Travel Log: Siem Reap / Angkor Wat (March 10 - 13, 2007)...

Note: This post is part of a series regarding a recent trip.  Please read this preface to the series prior to this post for context.

• From the moment our Vietnam Airlines jet set down in Siem Reap's "international" airport (serving a small handful of international destinations), we could tell that there was a lot of attention to detail... particularly when marketing to Western tourists was concerned.

The airport was indeed small, but seemingly new, and impeccably kept with beautiful landscaping with green grass and rich foliage.  A bit of a contrast from what we could see from the air, and later found to be the standard: a red clay-esque dusty ground scorched hot from steady sun and little rain.

That said, the country itself is quite beautiful, outdone only by the personalities of the people.  We were greeted at the airport by an airport parking attendant who introduced us to or taxi driver, Richie.  As is the custom there, the taxis are not just for discrete point-to-point travel, but are in fact the platform for selling personalized tours.  Richie, with his shy charm, quickly sold us on his services which were quite reasonably priced (including the use of his taxi stocked with bottled water) at $25USD per day.  He drove us to our hotel, the Hotel de la Paix, and made arrangements to pick us up early the next day for our first full day tour of the surrounding temples.

Hotel de la Paix.  What a place.  Thus far in the trip it was hands-down the nicest hotel we stayed at, and the quality of service would go unmatched for the rest of our trip save our last few days in Saigon later in the month at the Saigon Sheraton.  The real stand-out besides the beautiful design and layout of the courtyards, pools and the details of the room was the level of service.  It would seem that the employees would take every opportunity to offer a huge smile, ask you how your day was and to offer any possible service.  Truly exemplary, though as a discipline easier to implement in a small "boutique" hotel, it was nonetheless appreciated.

The temples at and near Angkor Wat (my photos here) are beautiful.  I didn't find it spiritually uplifting per se, given my own personal faith, but did find the architecture to be fascinating and almost overwhelming.  Though we spent one full (and long) day, and the following morning (to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat), we were certainly "templed out" after this stretch.  We saw all of the main temples of the area, including the temple that was made famous in Angelina Jolie's Laura Croft: Tomb Raider movie.  Angkor Wat certainly has my vote for one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and should be a "must see" for anyone traveling even near the region.

Siem Reap is a nice little town, largely supported by tourist dollars largely as a result of the surrounding temples.  As a result, many of the locals speak very good English, and particularly the school children who are quite able to engage in friendly and witty banter, understanding innuendo and even sarcasm.  Though seemingly hotter than Saigon and the south of Vietnam, it is significantly dryer which made it (at least for me) more comfortable.  Cambodia is also a very poor nation, only a fraction of the economic size of its far more populous neighbours Thailand and Vietnam.  I didn't travel to Laos this time (but will rectify that in the future), but I expect it is more similar to Cambodia than to Vietnam or the interior of China.

Our tour guide Richie was very good all-in-all, and I would probably recommend him to others, but an unfortunate incident shook our trust in him.  As part of what I'm sure is the "sales procedure" taught to him by the tourist/taxi company he worked for, he took us to a number of local temples for the agreed $25USD/day, but on his way to some temples that extended further from town of Siem Reap he mentioned that the fee would have to be $50USD/day (because of the extra gas consumption).  I personally didn't like the tactic, and decided that Thuy and I would rather return to the hotel and make our own arrangements, which Darren and Mel agreed with as well.  In a way I feel for Richie as he was very nice and charming in a shy way.  We learned of his dreams of completing a college degree in tourism (which would make him eligible to work in hotels) and the amount of time and money he had to save for this education.  We gave him a very good tip given the circumstance, but did sever the relationship.

... later that day however Richie did further redeem himself by returning Thuy's wallet left in the backseat of his taxi.  I had expected that it's contents (about $500,000 Vietnamese Dong) were a write-off, but it all came back accounted for.  Thuy thanked him and we gave him a further tip/reward for his honesty.

Next on the agenda is Hoi An, famous for it's garment industry and specialist tailors.

To facilitate navigation this is a summary of posts in this series:

• Vinh Long (February 28 - March 4, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Saigon (March 5 - 6, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Nha Trang (March 7 - 9, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Siem Reap, Cambodia (March 10 - 13, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat)
• Hoi An (March 13 - 18, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Ha Long Bay and Hanoi (March 19 - 23, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Ha Long Bay)
• Saigon (March 23 - 25, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)