Cambodia

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Lexingtongue said:
Booked up today. 10 days in Tokyo, 5 in Siem Reap. Anybody recommend any food I should try in Cambodia? I'm correct in thinking you just purchase your Cambodian visa at the point of entry? Any good, non-happy ending massage places? :lol: After I've done the temples I'm going to relax at the pool for a few days, but is there anything else in particular around Siem Reap I should try and see? Cheers.
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Amok is the food of choice there. Its delicious. And fried spider was also interesting (with chilli).

Better to have your visa sorted before hand.

A half day walk of the town is good, some nice little temples along the main drag. Other than that its mostly tacky english style pubs.
 


air asia said:
Yes it gets a bit confusing because some of the names are interchangeable. The Bayon is actually the central temple structure within the Angkor Thom complex which itself is part of the wider Angkor area that is often referred to as Angkor Wat, even though Angkor Wat is itself just one of the temple structures within the park. Confusing, eh?
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Flavonoids said:
f***ing hell! rent a tuk tuk man for a day for $30 and do it yourself - when you get pissed off with the heat and bored you can fuck off to the pub without feeling you've lost £2oo
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RTRsBM said:
There's official guides at the temple site or the hotel will organise one for you. Any tuktuk will take you to beng mealea as it means they are guarenteed longer. They will ask for extra for fuel though.
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Was going to give the tuk tuk driver marginally more than recommended anyway if he was decent - $10 extra will mean more to him than it will to me, I guess. Do they just wait outside the temple for you as you wander? They must get bored shitless!

Anyway, was looking at the temples and stuff today and put together this itinerary:

Day One
Angkor Wat
Angkor Thom - Bayon and Baphuon
Preah Khan
Ta Prohm
Ta Nei (road willing and if I haven't died of heat exhaustion yet!)

Day Two
Beng Mealea

Would you two make any changes based on this or add any special spots in that I might've missed out? Going to do this on my todd now - is it necessary to hire a guide or can I just wander by myself? What benefits will I get from hiring a guide apart from a bit of history about the sites, etc?
 
Lexingtongue said:
Always wanted to see Angkor Wat and might go this summer. For anyone who has already been, how long is a good amount of time to stay for? Any decent hostels or hotels you can recommend? What else would you say is worth doing there after Angkor? Cheers in advance and, yes, look at me, bring him home, etc. ;)
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Cambodia is class like, Angkor Wat is great to see but you will be knacked if you do the full day of temples so I'd recommend just doing the half day. Highly recommend Kampot and Koh rong. I was on a backpacker budget so can't give advice on nice hotels, but you can get some unreal bungalows on the river in Kampot for next to nowt. As for Koh Rong It's just an island paradise, amazing beaches and sea.

Also food wise you should try peppered beef lok lak or happy pizza if you are feeling adventurous.

Lexingtongue said:
Was going to give the tuk tuk driver marginally more than recommended anyway if he was decent - $10 extra will mean more to him than it will to me, I guess. Do they just wait outside the temple for you as you wander? They must get bored shitless!

Anyway, was looking at the temples and stuff today and put together this itinerary:

Day One
Angkor Wat
Angkor Thom - Bayon and Baphuon
Preah Khan
Ta Prohm
Ta Nei (road willing and if I haven't died of heat exhaustion yet!)

Day Two
Beng Mealea

Would you two make any changes based on this or add any special spots in that I might've missed out? Going to do this on my todd now - is it necessary to hire a guide or can I just wander by myself? What benefits will I get from hiring a guide apart from a bit of history about the sites, etc?
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The Tuk Tuk driver stays with you all day, are you going Angkor for sunrise?
 
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Lexingtongue said:
Probably, mate. What time would you recommend I set off and will there be tuk tuk men available so early?
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Yeah they will be, you can book one the night before, loads of travel agents do it there. Sunrise is the most popular time to go, you might be better off seeing another temple at that time and going there later in the day so you can look around with less crowds.
 
Quinn The Eskimo said:
Yeah they will be, you can book one the night before, loads of travel agents do it there. Sunrise is the most popular time to go, you might be better off seeing another temple at that time and going there later in the day so you can look around with less crowds.
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Thanks for the advice. I'll discuss it with someone at the hotel, maybe. See what they suggest. What time about would be best to visit Angkor and avoid massive crowds? Do any of the other temples I've listed get really busy?
 
Lexingtongue said:
Thanks for the advice. I'll discuss it with someone at the hotel, maybe. See what they suggest. What time about would be best to visit Angkor and avoid massive crowds? Do any of the other temples I've listed get really busy?
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Not sure on the best time but I went at sunrise and it was pretty hectic the whole day as most people take the same route starting at Angkor. I'd suggest going later in the day and doing the sunrise at one of the other temples.
 
Quinn The Eskimo said:
Not sure on the best time but I went at sunrise and it was pretty hectic the whole day as most people take the same route starting at Angkor. I'd suggest going later in the day and doing the sunrise at one of the other temples.
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Reckon it's worth doing my itinerary backwards like so then:

Ta Nei
Ta Prohm
Preah Khan
Angkor Thom - Bayon and Baphuon
Angkor Wat

That way I'd be doing Angkor last. Did you use a guide, by the way, or just free wander?
 
Lexingtongue said:
Reckon it's worth doing my itinerary backwards like so then:

Ta Nei
Ta Prohm
Preah Khan
Angkor Thom - Bayon and Baphuon
Angkor Wat

That way I'd be doing Angkor last. Did you use a guide, by the way, or just free wander?
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Yeah that's what I would do/ I just wandered myself. guides are easy enough to find once you get there but from what I overheard they didn't seem great and were just stating the obvious.
 
Flavonoids said:
Not my experience - though they have got fuck all, the majority of them, good people, trying to get by ... I don't mind overpaying during a barter etc. it's not like the 'loss' to me is felt as greatly as the gain is to them. Saying that, I had no bother anywhere ... I must be gregarious.
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I decided I'd take your point of view and barter less. It's not the bartering I objected to it was that so many times it felt like they were attempting to cheat me. I paid an extra dollar for each Tuktuk ride in an attempt to match your gregaraciousness! The best one however was the hotel driver. I'd used him with a guide for 2 days and today he was supposed to be taking me to the bus station (the money's ran out for flights). I tipped him $20 at the end of the 2 days yesterday. About an hour later he came to find me and told me he's taken today off and it's another driver. I reckon the $20 has meant he's either on the piss or out with his family so in those terms it's not really a lot to me but to locals is decent money.
 
I would have recommended a dead canny tour guide but according to Facebook she has hooked up with a fat old American bloke and had two bairns with him.
 
Bob Fleming said:
I would have recommended a dead canny tour guide but according to Facebook she has hooked up with a fat old American bloke and had two bairns with him.
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The one I had was very knowledgable and gave masses of information. I would recommend him to anyone wanting the whole history of the temples and the wall carvings. If you want to just see the temples he's not such a good choice.
 
I only considered vaccinations today as I lay in bed. Totally slipped my mind. Am I going to die?
 
Lexingtongue said:
I only considered vaccinations today as I lay in bed. Totally slipped my mind. Am I going to die?
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Probably not. The cats are friendly. I had a friendly fight with a cat in Thailand then remembered I hadn't had rabies injections so stopped. The dogs however seem rude and I'm much more a dog person than a cat person. All the restaurants and cafes seem to encourage the local cats as they keep them rat free. And some of the rats over here are massive.
 
RTRsBM said:
Probably not. The cats are friendly. I had a friendly fight with a cat in Thailand then remembered I hadn't had rabies injections so stopped. The dogs however seem rude and I'm much more a dog person than a cat person. All the restaurants and cafes seem to encourage the local cats as they keep them rat free. And some of the rats over here are massive.
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You're painting a lovely picture here, mate. ;) Thanks for the advice. The government travel site says you need vaccinations if you eat 'adventurous' and I plan on doing that over there... That's what has got me worried a tad.
 
Lexingtongue said:
You're painting a lovely picture here, mate. ;) Thanks for the advice. The government travel site says you need vaccinations if you eat 'adventurous' and I plan on doing that over there... That's what has got me worried a tad.
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One rat I saw in Bangkok was sat sunning itself at afternoon rush hour. It didn't give a dam about people. That's when I realised why the bars and restaurants feed the local cats.
 
Reet, I'm off on my travels tomorrow. Just a final question: from everyone's experiences what times are the temples less busy? If I set off at the crack of dawn and go to one of the satellite sites am I likely to hit massive crowds or is that mainly the more famous complexes? Getting rather excited now. :)
 
Lexingtongue said:
Reet, I'm off on my travels tomorrow. Just a final question: from everyone's experiences what times are the temples less busy? If I set off at the crack of dawn and go to one of the satellite sites am I likely to hit massive crowds or is that mainly the more famous complexes? Getting rather excited now. :)
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The earlier you can go, the better. Bar Angkor Wat pretty much all of them are quiet before 8am iirc. But I'd suck it up one day to do Angkor Wat at sunrise, stupidly missed it myself and regret it!
 
Lexingtongue said:
Reet, I'm off on my travels tomorrow. Just a final question: from everyone's experiences what times are the temples less busy? If I set off at the crack of dawn and go to one of the satellite sites am I likely to hit massive crowds or is that mainly the more famous complexes? Getting rather excited now. :)
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It's still low season so there's unlikely to be massive crowds anywhere. The one place to get to early though if you intend doing it is the popular temple up the mountain (can't remember it's name) to watch sunset. There is a 300 person limit. We got there maybe 2 hours before sunset. An hour before we looked at the queue and there was hundreds hoping to get in on a one in one out system with no real chance.
 
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