Airport

Located on the west of the city, Siem Reap Airport is about 20 minutes by car.

With the booming tourist trade at the Angkor temples, the airport is undergoing expansion. It is a modern if basic facility and relatively trouble-free.

There are taxis and motodops (motorcycle taxis) to take you from Siem Reap airport to your hotel for a small fee. Bargain if the price seems excessive, but not too aggressively — these guys aren’t making a lot of money.

Transportation

Two Wheels
As with Phnom Penh, you really need experience to drive here. Better to hire someone to drive you (about $7-10/day). However, there are rental agencies everywhere in Siem Reap.
Four Wheels
Cars and drivers are available for hire at ATT, but you are better off hiring a taxi driver to take you around, or a minibus through a hotel travel agent.

ATT Contact Number

Phnom Penh: 166 Norodom Blvd, tel: 016-909-090
Siem Reap: on the road to Angkor, tel: 016-636-363
Poi pet: on the main road, tel: 016-545-454

Touring the Temples

The Angkor temples are one of the few tourist attractions in the world that cannot possibly be overrated. They are spectacular and well worth traveling the distance to visit. You are pretty free to explore and clamber around (be careful though, since you are responsible for your own safety), but don’t climb up onto any religious icons or the local people will be very angry with you. These places are a national treasure and should be treated as such.

Watch your head for bat droppings and low stone doorways.

Dining

The town centre offers a number of pleasant eating opportunities for Asian and especially foreign (French!) food at very reasonable prices. Just walk around until you find something that appeals to you.

Way to go

You can fly in from Bangkok or Phnom Penh, or if you’re feeling adventurous, take a boat from Phnom Penh for about $25 — a six hour ride down the river and through the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest lake.

Where to stay

Hotels vary from $3 guesthouses and everything in between up to a couple of hundred bucks for a top room at Grand Hotel d’ Angkor or the Sofitel. The place is packed with accommodation as everybody gears up one step ahead of the tourist boom.

Nightlife

Siem Reap is a very small town, with a goodly handful of friendly little bars (and one seedy disco) concentrated in the town centre. Great place for a pub crawl, though you really don’t want to be hung over while touring the temples.

Siem Reap map

Transportation

Two Wheels
Unless you have experience driving in Southeast Asia, hiring a motorbike is not really recommended. In Phnom Penh they frequently get stolen (and you are liable, even if it was the owner who stole it back with a spare key!!), so keep it in your guesthouse at night. A better option is to hire a motodop (motorcycle taxi). They know their way around, usually speak a bit of English and are inexpensive.

But if you must: Lucky! Lucky! and New! New! are two rental agencies renting out 250cc and smaller 110cc bikes. 250s cost from $6 to $10 a day depending on the condition of the bike.

Four Wheels
You can hire cars from ATT car rental, though it is better to hire a taxi or arrange a minibus through a hotel travel agent.

ATT Contact Number

Phnom Penh: 166 Norodom Blvd, tel: 016-909-090
Siem Reap: on the road to Angkor, tel: 016-636-363
Poi pet: on the main road, tel: 016-545-454

Dining

The riverside promenade is teeming with restaurants with fantastic foreign (and Asian) food at surprisingly low prices. Great steaks and pasta and pizza can be had for the cost of an aperitif at a restaurant back home. Most have chalkboards outside advertising their fare and prices.

Way to go

You can fly in from Bangkok, Saigon, etc, or almost any major town in the country. If you are hankering after a bit of adventure, and are coming from Siem Reap, consider taking the six-hour scenic boat ride (about $25) through the Tonle Sap Lake.

Where to stay

Phnom Penh has a big range of accommodation from about $5 for a dingy guesthouse with shared toilet to modern luxury for up $200 or so, and everything in between.

Nightlife

The restaurants along the river make a nice spot for an evening drink, but much of the rest is pretty seedy stuff, where people indulge in sins of all descriptions — especially the discos.
One of the more respectable pubs is misnamed “The Cathouse”, with a friendly staff, comfy decor and low prices.

Phnom Penh map

Phnom Penh – A City of Occupations

Phnom Penh, founded alongside the Tonle Sap and Bassac rivers, has been the capital of Cambodia since the mid15th century, after Angkor was abandoned.

Most of modern day Phnom Penh was built while under the colonial control of the French, (who occupied it in 1864 as an extension of their interests in Vietnam). In its heyday, the city was considered one of the most picturesque in Southeast Asia.

Since gaining independence from France in 1953, decades of political turmoil have constantly transformed Phnom Penh. A domineering monarchy was deposed in 1970 by the military as the country was dragged kicking and screaming into the Vietnam War.

Reign of Terror

Under the direction of Henry Kissinger, the countryside was carpet-bombed to “root out” Vietnamese communists. This insane military strategy drove the rural population into the capital, creating an overpopulated metropolis of hungry people, and paving the way for the eventual Khmer Rouge takeover under Pol Pot.

In April 1975, (two weeks before the fall of Saigon) the U.S. forces abandoned the city as the Khmer Rouge moved in. Initially welcomed, the KR soon instituted harsh policies (somewhat similar to China’s cultural revolution), including forcing almost the entire population back into the countryside to produce rice. The city was transformed into a ghost town, and the site of countless political tortures and murders. Tuol Saleng, a high school that was converted by the KR into an interrogation/torture centre has been preserved as the Museum of Genocide – a chilling reminder of a truly horrible period.

The Struggle for Peace

In 1979, fed up with overambitious border attacks by the KR, Vietnam invaded Cambodia, taking over Phnom Penh, driving the KR into hiding in the countryside and plunging the country into 16 years of civil war. A $3 billion UN peacekeeping initiative resulted in the election of current Prime Minister Hun Sen, who made a concerted attack on the Khmer Rouge through military means and dubious amnesties, effectively eliminating them.

A City on the Mend

With country now stabilized, Phnom Penh is steadily being restored to former glories as the Cambodian economy recovers. Despite ongoing high employment, the streets are lively during daylight hours, and there is an unmistakable optimism in the air.

Among its growing attractions are its laid back atmosphere, and lovely (and inexpensive) French food served in terraced restaurants along the Tonle Sap river. The National Museum and Grand Palace have also been restored and receive a growing number of international visitors.

While most Khmer people are relaxed and friendly, there are a few nasty folks around. The country is very poor and has experienced a lot of warfare and death, so for some, life can be pretty cheap.

Nonetheless, with the proper precautions, there is no reason you can’t enjoy a safe holiday in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh late at night is not particularly safe for walking. Be sure to take a taxi if you have a late night. If you find yourself having to walk for some reason, stay to well-lit streets as much as possible. If by some unfortunate chance, you do get accosted, have some money ready (about $10 will do) and hand it over without resisting — your life cannot be bought back for any amount of money.

Siem Reap is very safe at night. It is a small town and the local businessmen are very keen that visitors feel safe and are safe. By way of example, you can walk around raging drunk at 3am, and nobody will bother you. Or alternatively, an arm-in-arm evening stroll need present no difficulties nor anxiety.

Upper end hotels and more posh restaurants in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh accept major credit cards — especially VISA (warning, the surcharge can be up to 7%!), but around town, cash is king. American dollars or Thai Baht are preferred over the local currency, the Riel, which is of so low value that you would need a stack of it to pay for a decent meal — it’s only good for tipping and motorcycle taxis, or a baguette from a street vendor. If you are carrying dollars, make sure you have a lot of ones, or if it’s baht, 20 baht notes are the most useful.

Banks and major hotels can also change travellers cheques or give limited credit card cash advances. To be safe, you are best off not relying on your credit card too much.

Note: There are no ATM machines in the country.

Believe it or not, exotic tropical diseases are not your biggest worry in Cambodia. The most common problems are diarrhoea, sunstroke, and dehydration. As for tropical diseases, malaria is the chief concern. Phnom Penh is malaria free. Angkor is malarial though more remote towns present a greater risk. Dengue fever during the rainy season can be fairly common. Both malaria and dengue can be prevented by covering up against mosquitoes and using insect repellent.

Before you go, make sure you are up to date with tetanus, diphtheria, typhoid, hepatitis, and polio inoculations.

Visit a travel clinic before you leave your home country.

Telephone

The landline system is very limited and covers only Phnom Penh and the provincial capitals, though there is an extensive mobile system served by four networks. All telephone numbers are six digits with a three-digit prefix. Each province has its own prefix (Phnom Penh is 023, Siem Reap is 063, Sihanoukville is 034) and each of the mobile networks uses a different prefix. If calling between provinces or a different mobile network, you have to dial the prefix. If calling from outside Cambodia, the country code is 855 and the initial ’0′ of the prefix is omitted.

Public phone booths consist of someone with a handful of mobile phones, at least one for each network. You tell them the number you’re calling and you’ll be handed a phone. Rates are about 300 riels a minute. There are also international public phones around Phnom Penh. Be forewarned, Cambodia is one of the most expensive countries in the world to make an international call from, so Internet cafes do a booming business with Internet phones — there’s an annoying delay, but it is much cheaper.

Internet access

There are net cafes in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap with prices ranging from fifty cents to $2 per hour. The connection is pretty slow, and there is nothing they can do about it, so complaining will get you nowhere.

International departure tax is $20 at Pochentong, $15 at Siem Reap. Domestic departure tax is $5. The national carrier is not operating at this time, so three private airlines handle the domestic flights, which are safe enough that you don’t have to worry about it.

Siem Reap Airways, which is part of Bangkok Airways, flies French-built ATRs between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh a couple of times a day. Royal Phnom Penh Airways flies Chinese built Y7s between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap/Battambang and Phnom Penh and Stung Treng/Banlung. President Airlines runs the same routes as Royal Phnom Penh using Russian-made Antonov 24s.