially to our tour guide RAMAN. he even gave us tokens as we parted ways. we were really touched. I will surely recommend him to everyone I meet that will visit their country.

By the way, as you enter every temple, alot of kids at the entrance will ask for money, or sell you stuff, it is a pity yes, but i suggest just walk to your destination, because if you talk to them they will not stop selling you stuff. and if you give to one of them they will all come to you.

With the hotel, I recommend to book ahead with trip advisory/agoda depending on your needs. always consider the proximity and accesibility of your hotel. in my case we booked our hotel at Angkor Resort and Spa which is roughly 10-15min away from the airport and 10-15min away from downtown. they provide shuttle to and from the airport at your convenience, and also to and from downtown every 2 hours. Staff were friendly and nice. Service was ok. with regards to the ambiance our hotel gave us that antique feeling as if we are in a different era. which was good. away from the hustle and bustle from the city. it hasa very big swimming/lap pool. food at breakfast was ok. If you miss the shuttle to downtown or back, you may ride a tuk tuk, they chare you 3usd-4usd only. In cambodia you dont have to change your dollars because they accept dollars everywhere and they prefer that than of cambodian currency. just make sure you have plenty of dollar bills/broken change, not those 100usd bills. You can ask your hotel to change it for you. Tip is highly appreciated by cambodians. We were really generous specialy to our tour guide as We were really satisfied.

Upon arrival you can buy a sim card at the airport, make sure ur phone is open line. It will cost you 6usd with 6gig of internet I guess good for 30 days if you are planning to stay there that long. though they have wifi mostly anywhere, and it is really fast. I prefer having internet on hand everywhere I go. You'll never when you'll have to use google maps.

There also alot of accomodation downtown, walking distance from the 24/7 convenience store, their PUB street and Night Market. When you go shopping, and example they give u a rate of 20usd for a bag, dont buy yet, until it becomes 7-10usd only. You have to bargain, and if they dont give it at your price, walk away, when you do, they will call you and give it with the price you wanted, if not, then look for something else.usualy the you have to divide the price in two. to get the actual price. then bargain from that price onward. Night Market begins at around 6:30pm.

Food was ok downtown, alot of options for you, differenct cuisine. Just always remember to bring your own medicine that you are used to taking for unpleasant stomach, fever, allergies, etc. You might need them if you are not used to eating other cuisine.

Massage spa was scattered all over the area. You can get a massage for a dollar.

In general, Cambodian are really nice and polite, They give their best in their crafts/work. They treasure their jobs and they will really take care of you. When you learn about their history, You will appreciate them and their country even more.

(Itinerary and Contact details of our tour guide found on the later part of the pictures uploaded)

  Angkor Wat, Waterfall Floating village banteay templen Siem reap restaurants were wonderful.
The tour was well organized

  Raksha communicated with my group even before we came to Cambodia he met us on the first day itself to explain and guide on money changing bringing us to food... read more places explaining every detail
Of the culture and people. The tour was very detailed and informative by Sunny his intelligence on history was marvellous . They made us very comfortable in our journey made sure everything was comfortable with us. Raksha went beyond his service of arranging cake for fathers day. We were sad on the last day as it left like we were living our brothers from another mother. Thank you Raksha and Sunny you both made our trip very beautiful filled with memories and we reccomend you both and your company to our friends and family. God bless

  Wow! Absolutely fantastic tour today! Loved every minute of it! Sunny is a great guide really knowledgeable and kind.
The views were incredible, the 1000 lingas river and waterfall... read more were lovely. The huuuge reclining Buddha was very impressive too. Beng Mealea temple covered in trees and vines was incredible - nature is winning that one
And the boat trip to the stilt village and onto Tonle Sap lake (biggest lake in SE Asia) was fantastic - the houses on such high stilts! Now is the start of rainy season so the water low, but later in the year the houses will be almost at water level!
Really fantastic day, great guide Sunny and driver Kim, they made the tour complete
Highly HIGHLY recommend this tour - nature, temple, traditional stilt village so many different and amazing things to see and experience in one day, with great guide and company too.
Thank you Sunny and Kim for a really memorable and enjoyable day - loved it

  My wife and I enjoyed our experience with guide David and driver Mr. Handsome!

They worked very hard to respond to our request. I wanted to do Sunrise on... read more day 1 instead of 3 as I had to work the next day and wanted to get more rest --we ended up with great weather and beautiful view of Angkor Wat at sunrise.

My wife was concerned about temple fatigued and they were able to arrange drive-by viewings of the smaller temples and reduced our 1st day itinerary to half a day.

Our favourite day was the 2nd day where I swam in the majestic waterfall, took photos at a secret cliffside location and fed crocodiles at the floating village.

Both of them were funny and caring, giving you a cold towel and water throughout the tour. They even drove us to different food places because we love food. Also, try their Siem Reap night food tour, it was a lot of fun!

Highly recommend this tour, couldn't be better.