So sadly, the last day came, didn’t do much really except walked out to try and find some baguettes they sell at the road side. Unfortunately couldn’t. So we had some breakfast at a restaurant by the traffic lights on Wat Bo road (There are only 3 sets of traffic lights in Siem Reap, and one set is new!).
Walked past this place aswell, seems to be repairing many sculptures and carvings from the temples, recasting some parts aswell and recreating others. Very interesting. Might just be making them for rich peoples gardens, who knows.
And yeah there are still people living in little shanty huts on bits of mud by the side of the road.
With even more very cute kids 😀
I love this picture, the shadow of the chopper is cool.
A coconut and some chicken noodles for breakfast it was.
I did manage to find some baguettes on the way to the airport, but the fucker wanted $3 for one or something, damn lansi man. I asked the taxi driver he said they are 500-800 riels normally (25-40 cents).
About Peace of Angkor
The place we stayed at is called Peace of Angkor, you can find their website HERE.
Peace Of Angkor Villa is a lovely place to unwind and enjoy a taste of real Cambodian hospitality
The friendliness and happy family atmosphere here at Peace Of Angkor Villa is something which our guests love. All our staff speak English well and enjoy the company of our visitors.
Set within spacious grounds; our Villa; is situated in a quiet location, well away from major roads. We are only a few minutes walk from the Siem Reap River and the commercial heart of Siem Reap.
It’s very clean, has a lovely balcony, reasonably priced, nice food and is a warm and friendly place to stay.
It’s about $25USD for a nice room for 2, $35USD for a room for 3. It’s classed mid-range for Siem Reap, you can get rooms as cheap as $10USD up to about $400USD for those 5 star hotels.
The food is good local food, and reasonably priced, I would say the water is overpriced though. $1USD for a bottle of water, I walked down to the corner shop and got 12 bottles for $3USD and 2 large bottles of Angkor beer for $3USD. (More here). So the beer was not much cheaper, but the water was a lot cheaper (And no it wasn’t the cheap type of water).
It has very nice decor and is definately a photographers haven with Daves beautiful photographs covering the interior.
The outside has nice statues and a very green garden.
The rooms are spacious with water heaters, aircon, a small fridge and TV with cable channels like CNN and BBC News.
Peace of Angkor, I recommend it 🙂 If you do contact them, or stay there, please let them know you found them through me or my site. Cheers!
There is a lot of information about places to stay in Siem Reap here:
Staying in Siem Reap
Siem Reap & Angkor Hotels
Canby Hotels
Siem Reap Hotels
My Guide – Thoeun Thet
What a great guy and a really good guide, he goes by the name of Thet (prounounced like Ted but with a softer T at the end).
Thet is a very nice guy and of course extremely knowledeable about Angkor Wat, the temples and the history behind them.
He stutters a little with his English sometimes but on the whole is very good. What I liked about his was his talent for taking us around the temples on a slightly different time frame from normal, or so it seemed, as we got to most places before the crowds were there and left just as the huge coaches arrived. He seemed to be able to avoid the crowds, even with Phnom Bahkeng he managed to get us there early before the inevitable thousands arrived for the sunset.
He let us go at our own pace and was happy to discuss more on things we were interested in, he also did seem genuinely interested in what he was talking about and wasn’t just a talking recital of the guidebook.
He also left us alone sometimes just to sit in the temple and enjoy the atmosphere and didn’t rush us around.
I totally recommend getting a guide, if not you wouldn’t know what you were looking at most of the time and you really wouldn’t appreciate it as much. With a guide book you can do ok, if you have 2-3 weeks to explore slowly, but if you are pressed for time (even 5 days was pretty short) you really need a guide to get the most out of it.
And if you do get a guide, why not Thet 🙂
I really respect what he’s doing aswell, he works a full day as a guide, goes home and cooks dinner for his 2 younger brothers (who he supports and pays for their education), then in the evenings he’s taking classes. He’s studying for a tourism degree part-time! Hes currently writing his final thesis on the effects tourism has on Cambodia. A very interesting guy indeed.
His e-mail is thoeunthet (at) yahoo (dot) com
If you do contact Thet, just let him know you got to know about him from me.
It was an amazing trip, and I really miss Cambodia now and the people. I will go back again someday in the future, hopefully to visit Phnom Phen aswell. I would heartily recommend you all go and book your tickets NOW!
You can find all the pictures from this trip in my Flickr Cambodia, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat Set.
All the posts in this series, from start to end can be found here:
Cambodia Day 1 – Leaving on a Jet Plane to Siem Reap
Cambodia Day 2 – Itinerary – Morning in Angkor Thom and Bayon
Cambodia Day 2 – An Afternoon at Angkor Wat & Sunset at Phnom Bahkeng
Cambodia Day 3 – Morning at Banteay Srei, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan
Cambodia Day 3 – An Afternoon at Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and Old Market – Siem Reap
Cambodia Day 4 – A Morning at Lolei, Bakong and Preah Ko (Roluos Group)
Cambodia Day 4 – An Afternoon at the Cambodian Land Mine Museum
Cambodia Day 4 – An Afternoon at Tonle Sap (The Great Lake)
what’s so special about their baguettes anyway dude?
that photo of the noodles is really really pretty.
their baguette is really good – french influence with khmer fillings….
at least u have travelled there and enjoy uself ST
Very useful info and a nice insight on what Siem Reap and Angkor can offer. Thanks again!!
If I said, “shaolin tiger recommended you” to Thet or the hotel people, would they know who I was referring to?
omg your pictures made me miss Cambodia!
Nice pictures btw shaolin tiger (>_^)b
spiller: Don’t know dude, just that French heritage with some local ingredients, looks lovely.
Guan: Hope you find it useful 🙂
in: Yah, they both know about the posts on my site, so they should be able to put 2 and 2 together.
Me: Thanks..selecting the pictures really made me miss the place too.
Thanks dude,
I was just about to ask who was the guide that brought you around. 🙂
Thanks. Your trip there ease my worry that Siam Reap might not be safe.
How much did you pay in getting Thet to show you around?
Just got back from the madness that is Bangkok to read this final installment of your trip. I am doubly looking forward to my trip there now. Really good read, and usefully informative. Cheers 🙂
Very nice write-up and pictures of Angkor Wat and its temples.
Was there in Jan 08.