We will be spending 3 days visiting the temples of Angkor. I have done a fair bit of research and have gathered a lot of information on the history, culture, architecture etc. So I wonder if it is necessary to have a guide as well as a driver/car? I’m a bit averse to spending 3 days in such close contact with a total stranger. But if they are useful in other practical ways (like knowing shortcuts or which entrance to use etc.) it might be worth it.

We will be staying at La Residence and they can organise drivers, guides, permits etc. Our idea is to spend early mornings and late afternoons at the temples and lounge around the pool in the middle of the day. (Not sure what happens to the guide during our siesta?)

Your experiences or views, please?

I was just there in December and went throught the same debate you're having. I am very independent, and didn't want to feel like I was on someone else's schedule while visiting the temples. I also wasn't sure how much history I could absorb before zoning out...

In the end, I compromised and hired a guide for one of the four days. The other three days I had just a driver - a very knowledgeable driver in terms of the logistics of when/where to go, but not as far as providing any type of historical background.

My one-day guide was the highly recommended Ponheary Ly. She was very adept at interpreting and explaining the Hindu mythology represented in many of the stone carvings. But frankly, the moments I enjoyed most with her were when we visited some local schools, and stopped at the roadside to hang out for a few minutes while watching rice farmers, children playing, and grazing water buffalo.

Hearing about her personal experiences and life in Cambodia were much more interesting to me.

If I go back (and hopefully I will), I definitely will not use a guide, but I will be sure to have a good driver. I also found the book 'Angkor' by Dawn Rooney to be very helpful.

If you do decide you want to book a driver, I have the contact info for the person I used.

Angkor is magnificent - I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. You'll have a great time!

One of the highlights of our recent trip was bumping into Ponheary and Serial Traveler, the FTer from San Diego, at Beng Melea.

My wife and I were in their company for an hour or so, and only gradually did we realize that the guide was Ponheary Ly, and the lovely American was a fellow FlyerTalker from our home town.

The Ponheary Ly Foundation is a wonderful cause, and Ponheary herself is a rare and wonderful human being. I am sure that Ponheary had arranged the driver for Serial Traveler, as well.

If you want Ponheary's email, PM me.

Our experience was, we did research, hired a driver through our guesthouse, no guides. If we go back, we will use Ponheary for a day at least for the reasons already posted by jfh1107 and our brief encounter.

Thank you, good people. Your advice is most helpful. ^

When I went to Siem Reap in December, we arranged our touring w/ Ponheary as well. She was unavailable the days we were there but she set us up w/ her brother Dara. He was an excellent tourguide as excellent as Ponheary's reviews.

He spoke english well and was able to convey the meanings and tell stories of the Angkor Temples. He also has a little bit of amateur photographer in him and he was always excited to share places to take pictures at unique angles that I didn't see other guides doing.

However our experience w/ Dara was quite mixed.

Hearing about he and Poheary's story was quite impressive. The insight that we learned on the Cambodia culture was priceless and his perspective was amazing to hear. However, there were equally the same number of times when he would make off-the-cuff comments that left a stale taste in our mouths lending us to our mixed feelings.

We did the trip last year and our guide and driver were great. Not only is he very knowledgable at the history and culture, we really enjoyed being with him. We needed a break from the temples so we did an afternoon trip to a floating village, which was a real eye opener. I think that having a guide is really important, he pointed out things that we would have just passed by.

Our guide was Keo Seng and his email [email protected]

Good Luck and have a great trip!

We plumped for driver only (pretty much agreeing with jfh1107's logic and we were very happy with our choice. I did a bit of reading on the architecture, religion, politics, history of the temples beforehand and found that was ample to inform our meanderings. And then we really were fortunate in our driver who was friendly, kind, informative and interesting on many topics especially local happenings, politics, customs, lifestyle etc. A guide would have been too much for 3 days, I feel, and though I think they do a superb service (and I heard more langauges spoken by the guides in Angkor than anywhere else I have been!) I was happy to be visiting on my own.

The experience is truly awesome, as many of you have said. What was an add-on to a trip ("we're in the vicinity (Thailand) and it is the best time of year") turned into the highlight.

My friend and I went with Dara Ly for 3 days last year. He was great and I really enjoyed the experience and knowledge. I did not hear any of the types of comments that chexfan refers to

Senora_Jefe and I just returned from Angkor and while Ponheary was unavailable, she put us in touch with Mr. Than Sopheap, who was our guide for 2 days. He was great, and I would recommend him to others. He can be reached through Ponheary, whose contact information is elsewhere. He is very soft spoken, so if you are a little hard of hearing, he might not be perfect for you, but that's my only comment.

Once you have a good guide, it is pretty easy to tell the difference between one who is truly a guide, and one who is a guide because their brother is the local police chief.

It depends on the type of tourist you are. My mom would love to have a knowledgeable guide explain every last detail. I'd go nut's after about the first 10 minutes because I like to wander at my own pace and not be bothered. Drivers are good because you need transportation, they are cheap and best of all they have air-conditioning. Another thing about Cambodia. To me, it feels kind of rude or arrogant to leave a driver sitting around in the hot sun all day while I take my time and meander about. It seems like I'm wasting his time. But in reality Cambodian drivers would like nothing better than to wait around for you as long as you like. They get paid the same and aren't burning there very expensive gasoline.

Last time I was there I hired this guy because an awesome driver I know in Phnom Penh referred me. I can't vouch for the rest of his services but as a driver he was professional and had a really decent car. IIRC $25/day flat rate.

If you want transportation alone to visit the Angkor site, hiring a jumbo / tuktuk for the day is fine and much more economical, though it is getting HOT these days and an a/c auto will definitely feel like a bit of heaven. Some preparation is always good, and if you have a decent book and are generally self-reliant and confortable in other parts of the world, you won't really need a guide - but be prepared for masses of people, heat and perspiration (best is to go early and late, take the mid-day off.)

(Guides can be nice, IMO, but they often slow me down and have very different ideas than I about what is worth seeing, may take me to places at the wrong times because they aren't knowledgeable about light and photography, etc. The worst reinterpret history, give the Party line and may even make mysoginistic, xenophobic or homophobic commentary; I ran into one like this in Malaysa recently, a narrowminded, bigotted and unidimensional buffoon who spouted comments and jokes insulting just about everyone except his affinity group. Select carefully.)

One bit of advice that will help at Angkor is to take spare passport photos (it's always useful to carry a few on trips, because you never know...) Waiting in queue for one to be taken for your site pass will add to your wait time. Be sure to have the site pass with you at all times - we did get checked at the entry posts into the Angkor area, and once I can recall within a site.

A three day site pass will cost you USD$40.00 (unfortunately, only $10 goes for the preservation of Angkor - the rest goes to the concessionaire and into various other pockets, er, projects.

I also recommend some things that will make you healther and more respected in the eyes of others: take a brimmed hat, and wear light breathable clothing in light / neutral colors - saffron-colored monks are always nice in pix, but bright red shirts and skirts, probably not. Dark colors attract mosquitoes, and there are some, even now in the hot dry season. You might treat your clothing with permanone / permethrin, a repellent, and take something with DEET - a product called "Sun and Bug" by Repel is decent - 15 SPF sunscreen AND 20% DEET. There is a possibility for mosquito-borne disease, so protection is recommended. I recommend soft-soled walking shoes that are comfortable and alrady broken in - that will help you, and the laterite stone surfaces that are so easily worn away. (Though you will see visitors clambering, grabbing, and causing small erosive damages throughout the site, I don't believe we all have to do that.) Remove the insoles at night to allow them to air and dry out.

Keep hydrated - bottled water only, of course, but it is hot (high 90s F with some humidity at the end of February when I was there,) you will perspire to protect yourself, and you need to keep both hydrated and balanced electrolytes - electrolyte replacement crystal packets are not a bad idea, especially if you get some Delhi belly. Avoid, except in perhaps the best of hotel restaurants, things like lettuce - I am convinced iceberg lettuce leaves in the developing world are the best amoeba beds that humans can grow. There is plenty of interesting, freshly-prepared and cooked food other than pale, nutritionless and tasteless iceberg rubbish.

It is dusty as well as hot, so a kerchief / bandanna won't hurt as well, in particular if you have any respiratory challenges. Many people were coughing and sneezing a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed to be going around (yours truly as well.) Be cautious about taking the advice of somene selling drugs in a shop - many of the drugs for sale are combinations of various antibiotics, and many of them seem to be out of date (particularly if they are kept in hot weather, without air con or refrigeration - and some are obviously bogus counterfeit drugs.)

The only medical advice I will give here is to suggest you visit a travel clinic or a physician who is familiar with travel in that neck of the woods and take some of your own meds (e.g. malaria prophylaxis or presumptive treatment like malarone, ciprofloxacin for intestinal upset that passes mere mild diarrhea, etc.) prescribed by that person and purchased in the US / Europe / developed Asia.

If you want to see the dark side of Cambodia, there are killing fields nearby... and if you want to help Cambodia, catch a concert by "Beatocello" - Dr. Beat Richner, originally of Zurich, who has pretty much singlehandedly set up three brilliant hospitals caring for children and can use any monetary help you can give - as well as your blood, as there has been an outbreak of dengue hemorrhagic fever that has struck some local children. You will undoubtedly see the bulky building of the Jayavarman VII Children's Hospital in Siem Reap (cost USD $15 million, practically all raised privately from Swiss donors who contributed a CHF 20 franc note.)

If you want a nice place to visit after, you can now fly nonstop from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang in Laos on Lao Airlines... ^ It's cooler, much more laid back, lots of culture, art and crafts, friendly people... and if you came in via BKK, you can fly LPQ-BKK nonstop as well. (That's what we did, and it only served to whet our appetite for a future stay in Luang Prabang.)

I am interested in getting Ponheary's contact info. I am new to this forum so not sure what you meant by "PM" me to get her info.

Thanks,
-Jamie

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Ponheary's email is [email protected] and there is a website at http://www.travel-cambodia.com/marina-tours/index.htm as well as the foundation website at http://www.theplf.org/

Hope this helps. Have fun!

You have a (P)rivate (M)essage as well.

Best,
Jim

I hired a car with driver, and a guide, the first day, because I'd heard from others on various sites that a guide was important in getting the most out of the temples. I started with a half-day afternoon (which was way too hot) and lasted about 4 hours in the sun.

For me, a guide wasn't good. I got quickly overwhelmed with details that I didn't honestly care about at that point, and felt like I had to absorb way too much when I really just wanted to look and explore and move quickly through things. I didn't actually care about what king built which temple, turns out, or what year such and such was constructed. That's just me, I'd been through a lot of history and it just seemed like some incredibly hot and humid and boring history lecture, not what I was wanting.

The second day I tried a tuktuk and a driver alone, and that was great! Again, great for me, maybe not you, but the moral of the story is don't believe any who says you have to do this, or have to do that, to get the most out of things. I preferred the tuktuk to the car because I felt closer to things, and really, I spent 90% of my time (or more) on the ground, walking around, and 10% of my time in the car. And when you first turn a car on it's hot anyway, the a/c takes a while to kick in. An open-air tuktuk cools down (such that it cools, not as much as a car obviously) immediately with the breeze as you travel.

Just my two cents.

I agree that, for me, a tuktuk is the preferred mode of transport in Siem Reap. The on again/off again aircon gets to me and leaves me feeling drained and lethargic.

Few caveats:
- tuktuks are open air and, as such, subject to dust from the unpaved roads; bring a scarf, you're warned!

- do not be afraid to bargain with either drivers or tuktuk owners. They'll give you a good price if you are polite and persistent.

- Don't let them tell you where to go - if you know your itinerary, stick to it. The lazier drivers will try to "cheat" their way out of showing you around all of the temples to save time/money/gas.

I find the Cambodian people so friendly, and I honestly enjoy interacting with them. Be patient, they are trying real hard