Siem Reap, Cambodia - Ernie and Cindy's Guide
It’s one of the most charming towns on the planet if you
actually spend some time with the local people of the town. We’ve heard from
expats over and over “I came for a holiday and I never left.” For Ernie and me, the town was so enticing
after our first visit in 2009 that we returned in 2012 to see if we should move
there and start a social enterprise to help the local community.
After only two visits, I cannot call myself an ‘expert’ in
everything Siem Reap has to offer, but I can certainly share some advice on
what to see, where to stay and of course, where to eat! This guide highlights
(mostly) social enterprises, i.e. businesses that donate a portion or all of
their profits to an NGO supporting the local Cambodian community. So not only
can you get the most out of your visit, you can also give the most – with every
dollar going to a good cause.
HOW MUCH TIME TO
BUDGET
Most visitors spend 3 days/2 nights in Siem Reap. There is a whole initiative to lengthen your stay called "Stay another day" where they have much more detail on what to do if you have more time to spend in Cambodia. It depends on what you want to see and do in the area. 3-4 full days is sufficient to get a taste of the area and catch most of the major sights. The times outlined below are in order of what we believe is priority of how you should spend your time.1-2 Days – Grand Circuit Temples (including Angkor Wat, Ta Prom, Angkor Thom)
½ Day – Rolous Group
2 hrs – Silk Farm
½ Day – Floating Village
1 Day – Banteay Srey and Bang Melea
1 Day – Kulen Mountain
2 hrs – Landmine Musem
MUST SEE (SIGHTS)
The Temples: Obviously, you’ve come to see the temples.
Costs: Tickets are $20/day/person. You can buy a 3 day pass for $40/person which is totally worth it. I also recommend a tour guide, which is very affordable at around $20-25/day and can be hired at your hotel. A Tuk Tuk is the best way to see everything and generally costs $15/day. Some drivers might charge you an additional $5 to go to Angkor Wat at Sunrise. Bring or buy a scarf to wrap around your nose/mouth to prevent dust from coming up into your face.
Grand Circuit Temples – spend a soild 1-2 days at these
temples, depending how fast you can walk or how easily you can navigate through
the swarms of tourists plopping on and off the tour busses.
Angkor Wat is the most famous temple and the one everyone calls the
entire complex. Many people go at
sunrise to see the reflection in the pond. It’s worth it to see sunrise (and
get haggled by many teenagers claiming their name is “Justin Beiber” or “Lady
Gaga” to come eat breakfast at their restaurant). My suggestion is to see the sunrise, then get
the heck out of that temple so you can beat the rush to the next temple. Then
come back later in the afternoon when the temple is relatively empty.
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| Angkor Wat, rear entry view |
Angkor Thom is the next complex that contains the famous Bayon
temple with all of the Buddha heads. The
victory gate into the temple is beautiful so you want to stop for photos and
hear the story of the Good vs. Evil sides.
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| Victory Gate |
Ta Phrom, famous for “Tomb Raider” is a fascinating temple because
the trees have overgrown most of it. There are two sides to the temple and it’s
worth looking at both sides. There’s thought that Humans and Dinosaurs lived at
the same time due to a carving that can be found within the temple walls of the
stegosaurus. Do you believe it to be true?
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| Ta Phrom |
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| Ernie was super excited to see the dino |
Ta Som is another temple with overgrown trees. I especially love
the back gate of the temple for the view of the trees out of the Budda’s head.
It’s worth the extra walk.
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| Ta Som |
Other temples in the route: Pre Rup (everyone goes here for sunset,
but personally, I’m not sure it’s worth the crowds), Reah Khan, Neak Pean
Additional Temples worth checking out. Ernie and I are torn on which group of temples is better. I guess it depends what you want to get out of your trip. The Rolous group Temples are in tact, fully accessible temples. Banteay Srei is beautiful, but small on it's own. Bang Melea is in ruins, and only worth visiting if you like climing over rocks and trees. Both sets gets you outside of town so you can see a bit of the country side.
Banteay Srei and Bang Melea
Costs: $35 for a Tuk Tuk. Banteay Srei is included in the Temple Pass but
Bang Melea is an additional $5/person.
Budget a short day trip for these
two temples and the drive out to them.
Whatever you do, you must try the sticky rice/beans that the locals sell
by the side of the road. It’s sweetened with palm sugar and packed into bamboo
then roasted by fire. Your Tuk Tuk
driver will know where these are sold, as they are the best in the area.
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| A typical stand selling sticky rice |
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| Om nom nom |
Banteay Srei is also known as the
“lady’s temple” and definitely in my top 3 favorite temples. It’s made of pink sandstone and fairly quiet
since not many tourists make it outside the grand circuit.
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| Lady's Temple |
Bang Melea is also known as the
“jungle temple” because you really have to be willing to climb through the
jungle, step over moss and navigate through fallen stone. This temple is
basically in crumbles from the old original form. There are even ruminants of a land mine,
basically a giant ditch.
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| The Jungle Temple |
The Butterfly Garden Center
is near these two temples and if you’re into it, we
hear it’s nice.
Roluos Group Temples: Bakong, Lolei and
Preah Ko.
Costs:
$12 for a Tuk Tuk. Temples are included
in the Temple Pass.
Other Tourist Attractions:
Old Market
Costs: nothing except shopping and eating
Costs: nothing except shopping and eating
You’ll be in the old market area
every evening for dinner. There is an expansive day market and 4 (or more)
night markets that all basically sell the same cheap stuff made in China. Browse, bargain and take home some fun souvenirs
but don’t expect high quality items from the bazaars. Nearby brick-n-mortar shops have some
better-quality items.
Kulen Mountain
Costs: $20/person, plus $40 for Tuk Tuk
Full Day trip
Costs: $20/person, plus $40 for Tuk Tuk
Full Day trip
We didn’t go during either visit so
I can’t speak from personal experience but it comes highly recommended for a
day trip. You can swim in the waterfall pool and walk along the river with
lingas dotting the riversides. There is also supposedly a huge lying Buddha
statue in the area. I kind of wish we had gone, but it seemed like a lot of
money at the time since you’re only paying $4-5 per meal. In hindsight, we
probably should have done it since we had the time.
Floating Village
Costs: $15/person for boat ticket. Tuk Tuk is $11 round trip from Siem Reap.
About a half day. You’ll be on the boat for about 1.5 hrs and it’s about 30-45 min each way.
Costs: $15/person for boat ticket. Tuk Tuk is $11 round trip from Siem Reap.
About a half day. You’ll be on the boat for about 1.5 hrs and it’s about 30-45 min each way.
I’m torn about recommending a visit
to the floating village. In its authentic state, the village is quite unique
and interesting for visitors to see. But the most popular village on Tonle Sap
is becoming so much of an attraction that there are many scams. If you do decide to visit a village, take the
time to go to the authentic Cambodian one. Beyond Tours (info below) can set
you up, and also take you to the floating forest.
A Common Scam: Because of the increasing desire to ‘visit an
orphanage’ while traveling to a developing country, common scams are popping up
all over the place. This orphan-tourism is frightening and my hope is to
educate you before you go. Most
“orphans” (estimated at more than 75%) living in orphanages in Cambodia are not
actually orphans. The floating village is no different. Your tour guide or boat
driver might take you to a market near the ‘school’ or ‘orphanage’ and ask you
to buy a bag of rice or a box of noodles to donate to the ‘school/orphanage.’ I
URGE YOU to not do this! These children are actually not in school! Many of
them aren’t even Cambodians! The children are taken away from their homes and
kept away from school so you (with your good intentions) can come by and drop
off food that you buy from the market. They’ll take you on a tour of the
‘school’ showing you where food is cooked, where the kids play and you can even
take a photo with the children. Then
they will sell the food back to the market (with the market taking a cut of the
profits) and the market will resell to the next good-intentioned tourist. The negative impact to the community is
increasing – fewer children going to school, keeping them in poverty, and
they’re not even getting fed. The mafia
wins and puts cash in their pockets. We
were stupid. And we were scammed. Please
be warned.
Avoid: Don’t give the snake-kids
money. Again, these children are kept
away from school because they can earn much more money by begging for $1 for
you to look at or take a photo with their snakes. These kids are all over the
place. The parents take the money and many go off to drink and gamble, leaving
their children at home starving.
Education is what can help these kids out of poverty but the more
tourists that give them money; the less likely they are to go to school.
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| This is us after we got scammed. We felt so good about our 'giving' until we later learned the truth about it all. |
Angkor Silk Farm
Pouk District (20 minutes from Siem Reap)
Open daily 8am-5pm
Pouk District (20 minutes from Siem Reap)
Open daily 8am-5pm
Costs: $10 for Tuk Tuk. Free
shuttle departs from Artisans Angkor main showroom on Stung Thmey Street at
9:30am and 1:20pm. Entry is free but you
might be enticed to buy something in their air-conditioned shop.
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| Silk Worm Cocoons |
Free guided tours of the entire
process to make silk, starting from the mulberry bushes that the worms feed on, all the way through the
dying and weaving processes. It sounds a little
boring, but actually it’s quite an interesting and intricate process to
creating the silk we love to wear.
You’ll spend about an hour here looking at live silkworms (you can see
them mate!) and being mesmerized by the dying and weaving process. There’s also an ice cream shop on site for a
cool break after your visit.
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| Lady Ga Ga's Dress from a concert in Cambodia! Made out of silk worm cocoons. |
Landmine Museum
Costs: $3/person donation requested (required?). $15 for Tuk Tuk round trip.
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| Aki Ra's CNN Hero Award on display at the Landmine Museum |
The Landmine Museum was founded by
a former Khmer Rouge child soldier, Aki Ra, also a CNN Hero. Visit the website or even the museum to hear
his incredible story. The museum is not large and displays thousands of mines
Aki Ra and his late wife recovered from the killing fields. He lives on site
with his 3 children along with an entire center of children who are either
landmine victims, polio victims or children of landmine victims who can no
longer be supported by their natural parents. You won’t be able to access the
children’s living area but you might catch a glimpse of them playing volleyball
behind the museum. The Landmine Museum
helps support education for these children by providing school supplies,
uniforms and extra school fees. Jill and Bill, a married American couple, run
the museum and will likely be one of your tour guides. They work with Project Enlighten
who
provides university scholarships for several students from the center.
TRUST ‘EM TOURS (OPERATORS)
Beyond Tours is owned by married Australians, Anthony and
Fiona, who also own Sojourn Boutique Hotel (see below) and several other
socially responsible businesses. They
offer a variety of responsible tourism tours including the Main Temples, Beng
Melea, and the Floating Village. You can also get a unique experience through
the “Day in the Life” Tour $32/person, Cambodian Cooking Classes $35/full day,
$22/half day or several Cycling Tours.
Originally founded by Daniela from the US, the team is now led by an outgoing mix of Westerners and Cambodians. They offer several adventures from a custom built itinerary, to the three week bike ride across Cambodia, PEPY Ride! Their blog is worthwhile reading and you’re bound to learn much about Cambodia, Social Enterprises and Responsible Tourism. We love the whole team at PEPY Tours and PEPY NGO! They were so hospitable and welcoming during our visit!
DO-GOODER DIGS
(i.e. HOTELS)
Breakfast not included, Free Wi Fi.
Toiletries not included so bring your own soap/shampoo. There is no safe in the
rooms, but there are keys to the old wooden desks.Seven Candles is owned by Ponheary Ly and her family. Ponheary is a recipient of the CNN Hero award for her work in the local community where she makes it possible for hundreds of children to go to school who can’t afford uniforms, books and school fees. The entire family, 3 generations, lives at the guest house and several can be hired as tour guides for the temples and surrounding areas. Lori Carlson from Texas also lives on site and heads up The Ponheary Ly Foundation and is the author of humorous reading materials found in your room. Ponheary’s story is amazing and if you have a moment to sit with her, you’ll be inspired by how she has lived her life.
Rooms are large with tile flooring and western style bathrooms. Fridge, TV and Air Conditioning in room.
Ken and Kristin are the Norwegian owners/founders of Soria Moria and are heavily involved in the Responsible Tourism initiative in Siem Reap. Soria Moria employs many trainees from the major hospitality schools in the area. They have also recently turned over 51% ownership to the staff, a very innovative approach in the local area. Each staff member shares in the profits and is dedicated to providing you with great service. Ken also heads up a local NGO called NEDO (Norwegian Educational Development Organisation). As revenue streams in addition to Soria Moria, Ken also founded White Bicycles where you can rent bicycles from several hotels/guest houses for $2/day, and Love Cards which are handmade greeting cards by Cambodians.
Also, Wednesday nights are $1 tapas at Soria Moria! It’s very popular among expats so a reservation is necessary.
Buffet & Menu Breakfast included, Saltwater pool with swim up bar, Car pickup/drop off from Airport
Sojourn means ‘a short stay’ and is owned and operated by Australians Anthony and his wife, Fiona, who also own several other socially responsible operations in town, including Beyond Tours (tour agency), HUSK (trash collection, property rebuilding), Wild Poppy Boutique (clothing shop) and Softies (plush toys). Sojourn is a short ride away from the town center and hidden in the local Treak Village. You’ll see HUSK trash collection bins along the route. Several staff members come from the local hospitality training schools and are sponsored by EGBOK Mission (www.egbokmission.org), an NGO supporting underprivileged young adults and connecting them to employment opportunities in the hospitality industry. Products in the room are made by Sentaurs D’Angkor
The restaurant at the hotel serves IBIS Rice and is absolutely amazing with a full breakfast fruit & pastry spread in addition to an ordered menu item. Stay in one (or two) nights for dinner and you won’t be disappointed! The swim-up pool bar has happy hour every day and a variety of delicious cocktails.
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| Saltwater pool |
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| Black concrete bathrooms, modern & sleek! |
Rates: $210-250/night
French Quarter
Free WiFi, Pool, free fruit, airport pick up
for $10 USDFrench Quarter
Luxurious rooms with wall-mounted TV’s iPod Docks, bathrobes and slippers. Décor is very modern and minimalist with clean lines and splashes of bold colors. We didn’t stay overnight here, but we stopped for lunch in their air conditioned restaurant (a rare gem). The food was delicious, a little higher priced than in town, but worth the additional trip to sit in AC and relax after a hot morning out on the tourist route. The outdoor bar area has beds suspended from the ceiling where you can eat breakfast, lunch or dinner in bed! Shinta Mani funds the Shinta Mani Foundation which helps to lift individuals in local villages out of poverty through development programs and basic assistance like water wells, housing and school materials.
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| Lunch in bed? |
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| Swimming Pool |
YUMMY IN THE TUMMY (RESTAURANTS)
Hours: Mon-Saturday 11am-9:30pm, closed Sundays.
Haven is run by 2 Swiss women who opened
the trendy restaurant in December 2011. It serves as a training restaurant for
young adults ‘orphans’ (orphans, lost 1 parent, or abandoned children) who have
out grown their orphan centers and have no place to go. Training is free for the students. The restaurant is clean, modern and is open
air seating. The staff is very friendly and all smiles and the food is quite
delicious! Average prices are slightly higher, about $1-2, compared to
Cambodian run restaurants, but for an extra buck, you are helping to provide a
job to a young adult who may not have had a hand up otherwise.
Closed Sundays
If there’s only one Cambodian Restaurant
you pick, this one should be it. A not-for-profit restaurant run by Doug and
Avee that fully supports the Green Gecko Project,
an incredible children’s center founded by Tanya. Doug comes from Australia and
fell in love with Cambodia, later deciding to retire and move to Siem Reap. He
then met Avee, the brains behind Green Star and an amazing chef. We let Avee bring us whatever food she was
cooking up that day and the food did NOT disappoint! Some recommendations are:
Tasty Corn Kernels, Spicy Fried Egg Plant with Pork, Green Star Sliced Beef
(try the Kampot Pepper and lime dipping sauce!) and the Stuffed Chicken Wings
(not on the menu but an absolute must). For dessert, Avee cooked up cinnamon
apples in a wonton skin, I can’t remember the name of the dish, but even I who
is allergic to gluten, craved this dessert for days after trying a small bite.
Doug and Avee spent two nights chatting with us and sharing their story.
Joe-to-Go is small comfortable restaurant
where you can get classic Khmer dishes such as Amok Chicken or Fried Rice.
There’s also a variety of western dishes.
Stop in for a quick snack or a full meal. The Mint Lemonade is wonderfully refreshing.
Proceeds from both the downstairs restaurant and the upstairs fashion boutique
Beau Fou support The Global Child Project, an NGO focusing on providing
education to underprivileged children.
·
Viva (Mexican)
Located in the Old Market
It’s the only non-social-enterprise restaurant on my list. Everyone says it’s the ‘best Mexican’ in Siem Reap… which you should take with a grain of salt since it’s Mexican Food in Cambodia. We usually like to eat local foods when we travel, but our 2nd trip to Siem Reap was 2 weeks long and we were craving Mexican. The food is actually not too bad! Handmade corn tortillas, nicely marinated meats and of course crunchy tortilla chips are all we need to go along with our margaritas! So if you need a break from Asian food, and you have a craving for Mexican Viva will not disappoint.
It’s the only non-social-enterprise restaurant on my list. Everyone says it’s the ‘best Mexican’ in Siem Reap… which you should take with a grain of salt since it’s Mexican Food in Cambodia. We usually like to eat local foods when we travel, but our 2nd trip to Siem Reap was 2 weeks long and we were craving Mexican. The food is actually not too bad! Handmade corn tortillas, nicely marinated meats and of course crunchy tortilla chips are all we need to go along with our margaritas! So if you need a break from Asian food, and you have a craving for Mexican Viva will not disappoint.
Others that we tried to visit, but didn't make it to:
· Le Café at Paul DeBrule
Located at the French Cultural Center in Wat Bo Area
Monday-Saturday 7:30am-8pm
The premier hospitality school in Siem Reap. They have a restaurant on their campus where students train in cooking, serving and hosting guests.
Monday-Saturday 7:30am-8pm
The premier hospitality school in Siem Reap. They have a restaurant on their campus where students train in cooking, serving and hosting guests.
· Sala Bai
155 Phoum Tapoul, Near the new Park Hyatt (formerly the Hotel de la Paix)
Breakfast 7-9am, Lunch 12-2pm Monday-Friday. Closed evenings, weekends and public holidays
Reservations Required
The other premier hospitality school. Proceeds contribute to the Sala Bai training project.
Coming Soon: Where to shop!155 Phoum Tapoul, Near the new Park Hyatt (formerly the Hotel de la Paix)
Breakfast 7-9am, Lunch 12-2pm Monday-Friday. Closed evenings, weekends and public holidays
Reservations Required
The other premier hospitality school. Proceeds contribute to the Sala Bai training project.
A note on tipping: Tipping is not customary in Cambodia. Locals generally round up to the next even dollar. But if you are happy with the service, tipping is highly encouraged. Remember that many Cambodians living in the town only make about $50/month, which many Americans will spend on one meal. So while $2 or even $10 is extra change to you, it makes a significant difference for the people serving you. They have worked hard for you and are not begging on the street so please show respect as they have shown to you.
Common Scams: I hate to even say there are scams in the area because we
love Siem Reap so much. Generally, Siem
Reap is a pretty safe town and the people are friendly. But with the increase
of Tourism over the past several years attracts common tourist scams.
· Street Beggars: Like any developing country,
there are many people living below the poverty line. In Cambodia, 78% are in
deep poverty on less than $2/day. It’s
no secret that you are bound to see a few hard-up people while visiting Siem
Reap. I caution you, however, and plead
with you to not give money to street beggars – adult or children. Some of the beggars in Siem Reap are very
sophisticated. They rent babies to carry around and will ask you to buy them
milk or diapers from the store. Once you are out of eyesight, the woman returns
the milk to the store, receiving some cash while the store takes their healthy
profit. After turning a few of these tricks, she returns the baby to their
family and pockets the cash. These people are not contributing members of the
society but are leeching off the goodness of your heart.
Daniela from PEPY says it best when she
calls this “voting with your money.” Do you want more kids on the street
begging? Then give them your money and you are voting to keep the child on the
street and not in school. It’s just the
same as when you buy your favorite laundry detergent at home – you’re voting to
keep that brand on the shelf.
We heard a story that a street kid, missing
one leg as a victim of a land mine, would sell small items for $1. You probably
don’t need the book or the 10 bracelets that you just traded your dollar for,
but you want to help the kid out, right? Wrong. This kid was making $1000/month
selling on the streets! Think about this and compare it to your average hotel
staff that makes $60/month as a trainee or $100/month as a manager. The kid takes home that money to whoever is ‘managing’
him and usually walks away with little to nothing: no food, no clothes, no
clean home to live in. Just say “day ah
koon”, which means “no thank you” and they will generally walk away.
·
Orphanages: More than 75% of the children living
in orphanages are not actually orphans.
Tourists often have good intentions and want to help out orphanages. “Orphan
tourism” is probably one of the most ridiculous terms ever created – and it’s
sad to know that such a concept even exists that humans actually had to give it
a name. We heard stories upon stories,
endless recounts of the negative effects of orphan tourism. “Hug an Orphan for $10!” This sounds ridiculous,
are you serious? And people actually do it – in fact, probably thousands each
year – thinking they are helping out the local community. But the money goes to
the ring leader in charge of the organization and rarely do the kids ever
benefit.
Unicef is working to reform Cambodian laws
to enforce the priority of alternative child care:
1)
If a child cannot be cared for by their natural
parents, Kinship care is the best preferred alternative. That is, being cared
for by releatives such as a grandparent or an aunt/uncle.
2)
Community care is the next priority, where
neighbors care for the child in the same village of the child’s family. Pagoda
care is a common form of community care.
3)
Local Foster Care where an alternative family outside
of the child’s village but still within Cambodia, cares for the child.
4)
The very last alternative is residential care
such as orphanages or group homes.
Because so many tourists want to
see orphans (why? Would you put your own child on display?) so, many business
men and women are attracted to this ‘industry’ and are now opening centers and
grabbing kids off the streets or out of their homes to live in the center so
they can profit off tourists. These kids are kept malnourished so tourists feel
bad and give more money. They are kept out of schools and are often
abused. Don’t be part of the problem. Don’t visit or donate to these ‘orphanages’.
Only about 10% are legit and doing good work. I can recommend a few if you are
looking to donate.
Currently, international adoption
is illegal in Cambodia but a new law allowing international adoptions is going
into effect Jan 2, 2013. Yes Cambodian
children are arguably the most adorable in the world, but I still do not
support international adoption and taking a child from their home country
before they are willing and able to make the choice themselves.
Child Safe has a terrific marketing campaign
that you should definitely read.
We thank everyone who made our visits a wonderful experience.
We are indebted to you for your kindness to meet two strangers; for your generous
hospitality; your willingness to share stories and friends; and your wonderful
hearts as you continue to help Cambodia: Allie, Ken, Doug and Avee, Tanya, Pita, Bob,
Jonas, Nari, Michael, Andreas, Anna B, Rithi, Sarah, Anna M, Kimline, Savong,
Annie, Ben Severene, Ponheary, Dayvy, Hanah, Sam, the Village Chief of Military
School and Wounded Warriors, Megan, Jill and Bill, Anthony, Im Eath, Dara.
