Siem Reap is a major tourist destination so we definitely had an overflowing things to do and to try from day until night. The locals are warm and are used to familiar foreign faces. Prices are in US dollars —a little more costly than Riel, the local currency, but it was easier for me to count in USD so it was fine.
We started our trip in Cambodia. We took a Cebu Pacific aircraft and landed at Siem Reap at 9:30pm (Cambodia time). From the airport, we were fetched by the tuktuk service from Hak’s House, the hostel that we would be staying. We had to wait for around 20 minutes though because Hak, the owner, forgot our arrival time. He only remembered to fetch us when I called him after our arrival.
Chana arrived after 20 minutes with his tuktuk, as promised. On our way to Hak’s House, we had encountered a traffic jam because of a road accident. Curious and angry bystanders crowded the streets. Chana said that a motorcycle was hit by a car. And the locals’ anger spiked when they learned that the driver of the car was a Korean, well, because they do not favor the influx of Koreans into Siem Reap who built businesses and took away the profits from them.
Almost all hostels and hotels in Siem Reap picks up their passengers in the airport for free, so I suggest to book ahead of time to avail of this service. However, please take note that free pick up service is only applicable at a certain time (i.e. usually from 6am to 9pm only). In our case, Hak asked us to pay 3USD because it was a nighttime. In any case, there are still a lot of tuktuks outside the airport even during nighttime so you do not have to worry getting to town.
We spent our 3 nights in Siem Reap at Hak’s House. It is one of the cheap hostels and is located 1.5km away from the town center. We booked the room in advance via Agoda that cost PHP 2,117.52 (inclusive of taxes and fees). Our overall accommodation experience in Hak’s House was not that pleasant, but to be fair, let me list the things I like and not like about our stay.
LIKES
- Hak was very swift in responding to my e-mails.
- His tuktuk driver, Chana, was very courteous. He always charged us at a fair price, so we always asked him to take us around. Whenever we went around at night in the town center, he would offer to wait and to take us back home. He did not allow us to customize our small circuit tour around the temples though. But it was fine.
Breakfast at Hak’s House
- Thumbs up for the breakfast! It was in big portions, and it came with a coffee.
- We could get drinking water from their dispenser.
- Like almost all of the hostels and hotels, we were able purchase tickets offered by different establishments from Hak. We bought Phare Circus tickets from him, rented bikes, and bought coaster bus tickets to Phnom Penh. Transactions were swift.
DISLIKES
- As I mentioned above, Hak forgot our arrival time. This was nothing new based on the reviews he had in Agoda. I had to call him then and there, and waited for 20 minutes to be fetched.
- Due to some fortuitous event, there was no electricity on our first two nights. Hak said that the entire town had no electricity because of some road accident. We had no choice but to sleep our way through the humid night. I am not blaming Hak for this though.
- We always had trouble unlocking our door. We always had to find the right spot when turning the key.
- When we entered the room, the wall fan was disassembled on the floor. I did not feel their sense of urgency when we asked them to fix it. I just let it pass on the first two nights because there was no electricity anyway. But on our third day, we had to ask them a couple of times before they finally attended to it.
- The coaster bus that Hak arranged for us did not arrive on time. It also took a lot of time stopping at different points to pick up the passengers. I still do not understand why it took us 8 hours to reach to Phnom Penh. But I wished we took the public bus instead.
- Hak’s House is 1km away from the town center. I thought it was an easy walk to the town center, but no. The scorching sun and the dark roads at night opted us to take a tuktuk instead. Tuktuk drivers would charge us $1-2 per person to and fro the town center. When we wanted to go back to rest in the middle of the day, we were discouraged because we did not want to spend a few more bucks for the tuktuk. I suggest just spending more for a room, and find one in the town center.
Hak’s House
Address: Build Bright Road, Svay Dangkum, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Rate: P570 for Deluxe Double Aircon Room for 2 pax with hot shower, free pick-up, free breakfast and free wi-fi.
Telephone:+855 (0) 12 540 336
Email:reservation@hakshouse.com
Website:www.hakshouse.com
Since we arrived on a Saturday night, we spent the night in Pub Street, and it was a lot of fun. It was definitely a good choice to schedule the trip to Siem Reap on a weekend.
On the first day, we had a bicycle tour around Old Market and French Quarter. The scenic spots are just close to each other. (See Siem Reap City Map below.) In the afternoon, we went to buy Angkor Archaeological Park tickets via the Green E-bike. We spent the sunset at Angkor Wat before we watched Phare Circus.
Day 2 was our official Small Circuit Tour. We got tired early, so we were back in Hak’s House by 10:45AM. We spent the rest of the day eating and exploring Pub Street. Finally, on Day 3, we were off to Phnom Penh en route to Vietnam. Read more about our Phnom Penh Trip in a separate post.
This is a map of all the places we went to during our entire stay. For the bicycle tour, we started our tour roaming around the Psar Chas Old Market. We figured stopping by the old market later on the day since we were still full from the free breakfast at our hostel. And so, our first stop was Wat Preah Prom Rath. After that, we crossed the bridge with our bikes to get to a more quieter road. It was pleasant biking beside the Siem Reap river. We passed by Royal Residence and stopped at the Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chrom. From there, we walked our way to the Royal Gardens before heading back to Old Town again.
Excluding air fare, our trip in Siem Reap damaged us for a total amount of $251.95 (P11,244.36). Take note that we were two in this trip, so each person’s share was $126.98 or P5,662.26.
Angkor Archaeological Park. What is visiting Siem Reap without heading to the temples? Of course, this had to be the major highlight of our trip. The temples look very majestic and each place has a unique story. Being a self-proclaimed history-buff, I was actually surprised that we only lasted for 5 hours at the temples. We skipped the last two temples because it started to look the same. Know more about this tour in a separate post.
Angkor Night Market. This place gets crowded with tourists at night. It is a good place for shopping and finding places to eat. Vendors line up the streets with various handicrafts and other souvenir items. I found a lot of unique and cute items here, and the variety was definitely wider than in Psar Chas Makret. I bought four bags of Kaffir Lime Leaves Spices here for 2.5USD. For non-shoppers, there are a number of Khmer BBQ restaurants and fish spas in the area. Funny that I saw my friend Kai here because I we also accidentally met on my birthday trip last year.
Angkor Night Market
Address: Angkor Night Market St
Opening Hours: 4pm – midnight
Artisans D’ Angkor. Built in 1999, Artisans D’ Angkor is a well-established craft center and store in Siem Reap. It trains young artisans with skills in silk weaving, wood carving, stone carving and other traditional Khmer knowledge. We got the chance to see some artisans working on their crafts. And we also got to see their world-class finished products that were up for sale.
Entrance Fee: Free
Opening Hours: 7:30AM – 5:30PM
Phare Circus. When my friend recommended Phare Circus, Kyle was so excited because it was his time (mine too) to watch a circus act. We conveniently bought our tickets in the hostel that we were staying in for the same price. We went there at around 7PM; we just waited and had our quick dinner at Phare Cafe, which was just located outside the show’s entrance. Also food and drinks are allowed inside the tent, we munched on our trail mix while watching the show.
Watching the circus act is for a good cause because all proceeds go to the Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang. Phare Ponleu Selpak is a non-profit organization that trains and educates underprivileged Cambodian children through arts. These youths are the ones that performs during the circus act.
The show for that night was entitled Preu (Chills), and it lasted for an hour. The story was about a group of students who had to face their fears in confronting the two ghosts that were haunting them. The show was a blend of acrobatics, contortion, balancing and other circus acts. The execution was not perfect but their dynamic energy and vibrant humor was amazing. My favorite part was definitely the two contortionists who were very graceful in their aerial stunts.
Ticket Price: $18
Show Time: 8:00PM – 9:00PM
Preah Ang Chek and Preah Ang Chorm Temple. This small Buddhist temple situated right beside the Royal Independence Gardens was busy with devotees when we arrived. I liked our visit here because it gave us a quick immersion with the locals. We took off our shoes, got some incense sticks, paid our respects and said our wishes. I also enjoyed listening to the band that was playing traditional Khmer music in the foyer.
Psar Chas Market (Old Market). Psar Chas Market is the local market in town center. It is a good place if you want to shop for souvenir items because it is cheaper than stores and stalls in Pub Street and Angkor Night Market. It homes a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, clothes and food. The place is also filled with krama (Cambodia scarves) and the casual lightweight pants that foreigners love to wear. You can also go on a food trip here.
Pub Street. The major nightlife destination that nobody should not miss when in Siem Reap. Kyle and I enjoyed the vibrant and chill environment of Pub Street very much. Everybody was free of troubles. There were even local vendors who joined in the fun.
Royal Crusade for Independence Gardens The Royal Garden is a popular wedding photo shoot location for locals. We saw around three groups of entourage and couples having either a prenuptial or after-wedding photo shoot. One thing I like about Khmer weddings is that they still embrace the traditional Khmer wedding dress for the bride and groom. And the entourage also wear bright-colored silks.
While roaming around the garden, we had a chat with an overly-friendly local. He turned out to be a volunteer teacher and was fundraising money for 1+3 Poorest Children Village Community School. We were interested to visit the school but he said that we had to schedule in advance, and it was far away. Despite showing us ID’s and certifications, I am not sure though if it was a scam.
Wat Preah Prom Rath. Since we were already at the city center, we took advantage of visiting this Buddhist monastery near the Old Market. One thing I liked about this place was their donation boxes. People could choose as to which aid they want their offering to go. I think it makes the offering more meaningful and transparent.
The place was quiet and only attracted a few tourists when we came. An interesting part of the place was a replica of a very grand boat. It is said to honor a monk whose boat, despite being cut in half because of a shark attack, still floated and safely carried the monk to Siem Reap. The place also houses a big reclining buddha to honor the saving of the monk..
Angkor What? Bar. Angkor What? Bar is the place to be if you want to go out clubbing at night. The trippy environment was very contagious. And as the night deepens, the crowd spilled out into Pub Street —dancing to the latest Electronic Dance Music hits. I especially liked it here because everyone was very carefree and relaxed. The street vendors even joined in the fun.
Chanreash 10 Makara. This is definitely the best hole-in-the-wall spot to eat like a local and have authentic Khmer dishes. We were the only foreign-looking people in the area, and the place was packed with locals when lunch time came. The servers was accommodating, and the cook even asked us how we found our food.
For 10USD, we had Prahok Ktih (fermented fish in curry paste with generous amount of crispy vegetables), Koko Soup (vegetable soup), Beef Loklak (stir-fried beef topped with egg), and Samurai Drink. A pot of rice had been placed in our table for free consumption. Everything was very flavorful and was perfectly paired with rice. My favorite was Prahok Ktih, while Kyle’s was the Beef Loklak.
Come before the lunchtime rush like we did. They were limited seats, and they only had one cook. We arrived at around 12:00nn, and there were plenty of seats available, and our food was served at a decent amount of time. The place got very busy around a quarter to 12:30pm.
Happy Herb Pizza. We went here for the pizza and its special herb. I read in the internet that requesting to make the pizza “extra happy” is recommendable so you can really feel the magic. We were so amused when the waitress understood our request. We felt like getting in a secret society with our secret password.
The Happy Herb Chef Pizza that we ordered was covered with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and garlic onion, and topped with egg. The magic kicked in on my third pizza. But it only made me light headed for a few minutes. Kyle, to his dismay, did not feel the magic.
Meng BBQ. Splurging on a 6USD eat-all-you-can buffet at Meng BBQ was a very good deal! We enjoyed the Khmer-style barbecue experience very much. Apart from grilling our own meats, we also got to make our soup. There were generous selections of meat, seafood, noodles and vegetables that never ran out. There were also cooked dishes and fruits available.
Grill-it-yourself barbecue restaurants are popular in Cambodia. And this big restaurant was quickly filled with locals and tourists. It was cool to also had met again here a Pinoy couple whom we shared flight with going to Siem Reap.
Phare Cafe. The cafe was just set outside the Phare Circus tent entrance so it was a very convenient place to sit, wait and watch out for the circus queue. Outside food and drinks are allowed inside the cafe. So being the cheapskates that we are, we brought in the $1 noodle from the food cart we saw just by the gate entrance of the vicinity. We just brought sodas from the cafe.
X-bar. We went here on an early Sunday night and they were playing jazz music. The place looked very unique with it’s rooftop skate ramp. They also had a foosball and pool table free for use. We had a beer while enjoying the good music, view from the rooftop, and fresh air.
One thing I enjoyed in Siem Reap is the abundance of street food available to try. Being on a budget, hitting the streets to find good deals was often our go-to place.
Bugs. On our first night, we found this kiosk in Pub Street that sells a variety of bugs from spiders to crickets. Since Kyle wanted to try everything on display, we bought 1 tray for 3USD. We munched on it while we were drinking beer at Angkor What? Bar. It was funny that the bugs were glowing under the UV light of the bar.
Banana Pancakes. There’s a popular food vendor that sells banana chocolate pancake at Hospital Street cor. Street 9. The banana and chocolate was coated and fried with thin flour. It was cooked right in front of us, and it was served hot. We ate while we were having a foot massage. It was a good combo.
Cocktails. Although we did not try it, there were cocktail vendors outside Pub Street at night. It would be great to have this drink on the side while bar hopping.
Fruit Shakes. That $1 fruit shake vendors were scattered all around Old Market/ Pub Street Area. The shakes were good companions while we explored the shops in Pub Street under the heat. We tried the passion shake, dragon shake and coconut shake. We both liked the dragon fruit shake because it was very refreshing and sweet. T
he passion shake was not that refreshing, and the coconut shake had too much grated coconut meat; I did not like both.
Stir-fried Noodles. Kyle loved the 1USD stir-fried instant noodles even when we already had it for two nights. It was coated with a flavorful sauce, and was filling. The serving was actually big, so Kyle and I would usually share in one order. We bought ours from a food cart in Pub Street and outside Phare Circus.
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