Thank you all for the responses. I still haven't finalized my decision. We're probably going to book everything this week so I guess I have to decide soon.
After the first few responses, I was leaning towards getting back to Bangkok early. Now, I'm not sure. Someone mentioned the food idea. That appeals to me as I do love Thai food and I wonder how it compares to the Thai I've had in Chicago. As for the city itself, I'm not sure what else there is to see besides the Grand Palace, and the Wats with the Emerald and Gold Buddha. I guess there's the shopping. How does the clothes shopping compare to Hoi An in Vietnam? We are spending two days there.
As for Siam Reap, I think I'll love the temples. I'm not sure if I'll be templed out after 2.5 days or not. I'm looking at the sample itineraries and it seems like you can fill up 3 days with just the Angkor temples and you still have the Kulen mountain stuff & Tonle Sap villages.
I was interested in seeing the the nontouristy floating villages on Tonle Sap (so not Chong Khneas, but the stilted Kompong Phluk with the flooded forest, and maybe Kompong Khleang), but I read through my Vietnam itinerary and I realized that we pass by the Via Gia Floating Village in Halong Bay. Maybe it would be interesting to compare that to the Tonle Sap villages but I wonder if it'll seem redundant.
That bring me back to Bangkok. I remember reading somewhere that the floating market is an attraction there. I'm seeing the Cai Rang floating market on the Mekong in Vietnam. Are these similar as well?
Originally Posted by
bostonbali
My wife and I also thought that 2.5 days in Angkor Wat/Siem Reap is enough time. I'd spend the extra day in BKK, which has so many different things to offer!
PS - I had a good guide in Angkor Wat, let me know if you'd like his name/contact info.
I'd be interested in the info. I still haven't decided on a tour guide for Cambodia yet. I've researched here and Flyertalk people seem to like these two sites:
http://www.angkor-guides.com/siemreap/
http://www.travel-cambodia.com/marina-tours/index.htm
The later is a little more expensive that the former, but the later also has been recommended multiple times here. Does anyone reading this thread have an opinions on the two I just posted?
One last point is that I could factor in that I'm more likely to be in Bangkok again rather than Cambodia so I wonder if I should factor that into my decision. If I spend the extra day in Bangkok, I'll have a total of two days there. I do want to see the rest of the country at some point, but I probably won't be back to Cambodia any time in the next ten years considering I have so many other places on my list of places I want to visit.