Shadow of Angkor Guesthouse Siem Reap

The flight from Pakse in Laos was quick and painless and, as we had arranged the guest house in advance, they had arranged a tuk tuk driver to be at the airport to meet us. We stayed at the fairly new Shadow of Angkor II, quite handy for the old town, very good accommodation, helpful staff, clean, well run ... ... The old town at Siem Reap is really quite pleasant, with lots of restaurants and bars competing to get the tourist business with attractive offers (eg glass of beer $0.50, Gin Tonic...

(Written by Steph) I know I've over used this word in my blogs, but I can't help it! I have to say it!! Angkor Wat was AMAZING!!!! It's located about 7km outside of a cute ltitle town called Siem Reap. Like many of the towns close to a wonder of the world, it's mega touristy and caters to all the foreigners here for a few days to visit Angkor Wat. So the streets are filled with bars and restaurants, which results in them battling it out for your business, which is ok by me if that leads to 75...

We arrived in Cambodia by 2pm on Saturday and after settling into to our room we spent the afternoon relaxing with a few beers and wandering around Siem Reap. A storm came through which led to the usual blackouts so internet was not possible nor were outdoor activities, so we were forced to relax.

On Sunday morning we were up at 4am so we could meet our tuk tuk driver at 5am - we were off to visit the temples early so we could make the sunrise.

Our first stop was Angkor Wat - wh...

So its been a few days since our last entry but we've had an absolutely cracking time in Siem Reap. We left the last entry with us looking forward to boarding the "dreaded" bus trip from Phnon Penh up to Angkor...well, it was fab. It really was the best bus trip we've been on so far. If anyone else is out there and looking to travel from PP up to Siem Reap use the Mekong Express bus company. It was 6 USD each and such a good ride. The bus was good (no plastic seats!!), they gave us water and ...

A long bus ride to Siem Reap, well four hours so not hugly long and also not the longest we'll do on this trip but we are aiming to shorten bus journey as much as possible by stopping at small towns along the way. The largest town like place we were in was paske so Siem Reap is very much welcomed by us. Western food, an opportunity to clean our clothes (properly) and meet lots of other like minded people in bars with western music. We managed to steal the last room at the 'Shadow of Angkor' g...

Howdy fine peoples.....

So we were in Bangkok and now we made it all the way to Siem Reap in Cambodia!!

We did decide to stay on in Bangkok for another night and day to see a little more of the city outside the tourist areas and the usual temples (Wats) and try and do what the Bangkokians do.
Unfortunately I (Mark) decided where we were going for the day and I chose an area called Siam Square. It was supposed to be the commercial center of Bangkok......Well it was the commerc...

Hey everyone
Evening before last we were stopped in the street by a nice tuk tuk driver and agreed for him to take us to the Angkor Wats in the morning.
So we got up super early (4am) and headed off to see the Angkor Wat at sunrise. There were quite a few people with the same idea but we found our spot to watch sunrise in one of the outer "library" buildings.
What began as a dark shadow in the distance, with some shimmering reflection pools on either side, appeared gradually from th...

Wat......

We are now in Cambodia. Today we spent the better part of 6 hours sweating our asses off, taking in the sights of the world's largest religious monument. Bigger than the Hagia Sofia. Bigger than Macchu Picchu. Word's can't express how overwhelmingly massive the structure and the surrounding area is. Pretty cool stuff. As for Cambodia - it's about as expected. Though the one good surprise is the food - it's probably the best we've eaten so far. Fish Amoc for example, is now in...

Getting to Siem Reap should have been easy. Booking a simple two buses from Sihanoukville to Siem reap (split into 4 and 4 1/2 hours journey time) we decided the best thing to do was enjoy the nightlife all the way through to our bus at 7am. When 7am came around we remembered that ideas always sound better the night before. Feeling like death and in an even worse mood, we were squashed into a rickety bus, force fed screaming cambodian comedy on the bus TV and surrounded by hacking, coughing s...

So.....after a quick stop in Bangkok to refuel on seafood beers and the obvious dodginess of patpong we hit the road on a public bus and crossed the border into Cambodia. After dodging various scams along the way, and bumping into a US Marine and his colourful puerto rican wife...we made it to Siem Reap to explore the Temples of Angkor....you can't really comment...it was everything you would expect and more. After three days of cruising all the temples far and wide and enjoying the chilled v...