Don't want to get into the discussion above, but wanted to let everyone going to Siem Reap know that I was there a couple of months ago and had an amazing young man as a tour guide, whom was recommended by another friend of mine. He was very energetic and always willing to accommodate our requests. He is a photo enthusiast so he took us lots of pics with his professional camera (a plus for those who love pictures).

Anyways, I'm by no means affiliated to him nor trying to get money out of it but share the good experience we had with him during our temple tours there and hopefully help him get more customers. He's officially certified by the city of Siem Reap and provides transportation (car, not tuk tuk). You can contact him here, or feel free to PM me.

I have personally met and hired Ly as my guide for a few days in REP. We talked about what she does for the school, but she never solicited help or asked me to visit her school. I thought she was the real deal too.

Hi all,

Looking at a trip to Cambodia later this year and would very much like to go to Angkor Wat but do not want to get temple fatigue (I can only be told so much about bas reliefs before I tire) so with this in mind I was thinking a day maximum or maybe morning and then evening to get photos in different light.

In short, would I need a guide for this? Or would I be better going myself with a car arranged by the hotel?

I'm not an organised tour person but have used a guide in Cairo before, mainly to translate and ensure that I wasn't harassed to buy things and I didn't mind use of the guide then as he was inexpensive (to me) but he did try to take me to his Uncles 'perfume shop' which is off-putting.

Would a Cambodian guide be able to do a taster or the temple? I see people going for 2-3 days to Angkor and I think that would be too much for me.

I like archeological sites. CHGal does as well, but tends to tire of them faster as at some point they all start looking the same. Same can be said of churches in Europe. :D

I don't think you need a guide. Here's what we did (items in bold are must see):

Day 1: Arrived on Bangkok Airways PG905 at 12:35 PM. Driver from hotel picked us up, we had a bit of lunch, then looked around Angkor Wat.

Day 2: AM—Angkor Thom, then Ta Prohm. PM—Shopped at Market/Artisans D’Angkor.

Day 3: AM—I went with driver to Banteay Srei , Preah Kahn, and Ta Som. CHGal stayed in town and shopped. Had lunch, departed about 4:00 PM for flight to HAN.

So we spent two nights. You could easily just do one night; Day 1 and Day 2 and fly out PM of Day 2. That would give you the highlights and let you look around Siem Reap.

Shocking, simply shocking statements! I am rendered speechless. Heaven is a 7-day Angkor pass. and I've never seen two churches that look alike in Europe. :D :D

Angkor has touts around but nothing remotely aggressive such as you'd experienced in Egypt (or India)--they are easily and politely brushed aside and they won't grab at you! Having a guide is not going to really insulate you. The reason to get a guide is to have someone explain the significance of what you are looking at, but in your case I see two problems:

1) You really aren't that much interested in details, so a guide is likely to bore you and go at a slower pace than you'd like.

2) There are many so-so guides around vs really good guides. A really good guide would frankly, be wasted on the likes of you and a so-so guide would in turn just waste your time.

My advice is to get a good guidebook (browse the bookstores) that have a decent overall site map and descriptions of the main structures, places them in time and tells you what their purpose was. And for the key monuments, has details on the contents and more detailed mapping. I would put the Angkor Thom gates and Terraces, Angkor Wat itself and the Bayon and Ta Phrom on the must-do list. After that, I would try to see up one "mountain" type of monument (Bakheng, Baphuon, Ta Keo, East Mebon, or Preah Rup) and a couple of unique oddballs like Neak Pean and Banteay Srei (a distance from the main complex but worth the effort, just get there EARLY!). This can be done in a couple of leisurely days--you'd have time to break up the day with a rest/swim/see non-temple stuff. You can appreciate the overall scheme and the totality of each monument, without having to examine the nature of every apsara and bas relief in every place. Sometimes it's enjoyable just to grab a cold drink and park yourself outside the monuments, under the shade of a tree, and just soak up the general atmosphere.

Guides mostly take a geographical approach to the site for efficiency's sake, but one interesting way to do Angkor is to see a selection of the monuments in chronological order in which they were built: one from the 900's, one from the 1000's, one from the 1100's, one of the later ones. Even a non-architect/non-archeologist layperson can get a better context for the entire composition as they go from very simple to very elaborate. You don't have to be an engineer to marvel at how they managed to accomplish this 1000 years ago, without modern equipment.

If you get a car driver or one of the motorized open pedicabs and no guide for the half day or the day (flat fee negotiated in advance, paid upon return to Siem Reap), you can plan your own route and spend whatever time you like at a given monument--10 minutes or an hour and 10 minutes--as the spirit moves you. I personally find that the open pedicabs are more fun and less tiring than getting in and out of a car. Going from a/c car to hot exterior over and over again tires me out more than just acclimating and staying at one temperature. The hotel car will no doubt be extremely overpriced, especially if you are staying upmarket. Most people find the temples are best sunrise to 10 am-ish, then again 3 pm until closing. Light and orientation is definitely a consideration for the best photographs, depends on the monument. Bayon is especially good to get morning and late afternoon photos. I really think that even if you are normally prone to temple fatigue, that you spread your visit out over at least 2 full days and three nights. Paradoxically, by doing 2 or even 3 days (partly temples and partly completely unrelated things in the area), you are less likely to experience temple burn-out.

Thanks both, self-tour it is then. We are looking at 3 days in Siem Reap and only really want to dedicate one to Angkor (I know, I know...) so maybe splitting the day into early morning and evening would be a good idea and just get a driver.

How far is Angkor from the main area? We'll likely be staying in hotel de la paix.

Siem Reap/Angkor are so firmly on the tourist trail that there is not much "adventuring" in the sense of a Stanley-and-Livingston Africa expedition. At a minimum, all you really need is simple transport there and in between the temples, and a good guidebook with a little advance reading. Everything else (a/c cars, guides, etc. are just more elaborate permutations of the same). My preference is to not go through hotels since the hotel has a big markup (or takes a big cut), but instead just find a pedicab driver and negotiate per day for that day's plan (which is MY plan, not somebody else's plan).

The temple complex is only about 20 minutes from Siem Reap with good (and busy) connector road. It is of course busiest in town and at the temples during the high tourist season Nov-Feb. I find both the town and the temple complex more peaceful and atmospheric in the rainy season Jun-Sept. It is hottest and most miserable Mar-May dry season.

I did something very similar, and share your belief on "temple fatigue." That having been said, I love to see them all and climb/walk around, but certainly don't appreciate the same boring schpiel for hours on end. My wife and I just did this this past Summer.

Day 1: Go at 4am to catch the sunrise over the main temple. Only stay enough to see what you can by foot and be back at your place by 11a - 1p. Then, later in the day, explore some of the "small loop" via tuk-tuk. No tour guide, just pay a tuk tuk to take you around the loop. Get out and explore only when you feel like it. If you wish, watch the sunset, but totally not necessary - it's usually cloudy anyway.

Day 2: Start later in the day to get a lot of energy. Take out bikes from your hotel or find a pair of bikes to rent for the day some other way. Bike around the entire "big" loop. We stopped at every temple, even if it was just for 5 minutes. I know the little kids selling stuff can get annoying, but I brought a deck of cards and showed them all magic tricks. I even taught a few of them how to do a little trick themselves. Anyways, the ride is magical. It's so much fun to ride around the park and go down some of the small roads which lead to many of the smaller temples. Also, it was POURING on our ride home, but we were laughing and loving it the whole way home. Locals thought we were crazy!

I keep looking to see what information is posted here, other than 'celebrity guides', and there's too many posts of pure drivel.

Guide and driver in Siem Reap
 

I am looking for a reliable english speaking driver and guide for 3 days in Siem Reap this August.
My husband and I will be traveling with my 10 year old son, so I am looking for a guide that can help a child to understand the temples and spark his interest.
I plan to do 2 half days of temples, some shopping , and walking around town.
We will be staying at Raffles Hotel and the concierge made us an exorbitant offer
Of $120 US for a guide and driver per day.
I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you

There's a long thread about tour guides and angkor wat.

As for sparking a 10 year old's interest, I think you're asking for too much. Either a kid is going to be interested or not. These are tour guides, not grade school teachers.

Because this ID is a shill like so many that post in the Angkor Tour Guide thread. Ignore, there's nothign to see here.

I think the average attention span of a 10-year old is going to be limited no matter how good the guide is. Siem Reap has some other attractions in the area besides the temples, so a good plan would be to "mix it up" and spend early morning and late afternoon at the temples. Then in the middle of the day, back to town for food, rest (swim in pool if there is one), or alternatively, put a non-temple activity such as the stilt village visit, boat ride, or other activity (though I hate to advocate, an elephant ride?). I thought there was a balloon ride but hesitate to recommend those due to my safety concerns. Markets and shopping stuff can be done in town in evening after dinner.

I have mixed feelings on guides at Angkor. They come in various qualities. One of the issues I have is that a good guide is almost TOO good, they are able to go into a level of detail that is way beyond what the average tourist is interested in, and this paradoxically increases your likelihood of turning into a tired zombie. Getting a guide that can match his/her presentation to one's own level of enlightenment needs is a crapshoot. A bad guide of course, is a waste of money. US$ 120 per day is a ridiculous amount, but commensurate with what upscale hotels like the Raffles will charge...and I'm sure quality will be high. The open market locate-your-own-from-private-recommendations would be half that, in high season with enclosed a/c car, driver, and guide. Less for open air vehicle such as the "auto rickshaws" (which I personally prefer to an enclosed vehicle). Open-air auto-rickshaw with driver only and no guide in high season usually is about USD 20 per day (a bit more if heading way out to Banteay Srei), but you'd need to prep and self-guide.

Maybe read up on Angkor in advance, pick the "must see" temples and read about those from a good guidebook (I like Dawn Rooney's well-known one). Then when you work things out on guide situation, you can be proactive about what your priorities are. Prepping a child this age in advance of the trip to set some context, purpose of the buildings, what the city might have been like, why it might have disappeared, "the big picture" sort of stuff, is very useful. In 3 days and with a 10-year old, trying to cover every temple out there is likely to be counterproductive, and it's not really necessary to try. Kids tend to like the Bayon with all the heads and faces, and Ta Phrom with the trees growing over the ruins is a must-do. Angkor Wat itself of course, and I'd try to get out to Banteay Srei as well. I'd put one of the monastery/library complexes on the to-do list since they are laid out and feel different (probably Preah Khan). And kids like to climb, so Phnom Bakheng is a good choice....and one where to get up the hill to the base of the ruin itself, elephant ride is an option. This is a popular late afternoon/sunset location. Fortunately, adults tend to like all the same places, too!

Have him help interact with the vendors buying snacks, water etc. Some of the vendors will be kids esp if not a school day. Have him do the negotiations with one of the kids selling cheap bamboo flutes, a lightweight and packable souvenir. It surprises many people that their most cherished memories of Angkor/Siem Reap are the little things like the interactions with local people....which remain clear in memory after all the temple details have long since run together in one's mind.

Siem Reap - Tour Guide recommendation
 

Dear JieJie
Thanks a lot for your advice!

I don't find the 120 asked by the Raffles Hotel too bad, considering how much they are prepared to charge to stay there. I have only done the site four times and it was a while ago, and the first time was through the hotel. When I did it on my own I think I paid $40 each for the passes, the fifty for the guide and the car must have cost me 20 or $30. Each day the guidewould only allowed the young ones a couple of hours, then we were back to the hotel for a swim, something to eat then after a snooze we were back out there again.Our guide did the raiders of the ark game and the kids just lapped it up. You can do it very cheaply in a tuk tuk, but i always work on the basis I have come all this way, I might as well do it properly The good part about Raffles Sofitel or de la Paix is if it goes belly up you cross it off your account