To be perfectly honest, I couldn't be so tantalizingly close to Angkor Wat and not make an effort to see it, but at the same time, I was really terrified to travel here. I researched more hotel options for these two nights than for any other part of the trip. Most hotels near Angkor Wat (which is several hours from any major city), cater to tourists and understand that Americans and Europeans are looking for package deals. Not to be cost effective (though that's a perk), but for convenience.
Flying, once again, out of the Don Meuang airport from Bangkok, we settled into our terminal which was located in the basement. Early, as always, we watched the gate fill up with westerner after westerner. So many backpackers and other tourists had the same idea as we did apparently. When it came time to board the place, we went through the gate, got our boarding passes scanned, but then instead of going across a jet bridge or even going outside to the plane directly (which is common with smaller planes), we boarded a shuttle bus. Hmm...that's a new one. We then rode the shuttle bus for nearly several minutes as it drove us from the airport practically to the runway. Then we got off the bus and boarded the plane. So strange!
Heads up! If you ever decide to visit Cambodia, as Americans, we need entry visas...not just a regular passport. I decided to be proactive and arranged for our visas ahead of time even though I read that you could get your visa upon arrival (which is very different from other visa-requiring countries like China). But the process was very easy, and by getting them ahead of time, I was able to print extra copies, send a copy to my parents, etc. AND, when we finally arrived at the airport, almost no one on our plane got their visas ahead of time, so the visa line quickly grew very long. Since we already had ours, we bypassed that line, and went straight through. (Side note - I was also glad I printed extra copies because the immigration officer accidentally took my entry and exit visa which means I would have had to fill out extra paperwork upon exiting if I didn't have an extra copy).
We flew into the small regional airport of Siem Reap. It takes about 20 mins to get from the town of Siem Reap to the Angkor temple complex. I wanted to find a hotel that was somewhere in between the two. Honestly, nothing that I researched cost more than $180/night (which by my own self proclaimed travel standards isn't too expensive). At the same time, however, we traveled to SE Asia during "off season", so I did expect prices to be more affordable than that. I also found several hotels/guest houses that were in the $50-$60 range. I settled on a place that was somewhere between the two and met all of my requirements.
The hotel I finally picked was called Pavillon d'Orient Boutique-Hotel. For $115/night, our accommodations came with the following: junior suite room with a/c, airport transfer, breakfast, and a personal tuk tuk driver. I had also read ahead of time that this hotel had incredibly cheap laundry service. Since our stay occurred right around the middle of the trip, we definitely took advantage of that. We had 8 articles of clothing laundered for less than $10. The hotel also had an on-site restaurant at which we dined several times.
All of the reviews said not to be alarmed by the neighborhood. That the hotel is very safe and that they lock the perimeter gates at night. #truth. When the driver took us through the gates of the hotel, we really felt like we stepped into another world. And for that, we were very grateful. The entire hotel is open air, but the rooms have personal a/c units. This only became an issue during the nightly power outages. They warned us about them, and during both nights, we definitely experienced a few outages that made for some broken REM cycles. Still, power outages are common in the country, so it's not like other hotels would have been any better off.
When we arrived at the Siem Reap airport, our driver had the biggest sign with our name on it. He drove us the short distance to the hotel, and we got our first taste of what a developing country truly looks like. The huts or poor excuses for structures that were supposed to be houses were truly shocking. We passed many roadside stands selling cooked meat or strange 2 liter bottles that looked like they contained sun tea or lemonade (more on that later).
Through the doors of the Pavillon d'Orient, however, the world changed. Like U Chiang Mai, the lobby was open air and surrounded by beautiful, lush plants and flowers. Upon arrival, they brought us a cold welcome drink (usually apple juice), and carefully explained all of the services included and extra that the hotel provided.
We settled into our room (picture below) and relaxed for a few hours. We got to the hotel right around lunch, and we couldn't get into Angkor Wat that evening until 5pm (if you're staying for multiple days, there are other temples you can visit besides the Angkor ones. They're a little farther away, but I read rave reviews about them). We purchased single day tickets for our full day at Angkor Wat, but they have a really neat offer that you can pick up your tickets for your scheduled day at 5pm the day BEFORE your scheduled day which enables you see the sunset at the temple without buying a second day ticket. Also because many people go to Angkor Wat for sunrise, you have to get your tickets the night before because you don't want to be standing at the ticket office (if it's even open) at 4:30 in the morning risking missing the sunrise.
Since we had some time to kill, we took advantage of room service. A quick word about currency. Cambodia does indeed have their own currency, but around the Siem Reap area, they use American money. We paid for our tickets in US Dollars, the hotel rate was in US dollars, all of the pricing we saw everywhere had both the local currency cost and the cost in $$, which we found very convenient. Also, since we were visiting 4 countries on this trip, it was nice to have at least one place where we didn't have to change money.
Another tip - when visiting Cambodia, bring lots of small bills. It's a very poor country, so $5 or $10 tips go a long way!
Ok, where was I? Ah yes, relaxing at the hotel. They did not charge an extra fee for room service, and most dishes were only $5 or $6, so we happily called and had lunch in our cooled room. Some of the dishes weren't huge, but they were delicious. Chicken or shrimp in some sort of coconut/curry sauce with white rice. We also took advantage of the pool. I actually believe there were two on the grounds, but we enjoyed taking a refreshing dip. It's amazing, though just how hot it was. Even in the pool, we tried to find shade because of the sun glare (and fear of sunburn).
At 4:00, we called the front office and asked them to arrange a tuk tuk for us for the evening. At 4:30, Adam arrived who would be our driver for the rest of our stay. Adam was awesome! He drove us all over, knew lots of things about the temples, always had cold water available for us, and always gave us a clear place where to meet him. But more on that in my next post.
When we first met Adam, he drove us from the hotel to the Angkor temple complex. This gave us our first real taste of Cambodian roads. Sure, we rode in the back seat of a car from the airport, but being in an open tuk tuk really gave us a sense for the way of things. (A tuk tuk is a 2 person carriage being pulled by a motor bike. In the old days it was pulled by hand or by a bicycle.) They don't go terribly fast, but fast enough that the breeze kept us from being too sweaty.
It was in the tuk tuk on our way to the temple that we realized that the roads had no lanes. Oh sure, there was a line down the middle for traffic going in both directions, but if there was no oncoming traffic, the drivers made their own lanes. Bikes were on the far right, then motorbikes and tuk tuks in the middle with cars on the left going around the slower traffic. If any oncoming traffic threatened, the cars would squish back over to the right forcing all of the other drivers to slow down and get into 2 lanes. It was sheer insanity.
When we arrived at the Angkor complex, we got our tickets for the next day, and then Adam drove us to the famous "sunset" temple, Phnom Bakheng. We waited in line for over an hour to climb the stairs to the sunset perch. The guards only let so many people at the top, so no one could go up until other people came back down. By the time we got to the top, the sun had already set, and it was too hazy for there to be any sunset color in the sky. #sunsetfail.
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| View of Angkor Wat from Phnom Bakheng - supposedly at sunset... |
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| Lunch at the Hotel - Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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| Junior Suite at Pavillon d'Orient - Siem Reap, Cambodia |
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| Waiting in line for sunset at Phnom Bakheng |
After sunset, we asked Adam to drive us into the actual town of Siem Reap. Since we were heading back to Angkor Wat for sunrise the next morning, we would miss breakfast at the hotel. He didn't quite understand what we meant by "minimart" but we we got into town, we were able to point to one and he stopped for us.
Wow! Siem Reap! What a crazy place. Picture a normal city (or what you think a normal European/Asia city would look like). Picture a traffic intersection where you would expect to see a traffic light or roundabout. In Cambodia...nothing. Intersections were first come, first served. When you got to an intersection, you just kept going and tried to pay attention enough that you didn't hit the person coming at you from the street perpendicular to yours. Holy cow!
At the minimart, everything was very expensive. We found some fresh, sweet rolls that we bought with American dollars and they gave us Cambodian riel as change.
Back at the hotel, we ate dinner in the open air restaurant despite the heat and turned in early. Shocker, I know! Haha! But, if we're going to see sunset the next day, we had to get up literally before the crack of dawn.
In my next post, I'll tell you all about our day exploring the magical, mythical Angkor temple complex. It's absolutely incredible. I hope my account of it does it justice.
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
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