The City of Siem Reap is the Capital City of Siem Reap Province in Northwestern Cambodia, and is the gateway to Angkor Region.
Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-Style Architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In the city, there are traditional Apsara dance performances, craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake.
Today, Siem Reap is a popular tourist destination and it has a large number of hotels and restaurants. Most of smaller establishments are concentrated around the Old Market Area, while more expensive hotels are located between Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and the Town along National Road 6.
The name Siem Reap means the “Defeat of Siam”. Nowadays, Siem Reap is undoubtedly Cambodia's fastest growing city and serves as a small charming gateway town to the world famous heritage site of the Angkor Temples. Thanks to those attractions, Siem Reap has transformed itself into a major tourist hub. Siem Reap is a vibrant town with modern hotels and architectures. Despite international influences, Siem Reap and its people have conserved much of the town's image, culture and traditions.
Streets in Siem Reap
SIGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
Angkor National Museum
The Angkor National Museum houses thousands of artifacts recovered from Angkor Wat and the surrounding areas in an impressive building. Art, statues, and well-planned video presentations make this museum well worth the US $12 entrance. Visiting the Angkor National Museum before Angkor Wat will give you an insight into the history of the Khmer civilization. It will enhance your visit to the temple ruins.
Angkor
Angkor is the ancient city that is home to Angkor Wat, possibly one of the most famous tourist sites in the world. The city dates back to over 800 years and was the capital of the Khmer Empire for several centuries. The Khmers then relocated further east. This place is why Siem Reap is on the map and is a must see for any world traveller.
Angkor Wat (Wat Temple) is the central feature of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the magnificent remains of the Khmer civilization. Angkor Wat's rising series of five towers culminates in an impressive central tower that symbolizes mythical Mount Meru. Thousands of feet of wall space are covered with intricate carving depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.
Angkor Thom is in the Bayon style. This manifests itself in the large scale of the construction, in the widespread use of laterite, in the face-towers at each of the entrances to the city and in the naga-carrying giant figures which accompany each of the towers.
Angkor Region
Tonle Sap
Tonlé Sap is the large river in the center of Cambodia and is the largest lake in Southeast Asia. For most of the year this lake is only a metre deep but during the rainy season Mekong reverses flow and the lake swells in size and becomes over 9 metres deep. It is the largest lake in Southeast Asia and of huge importance to Cambodia.
Tonle Sap River
Museums
The Land Mine Museum is a good small outdoor museum located over the river that gives a history of land mine removal in Cambodia. It is also small charity meant to help children that are the victims of land mines.
War Museum is a great large outdoor museum with left over weapons from the war. There is everything from old AK-47s to tanks and artillery cannons. The tour guides are veterans of the revolution and tell a very personal and moving story about the weapons and the effects they had on the Cambodian people.
Wat Thmei
Siem Reap suffered horribly under the Khmer Rouge, and the area’s victims are commemorated today in this monastery. A glass-walled stupa on the premises holds a mass of bones belonging to massacre victims. Like its counterpart Tuol Sleng in Phnom Penh, Wat Thmei provides a stark reminder of the insanity that ruled Cambodia in the 1970s. It’s not all bones and death here, though; the large monastery here houses a good number of monks and orphans under their care.
Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary
The Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary has become one of the most important breeding grounds for endangered water birds in Southeast Asia. Located in the marshes of Tonle Sap Lake, this bird sanctuary provides a chance to tour by boat and see rare birds outside of captivity.
You can make arrangements to visit Prek Toal through your guest house or hire a boat from Phnom Krom/Chong Khneas boat dock (US $35 - $45 return). You’ll be dropped off at the Prek Toal Environmental Research Station (entrance fee: $5), where you can pick up more information about the area’s wildlife and plant life, or book a boat tour of the sanctuary ($15-25).
Military Shooting Range
Watched one too many action movies and want to give it a try? Forty minutes from Siem Reap, tourists may shoot an array of automatic weapons at an old military shooting range. The prices are not cheap - US $1 a bullet and up - but where else will you have the opportunity to fire an AK-47 or throw a live hand grenade?
Retired soldiers supervise the range and continuously harass you to try the latest and greatest in firepower, including belt-fed machine guns. Those with enough money and guts are even invited to fire an old, soviet-made rocket launcher! The range can be found along Road 67 to Banteay Srey.
Aqua Swimming Pool
During the months of March, April, and May, temperatures can reach over 100 degrees in Siem Reap. One great way to escape the sun and oppressive, jungle humidity is to head for Aqua - an Australian-owned bar and restaurant situated around a giant, public swimming pool.
Don't let the outside appearance fool you, Aqua provides a great environment for cooling off and meeting people at the same time. For US $2 a day you can lounge by the pool with a drink in hand.
Shopping
Shopping is a must in Cambodia as there is bound to be something of interest for everyone - from the lovely silk shawls and clothing to traditional musical instruments and books.
The Old Market Area, especially the boutique shops around it, is a great place to shop around.
Senteurs D'Angkor facing the Old Market is a boutique shop selling good quality silk shawls and clothing which are gift wrapped in hand woven palm covers. They also sell silk bags and gift wrapped spices and home decor.
Angkor Candles, #565, Pi Thnou Street (Old Market Area), which is next to Kokoon and Blue Pumpkin, sells carved candles of Angkor Wat as well as the apsaras and other figures.
The Night Market is similar to the Old Market Area but it is open at nights. It is a great place for shopping for cheap souvenirs and gifts.
Touts around the tourist sites sell souvenirs at very cheap prices. Most of the quality of the items sold is not good but it is difficult to resist the pleading sellers who are often children and women. The traditional musical instruments though are a great buy at $1 per bamboo flute or a cow-bell etc.
Spas and Foot Massages
With all the walking during the daytime, visiting temples and other areas of interest, one often feels the need to have a good foot massage to regain the energy in one's feet for the next day. There are several places around the old market area that offer foot massages.
Pub Street
Pub Street is well-known with restaurants for tourists. Khmer Family and Khmer Kitchen, both on this road, are among the more popular Cambodian-style restaurants serving up spicy salads and amok, Khmer fish curry. The streets are crawling with locals and tourists. There are lots of balcony bars and restaurants, street food and market stalls.
WHAT TO EAT IN SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
Cambodian Food is known as one of the oldest cuisines called “Khmer”. It’s renowned for its elegant presentation and harmonious flavors and textures in each dish. The food is simple, fresh and each region has its own fare. All dishes have fresh herbs & local spices and often edible flowers in them. You will also find many other cuisines in Siam Reap like French, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese and Western.
Rice is the staple food of Cambodia served with every meal. Around Siam Reap, there are many rice paddies with numerous varieties of local rice. If you have a sweet tooth you must try the local sticky rice. Choices were with mango, black bean, black bean and mango.
Green pawpaw salad is another dish that frequents many street carts in town. The local pawpaw salad man puts small crabs into the salad along with the many spices and sauces. It was quite spicy with chili and the small crabs were very fishy not to everyone’s taste but still worth trying.
Khmer Cakes are another food that can be found on street vendor’s carts in the back streets of Siam Reap, often sold with taro spring rolls, and fried taro chips like the one below which is coated in sesame seeds too.
The Khmer Cakes are sweet yet savoury, made with taro, mung beans and a few preserved bits of fruit on top to give it sweetness. They are delicious and well worth trying, great for a little snack to tie you over to your next meal.
Durian is another must try. The complexity of its flavor is unlike any other fruit. It tastes like pumpkin and onion ice-cream/custard. You can’t stomach the whole fruit. The fruit is expensive. It costs about $6 for a small one.
Koulen II Restaurant Buffet and Traditional Dance Show
The huge dining room is bustling with activity - most diners are seated at long communal tables and staff weaves briskly through, taking drink orders, delivering drinks and clearing dishes. The buffet is extensive, with Khmer, Chinese and Western dishes, vegetarian dishes, a large range of Asian desserts and fresh local fruit. The choices are mind-boggling - this buffet demands multiple visits.
Put Siem Reap Cambodia on your do list for vacations and remember that the recommended dates are from October to March when the weather is most comfortable, the temperature is moderate and the sun shines most of the day. April through August is the rainy season and offers a relentless mix of high temperatures and high humidity– a combination to be missed. Its these little details that make the difference!
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