Cambodia/Laos

PredsFan77 · Post #1 by **PredsFan77** » Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:08 pm

Anyone been? Looking at going in a week or two. Thinking is Siem Reap and Luang Prabang for 3ish days each. That about the right amount of time? Could fly into/out Phnom Penh pretty easily too but seems a little grungy while trying to maximize time in Siem/Angor?

chicpea · Post #2 by **chicpea** » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:00 pm

I lost my virginity to a Laotian. The condom broke.

Craig · Post #3 by **Craig** » Wed Nov 28, 2018 9:14 pm

Every time I use lotion I think that someone from Laos really ought to bring some lotion to market. Laotian Lotion. It's a real missed opportunity.

PredsFan77 · Post #4 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Nov 29, 2018 5:58 am

i'll mention that to the laotians i meet

habfan4 · Post #5 by **habfan4** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:46 pm

I haven't made it to Laos so I can't comment on Luang Prabang.

Spent 4 nights in Siem Reap and found it wasn't enough time to see everything we wanted. One would assume that you're going to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Leper Terrace, Elephant Terrace, Royal Enclosure, Bayon) & Ta Prohm as well as Preah Kahn at a mininum. Banteay Srei is further out but it really shouldn't be missed. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Phnom Kulen (mountain/waterfall/river bed caved with yoni/linga etc.)

We skipped Tonlé Sap - floating village as well as the Agknor National musuem, the latter seemed pointless given the proximity of the temples and the former held no interest.

I'd strongly recommend that you hire a proper guide/driver, best money we spent on the entire trip. It'll enable you to save time if you're heading out to places further afield i.e. Banteay Srei. We visited in the summer so we could head back to the hotel/town during the oppresively hot periods of the day. You can also side step certain temples when the throngs of tour buses turn up.

There are a myriad of hotel options in Siem Reap - We stayed at La Résidence d'Angkor which was outstanding. Short tuk tuk ride from the town centre.

AD · Post #6 by AD » Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:19 pm

PredsFan77 · Post #7 by **PredsFan77** » Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:04 pm

habfan4 wrote:I haven't made it to Laos so I can't comment on Luang Prabang.

Spent 4 nights in Siem Reap and found it wasn't enough time to see everything we wanted. One would assume that you're going to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (Leper Terrace, Elephant Terrace, Royal Enclosure, Bayon) & Ta Prohm as well as Preah Kahn at a mininum. Banteay Srei is further out but it really shouldn't be missed. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Phnom Kulen (mountain/waterfall/river bed caved with yoni/linga etc.)

We skipped Tonlé Sap - floating village as well as the Agknor National musuem, the latter seemed pointless given the proximity of the temples and the former held no interest.

I'd strongly recommend that you hire a proper guide/driver, best money we spent on the entire trip. It'll enable you to save time if you're heading out to places further afield i.e. Banteay Srei. We visited in the summer so we could head back to the hotel/town during the oppresively hot periods of the day. You can also side step certain temples when the throngs of tour buses turn up.

There are a myriad of hotel options in Siem Reap - We stayed at La Résidence d'Angkor which was outstanding. Short tuk tuk ride from the town centre.

ok so I'm in the ballpark then, was planning on 3 full days and 2 transit days. How'd you go about getting a guide? Just have the hotel set it up? Worth staying around pub street over some place further out?

habfan4 · Post #8 by **habfan4** » Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:57 am

PredsFan77 wrote:
ok so I'm in the ballpark then, was planning on 3 full days and 2 transit days. How'd you go about getting a guide? Just have the hotel set it up? Worth staying around pub street over some place further out?

We tracked down our guide online (I think it was Angkor Guides?) Nicer hotels could make the arrangements but I recall it being a relatively painless process. E-mail the guide to confirm availability, then provided him with a list of the main sites that we wanted to see. Then they put together an itinerary which we tweaked a little. You'll pay a fee for the car and a fee for the guide, which in our case was the same guy. Total daily cost was less than what we pay to get a cab to the airport.

We went in the summer which was brutally hot so we made arrangements to go back to the hotel to get cleaned up/have a swim/have a cocktail from noon until 2:00. So they're really flexible in terms of doing what suits you.

In terms of hotels and proximity to pub street, Siem Reap is a fairly small town. Our hotel was in a quieter part of town and only a few minutes away from pub street a few bucks for a tuk tuk ride. My recollection is that the nicer hotels were a similar distance from pub street (La Résidence d'Angkor, Park Hyatt was a little closer to town, Raffles etc..)

habfan4 · Post #9 by **habfan4** » Wed Dec 05, 2018 5:33 pm

AD wrote:4!

C’est moi.

Craig · Post #10 by **Craig** » Wed Dec 05, 2018 7:32 pm

Hey 4, wanna get a drink sometime?

AD · Post #11 by AD » Wed Dec 05, 2018 8:40 pm

I'll come to Toronto!!

PredsFan77 · Post #12 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:24 am

i found a guide

AD · Post #13 by AD » Thu Dec 06, 2018 11:46 am

Want a lift dog? we could go together, road trip to TO to have drinks with 4!

(and Craig I suppose)

PredsFan77 · Post #14 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:15 pm

dog you can come with me the guide said the price wont change. meet you there

AD · Post #15 by AD » Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:35 pm

The guide can take both y'all at the same time, eh?

PredsFan77 · Post #16 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:44 pm

thers' an additional charge after the third person

MP · Post #17 by MP » Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:39 pm

AD wrote:Want a lift dog? we could go together, road trip to TO to have drinks with 4!

(and Craig I suppose)

You'd better pick me up on the way through...

Craig · Post #18 by **Craig** » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:08 pm

Aren't you in Kitchener? That's not on the way.

MP · Post #19 by MP » Thu Dec 06, 2018 10:26 pm

Just this weekend, and Guelph not New Berlin.

PredsFan77 · Post #20 by **PredsFan77** » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:35 am

I’m at the airport, see y’all there

PredsFan77 · Post #21 by **PredsFan77** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:29 am

Check me tweeter. Currently eating my weight in gyozas

habfan4 · Post #22 by **habfan4** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:41 pm

Craig wrote:Hey 4, wanna get a drink sometime?

Sounds like a plan.

habfan4 · Post #23 by **habfan4** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:50 pm

PredsFan77 wrote:Check me tweeter. Currently eating my weight in gyozas

You can wash it down with copious amounts of Angkor beer when you get to Cambodia. The pull top on the bottles seems troubling but your angst will dissipate after a half dozen.

Last recommendation - Stop by Artisans of Angkor if you want souvenirs - silks scarves and carvings. Also buy as much Kampot pepper as you can transport back to the US.

chicpea · Post #24 by **chicpea** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:51 pm

I don't understand why anyone would want to go to a jungle.

habfan4 · Post #25 by **habfan4** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:54 pm

chicpea wrote:I don't understand why anyone would want to go to a jungle.

Google Four Seasons Tented camp and everything will become clear.

chicpea · Post #26 by **chicpea** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 3:10 pm

Looks like a nightmare. Like club med on a farmer's field.

I've been to bangkok a couple times. Slept in a hourly-rate motel that had Fanta pop in the mini fridge. Delish. When I turned the tv on, Bizarre with John Biner was on the air. I gave that hotel Five Stars.

Craig · Post #27 by **Craig** » Sat Dec 08, 2018 7:39 pm

habfan4 wrote:
Craig wrote:Hey 4, wanna get a drink sometime?

Sounds like a plan.

This week after work? I can't do Monday.

PredsFan77 · Post #28 by **PredsFan77** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:45 am

chicpea wrote:Looks like a nightmare. Like club med on a farmer's field.

I've been to bangkok a couple times. Slept in a hourly-rate motel that had Fanta pop in the mini fridge. Delish. When I turned the tv on, Bizarre with John Biner was on the air. I gave that hotel Five Stars.

Speaking of bizarre, I’ll be in bangkok tonight

chicpea · Post #29 by **chicpea** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:45 am

he hotel was somewhere near Khao San road. There was a horse sleeping in an alley between several wild dogs. But that was 1995.

PredsFan77 · Post #30 by **PredsFan77** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:50 am

I’m at a bar drinking tigers on the soi cowboy. What a bizarre place

PredsFan77 · Post #31 by **PredsFan77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:48 am

Laos is very chill

PredsFan77 · Post #32 by **PredsFan77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:56 am

and beer Lao is the truth

PredsFan77 · Post #33 by **PredsFan77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 6:06 am

chicpea wrote:he hotel was somewhere near Khao San road. There was a horse sleeping in an alley between several wild dogs. But that was 1995.

I was reading some reports about the best time to visit Angkor wat was back in the 90s. Granted the Khmer Rouge had hold of the place and you had to have armed guards in order to visit some of the temples. Someone recommended me the book Off the Rails in Phnom Penh: Into the Dark Heart of Guns, Girls, and Ganja. Basically a fear and loathing for Asia

PredsFan77 · Post #34 by **PredsFan77** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 10:27 am

Some China people from qujing are trying to drink me under the table. Doing work to make our president PROUD.

PredsFan77 · Post #35 by **PredsFan77** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 10:35 am

Update: the China people have been defeated. They ducked out after I beat a gentleman in a chugging contest. I better get the medal of freedom for this.

PredsFan77 · Post #36 by **PredsFan77** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 9:53 pm

It is fucking monsooning here, don’t know if I’ve ever rain this hard for a sustained period of time

PredsFan77 · Post #37 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 5:41 am

Not you were totally right, getting a guide is/was totally worth it

PredsFan77 · Post #38 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:14 am

I did make a bit of a faux pas today talking with my guide, we were talking about his young son learning English so I asked him if it was primarily just the older people that spoke French now...?

He said “well basically all the people that would be old now and were educated in French were killed by the Khmer Rouge.”

Ohhhh

He also named dropped Johnson and Nixon today, not awkward at all. But seemed to say the Americans had good intentions but were being lied to by dubious factions.

PredsFan77 · Post #39 by **PredsFan77** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:28 am

I admit I was getting a bit sketched out when we went to the backside of Angkor wat this morning at 500am with it pitch black and no other cars on the dirt pot holed path after I had just met the dude 10 minutes earlier.

PredsFan77 · Post #40 by **PredsFan77** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 2:46 am

His father died some years ago, his mother 4 months ago. Sounds like both from natural causes

PredsFan77 · Post #41 by **PredsFan77** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:19 pm

Got a new guide today and apparently I have a driver today too

PredsFan77 · Post #42 by **PredsFan77** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:20 pm

But it’s spectacular

PredsFan77 · Post #43 by **PredsFan77** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:42 pm

hey edgar im back home safe and sound

chicpea · Post #44 by **chicpea** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:51 pm

PredsFan77 wrote:I did make a bit of a faux pas today talking with my guide, we were talking about his young son learning English so I asked him if it was primarily just the older people that spoke French now...?

He said “well basically all the people that would be old now and were educated in French were killed by the Khmer Rouge.”

Smooth move, ex laxé.

PredsFan77 · Post #45 by **PredsFan77** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:16 pm

I just remembered a memory of when I was touring temples in Cambodia.

This was the third of three days, we had hit all the 'tourist' temples on the first two days, so this was really off the beaten path. So much so that after driving 30 minutes out of Siem Reap and turning onto dirt roads 15 minutes ago, My guide (a different guide from the first two days, he was booked the third date and we followed his usual 3rd day itinerary) and our driver are conversing in Cambodian and suddenly the tone of their voice noticeably drops. They drive about 3-4 minutes further down the road then we come to a stop and turn around. Guide says, "oh, we missed it. We don't come out here very often." So we turn back another 5 minutes and pull off at the side of this dirt road, just us and an infrequent water-buffalo pulled wooden cart going down the side of the road.

So the guide and I get out of the car, walking across this deep red clay road, waiting on this ox to get down the road so we cross. Right as we hit this super-unmanicured path, he comes to a complete stop.

He says, "PredoFanaganov77, Be sure to stay on the path. This area has land mines!"

I spent the entire tour of that temple not hearing a damn thing the guide said. I don't have a fucking clue what the temple even looked like because I was focusing on where the fuck I was stepping.

susf

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