Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

[hazlinh]

Hiya,

Can I just say that I've just come back from a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the magnificent Angkor Wat ruins, and I had an amazing time!

The temples were beautiful, and Siem Reap is such a quaint and chic little town, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

The weather was good and balmy, it threatened to rain but didn't. But because of that, it wasn't hot at all.

If you're with little ones, you can forgo the temples and the trekking, because some temples require a few miles of trekking uphill through a jungle, and some temples have really steep and precarious steps.

But rest assured, Siem Reap has all the creature comforts you need. esp if you stay at one of the posher hotels, like the FCC or Raffles. My cheapo boutique hotel, which is 10 times cheaper than FCC had free wifi no less, cable tv, and a beautiful swimming pool.

Hotels here are airconditioned, and there are loads of internet cafes, spas and nice restaurants, including French, Thai, Indian, Khmer, Japanese etc. And there are pharmacies, where you can get anything from eyedrops to nice smellies.

Shopping is dirt-cheap, and at markets you can bargain. But try not to bargain ruthlessly, as the people are often dirt-poor. And your dollar really goes far in this place...

I guess I really enjoyed it immensely, mainly due to the fact that the place had SUCH a slow pace, and I got to finally relax after so much stress..! And it's not as over-developed or over-touristed like Bali or Phuket, so it gets my thumbs up.

The only thing we didn't enjoy was when we went out to the countryside, and there were women and children aggressively begging and shouting out "One dollar! One dollar!" Which is not the case in Siem Reap town, where kids will try to sell you stuff like postcards and Lonely Planet guidebooks for all sorts of countries, but at least they don't beg.

Anyway, we had a great time! Wouldn't mind going again...

Hi,
I'm considering going to Cambodia next August, how old are your children? My only concern is malaria - were the tablets a problem? How did you travel around?

Hi MumToLaura,

How old are yours? If they're older, it's better/easier.

We had planned to bring dd (3.5) and bought her the flight tickets and everything, and given her her Hep A jab etc..but on the day we were supposed to leave, she had a slight fever, so we left her with mum in the end. Me and dh didn't bother with any vaccinations. There are none that are mandatory anyway, for travel into Cambodia.But if you're travelling with children, best to jab them in case.

There are many temples that you might not get to see if you were pushing a toddler. In fact, we were exhausted after just seeing 2-3 temples, I think toddlers would be even more tired, bored etc.
And many temples at Angkor Wat are only accessible via very very steep steps, whilst one of them is accessible only via a 30-40 minute trek uphill through a jungle.

I DID see many young children aged around 3-4 yrs do it with their parents but I wouldn't recommend it. Although you could push the kids uphill with a stroller, but then I wouldn't advise making them go up the steep steps up the temple. Maybe you could take turns with dh or dp?

But you CAN bring your kids in general to Cambodia, I saw many tourists with their babies...Siem Reap town is easy enough to get around, it's a very small place, you won't get lost! you can use either a stroller or a sling, it's up to you, tho a stroller might be easier, esp if you're staying in a nice hotel on a nice road (ie not on a muddy, puddley dirt road!)

As we didn't have dd with us, and we wanted to save money, we got around with tuk-tuks which were cheaper than cars. If you're with kids, it's best you rent a car with a driver. I think they're USD26 a day? I need to check that. Tuk-tuks were about USD13 a day, but they're essentially a motorbike pulling a coach thingy which passengers sit on. It's open, so it gets dusty because roads in Siem Reap aren't tarred. dh resorted to wearing swim goggles and a scarf over his nose. I wore wraparound sunnies and a scarf over my nose.

Are you planning on going to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh? I only went to Siem Reap as I only had four days. We plan to go to Phnom Penh next year.

As for malaria, we didn't bother. I'm Malaysian, so am used to the potential risk of mosquitoes. What we did do was to make sure we covered ourselves in mozzie repellant every night. But to be honest, I didn't spot any mozzies in Siem Reap, or get bitten. But if you go to the temples at sunset or sunrise, DO take precautions, and slather on the mozzie repellant, as that's the prime time for getting bitten. I have no experience with malaria tablets, maybe you might want to ask on the health thread..?

If you're worried about medical emergencies, just ensure that you take out travel insurance. I've heard that hospitals in Cambodia are not well-equipped and most tourists/expats get flown out to Bangkok (which is abt 40min away I think) where hospitals are much much better.

Having said that, there are good well-stocked pharmacies in Siem Reap (and Phnom Penh too I hear) which have your over-the-counter meds and nice cheap toiletries so don't bring too much eg your aspirin, condoms etc. Save a LOT of luggage space for pretty Cambodian scarves and party/beach bags.

Here's a link to advice on vaccinations (also check with your local gp, yeah!):
www.traveldoctor.info/vaccinations/cambodia.111.html

hth