Discussion
6 days of temples is an awful lot, the first couple of days will be epic but after that you will start to feel you've seen it all and it could get same same but different.
siem reap town is pretty small too so a few nights there and you will have soaked up all the atmosphere there is to absorb.
i think i flew with cambodia angkor air between laos and camboida, was less than an hour flight from siem reap to lunag prabang.
just putting it out there, and certainly worth reading a little more into to see if it fits your timings/budget/desires etc...
siem reap town is pretty small too so a few nights there and you will have soaked up all the atmosphere there is to absorb.
i think i flew with cambodia angkor air between laos and camboida, was less than an hour flight from siem reap to lunag prabang.
just putting it out there, and certainly worth reading a little more into to see if it fits your timings/budget/desires etc...
wasnt planning 6 whole days of temples, but on top of the main temples I had also highlighted a few other bits worth looking at:
Circus
Backstreet academy class (crafting type of thing the mrs would enjoy)
Kbal Spean (waterfalls)
Phnom Kulen National Park
Banteay Srey Butterfly Centre + Landmine museum down road
Baksei Chamkrong temple
Srah Srang - sunrise?
Beng Mealea
Angkor Nature Tour (going into the more wild areas looking for spiders and various wildlife, agin the mrs would love it but could possibly do this kind of thing in Kep/Kampot?
Circus
Backstreet academy class (crafting type of thing the mrs would enjoy)
Kbal Spean (waterfalls)
Phnom Kulen National Park
Banteay Srey Butterfly Centre + Landmine museum down road
Baksei Chamkrong temple
Srah Srang - sunrise?
Beng Mealea
Angkor Nature Tour (going into the more wild areas looking for spiders and various wildlife, agin the mrs would love it but could possibly do this kind of thing in Kep/Kampot?
hahaha have you ever used the flight matrix? I saw some open jaw flights the other day for £290, I actually blagged my flight from heathrow with emirates for £310 each! 
just checked sky scanner and the matrix and seems flights to Laos are few and far between and come in arund 230 quid these days!
just checked sky scanner and the matrix and seems flights to Laos are few and far between and come in arund 230 quid these days!
Edited by Rib on Friday 14th November 17:00
Rib said:
hahaha have you ever used the flight matrix? I saw some open jaw flights the other day for £290, I actually blagged my flight from heathrow with emirates for £310 each!
from heathrow to where and what dates... and how many transfers... so for questions, but that is dirt cheap to get to the far east.im actually looking at burma, but got to go in via thailand or vietnam ideally... or most likely going to end up in kerala/goa for a couple of weeks. Ive not been and it's on my list of places to go adventuring with the missus
nitrodave said:
Rib said:
hahaha have you ever used the flight matrix? I saw some open jaw flights the other day for £290, I actually blagged my flight from heathrow with emirates for £310 each!
from heathrow to where and what dates... and how many transfers... so for questions, but that is dirt cheap to get to the far east.im actually looking at burma, but got to go in via thailand or vietnam ideally... or most likely going to end up in kerala/goa for a couple of weeks. Ive not been and it's on my list of places to go adventuring with the missus
Dont know about the open jaw flights, just something my mum mentioned, they are going to burma next feb along with Penang which is their 'go to' place for a nice hotel and relaxation.
oh and yes I know thats stupidly cheap, hence why I booked it lol, paid 610 and 500 the last 2 times
Edited by Rib on Friday 14th November 17:10
SimonV8ster said:
Flights in and out of Laos are expensive as has been said, buf its either a 24 hr bus ride from Hanoi or you can go by train from Bangkok to the border and then bus the rest to Vientitene which i think i'll do next year.
You can also fly from Hanoi to Vientiane, we flew the other way a couple of years back, not too expensive either and we did last minute after hearing about the horrendous bus journey!! Stevanos said:
SimonV8ster said:
Flights in and out of Laos are expensive as has been said, buf its either a 24 hr bus ride from Hanoi or you can go by train from Bangkok to the border and then bus the rest to Vientitene which i think i'll do next year.
You can also fly from Hanoi to Vientiane, we flew the other way a couple of years back, not too expensive either and we did last minute after hearing about the horrendous bus journey!! Flying is not expensive either, shouldn't be more then £50 from one country to the other and it takes less than an hour. For the cost you are essentially buying an extra day of holiday too by not sitting on a couch all day long bouncing along dirt roads
right thought Id follow this up for anyone using the search functions.
My thoughts on Cambodia
Tourism is crazy in Siem Reap, didnt expect it to be as busy as it was. If I was to go again Id go in the rainy season to avoid having quite so many chinese and koreans..
Temples, after seeing a couple Id had enough, Im glad we had our own tuk tuk to do what we want so we wernt part of a big tour going all day! also the restoration work on the temples seems pretty poor in places, too much 'new' concrete!
The tours we did with Dani Jump at bees unlimited was fantastic, was the highlight of cambodia for me, would recommend him to anyone.
waterfalls and river carvings ok, not sure it was worth the trek up there though when compared to some other asian waterfalls.
didnt enjoy the stay at V & A villa but loved it when we moved to Siddharta, pure luxery for a lot less than alot of the other hotels.
Phnom penh, didnt enjoy it, but the killing fields and museum were a real eye opener and well worth the visit.
Beaches, as people have said, generally pretty crap, certainly not worth the bus ride there. didnt stay on an island as I wanted to as the bus times and boat times dont match up!
not a place I will rush back to overall but glad Ive ticked it off the list
My thoughts on Cambodia
Tourism is crazy in Siem Reap, didnt expect it to be as busy as it was. If I was to go again Id go in the rainy season to avoid having quite so many chinese and koreans..
Temples, after seeing a couple Id had enough, Im glad we had our own tuk tuk to do what we want so we wernt part of a big tour going all day! also the restoration work on the temples seems pretty poor in places, too much 'new' concrete!
The tours we did with Dani Jump at bees unlimited was fantastic, was the highlight of cambodia for me, would recommend him to anyone.
waterfalls and river carvings ok, not sure it was worth the trek up there though when compared to some other asian waterfalls.
didnt enjoy the stay at V & A villa but loved it when we moved to Siddharta, pure luxery for a lot less than alot of the other hotels.
Phnom penh, didnt enjoy it, but the killing fields and museum were a real eye opener and well worth the visit.
Beaches, as people have said, generally pretty crap, certainly not worth the bus ride there. didnt stay on an island as I wanted to as the bus times and boat times dont match up!
not a place I will rush back to overall but glad Ive ticked it off the list
I went for 5 days in January and spent the whole time in Siem Reap. The weather was perfect after 4 weeks of hot and humid in Southern Thailand, Singapore and KL. My word those Chinese tourists
I'm guessing this is there Spain as they have literally invaded the place and all they do is spit, cough and shout at each other!
I thought the temples were amazing and sunrise at Angkor Wat is a must(even if it was overflowing with Chinese) and spent 2 full days seeing temples
Quite an eye opener just how poor the place is, step a few minutes off the main area and electric and running water is rare, go out of town and it doesn't exist in places. Also common for kids as young as 5 to be working, most sell postcards etc but did see a group collecting plastic bottles late at night in a poorer part of town
The countryside is very flat and bleak during dry season, a complete contrast to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia( never seen somewhere so lush and green before!)
Overall I enjoyed it but if I went again it would be in wet season, flights from KL or Bangkok with AirAsia are cheap and often so it's easy to take a side trip here (something I recommend doing soon if you like the idea of going somewhere that is under developed and hasn't been used to decades of tourism)
I'm guessing this is there Spain as they have literally invaded the place and all they do is spit, cough and shout at each other! I thought the temples were amazing and sunrise at Angkor Wat is a must(even if it was overflowing with Chinese) and spent 2 full days seeing temples
Quite an eye opener just how poor the place is, step a few minutes off the main area and electric and running water is rare, go out of town and it doesn't exist in places. Also common for kids as young as 5 to be working, most sell postcards etc but did see a group collecting plastic bottles late at night in a poorer part of town
The countryside is very flat and bleak during dry season, a complete contrast to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia( never seen somewhere so lush and green before!)
Overall I enjoyed it but if I went again it would be in wet season, flights from KL or Bangkok with AirAsia are cheap and often so it's easy to take a side trip here (something I recommend doing soon if you like the idea of going somewhere that is under developed and hasn't been used to decades of tourism)
if anyone wants to keep up with my pictures as I update them then give my page a loike, there is already some of the creepy crawlies we saw on the nature tour, including many spiders! again wet season would be so much better for that!
what amazed me is just how quickly they are eating EVERYTHING. a walk though the woods shows huge holes everywhere being dug to ctahc spiders, no birds anywhere as theyre all being eaten etc. if it moves theyll eat it, wont be long though till its all gone which they cant seem to grasp apparantly.
what amazed me is just how quickly they are eating EVERYTHING. a walk though the woods shows huge holes everywhere being dug to ctahc spiders, no birds anywhere as theyre all being eaten etc. if it moves theyll eat it, wont be long though till its all gone which they cant seem to grasp apparantly.
Rib said:
right thought Id follow this up for anyone using the search functions.
Temples, after seeing a couple Id had enough, Im glad we had our own tuk tuk to do what we want so we wernt part of a big tour going all day!
We thought the same, I know people say you need a week to see everything, and you should spend 3 days minimum, but after a 4am start for sunrise it's a pretty long day. By the time you've seen a few you've seen them all, IMO. Maybe I'm just uncultured. Haha. We saw about 8 I think.Temples, after seeing a couple Id had enough, Im glad we had our own tuk tuk to do what we want so we wernt part of a big tour going all day!
I write his sat in a bar on otres beach, Sihanoukville.
I would recommend, when in kampot ,renting bikes and going up into the mountains near by. I'm pretty positive it's a national park. It's a good ride up and once there there are stunning views. Also an old abandoned casino, church etc from when the French were here.
I would recommend, when in kampot ,renting bikes and going up into the mountains near by. I'm pretty positive it's a national park. It's a good ride up and once there there are stunning views. Also an old abandoned casino, church etc from when the French were here.
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