Visiting Angkor:
- You must hire a tour guide / driver. Be prepared to wake up very early and be on your feet all day. Try Bunphen Chan (chbunpheng@yahoo.com / 855-126-306-11).
- If you visit early (get picked up at 6am at your hotel), you can experience the morning sun peering down upon Wat Ta Phrom and its enormous Banyan roots – a wise choice as most tourists (and tour busses!) select this temple as an early evening visit.
- Touring the 900 year old, grandiose (an understatement) Angkor Wat can take well over two hours, with its sprawling moat, entryway and towers. But the sites around the main temple are also incredible ... don't miss Bayon within the Angkor Thom site, which is covered in larger-than-life hand carved faces as far as the eye can see.
Evenings in Siem Reap:
- An absolute must: cocktails at the Elephant Bar at Raffles Grand Hotel
- Spend some time on “Pub Street” (yes, that’s the real name), as well as the quainter side streets which come alive post-sundown. With $.50 beers at almost every bar and restaurant, there is plenty of people watching and drinking to be done!
- Spend an afternoon at the artsy, French-colonial-infused-with-art-deco Hotel de la Paix (try the Khmer rice brandy ... when in Rome!)
Hotels:
- Amansara - nice, but not great
- Hotel de la Paix - speechless!!
- La Residence d’Angkor - nice, but not great
- Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor - very nice (if you don't stay here, you MUST have a drink at the hotel's Elephant Bar!)
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