Like Soi10Tom, I would recommend the Golden Banana as the best place to stay. I believe I have posted some Siem Reap information in the "Another Country" forum and some of that information is in the resource forum.



When I booked through the Golden Banana they sent a taxi, which included a motorcycle pulling a carriage. It was quite comfortable and our taxi driver not only volunteered to be our guide throughout our stay in Siam Reap, but had his nephew guide us in Phnom Phen.



His name is James or Lim Yiv (I called him Lim) and you can email him at limyiv@hotmail.com. The cost was about $20 US per day, more for longer distances as the Angkor park extends about 180 square kilometers. You may want to avoid the real far distances and Tonel Lake, if you don't like the bad smell of the river that takes you there.



I have enclosed two maps for you. One of where the Golden Banana is in Siem Reap and the other where the gay lounge (Linga bar) is located.



I'll provide more tomorrow, once I shrink some photos.



Cheers,

Before going you might want to pick up a copy of a book called ANGKOR by Dawn Rodney. Most book stores in BKK have it. It's a little dry but does give you some understanding of what your looking at.



Recently, on the Discovery channel, I watched the latest theory on what lead to the decline of the ancient Angkor civilization. This researcher using satellite inferred photos concluded that they basically grew to the point where the resources of the land could not support them--they deforested, over planted and the ground eroded. Now the forest reclaimed the land and their temples.



I went a few years ago. Three days is good, the pass they make you buy is good for three days.



I arrived without hotel reservations, I had read that there are a lot of hotels and guest houses. There are moto boys at a stand across the road from the airport. They are there to take people to town but most if not all want to be your guide for your stay. The going rate is about 20-25US$ per day. No ATM's but you can get US$ at a bank on a Master Card, the bank I went to told me no Visa card.



Have a good trip.

Some clarification on info posted previously:

You are not forced to buy any certain pass. You can buy (all prices are US$) a one-day pass for $20, a 3-day pass for $40, or a 7-day pass for $60. Three days is best, but if you have time and enjoy seeing the Khmer ruins, I'd suggest the longer pass. With the rainy season upon us, you might some days less than ideal for touring the temples and want to skip a day or two (temple burnout can happen too!). Take your time and enjoy the sights. Some truly amazing temples to explore in the area.

Most motorbike drivers will charge you US$6-7 for a day touring the Angkor temples. But more remote destinations such as Banteay Srei and Kbal Spean will cost a bit more. Most cars (with a/c) are $20 per day. Tuk-tuks (or the moto w/carriage) are priced somewhere in between those two extremes.

I have used one driver/guide several times. Wonderful personality, very reliable, knowledgable, and speaks English well. His name is Thai but he is Cambodian. Contact him by e-mail at:

sopangthai@yahoo.com

I've stayed at about a half-dozen different places in SR over the years, but my fave is the most recent place I tried: the Peace of Angkor Villa. It's by far the best run and managed guesthouse I've visited. Prices start at $15 a night and the rooms all have a/c, cable TV, hot water, etc. Well trained staff and the owners Dave and Colleen are very helpful:

www.peaceofangkor.com/

A good resource for Angkor and Cambodia info is:

www.talesofasia.com

I've never found any gay scene in Siem Reap, but I've never been to either the Linga Bar or the other guesthouse mentioned so maybe things are changing. The Khmers seem much more conservative than Thais and less "worldly" in matters such as homosexuality. But do your own exploring and find out!

 

I would recommend an afternoon on a tour of Tonel Lake. I found the people living on the lake fasinating and took many great human interest pictures of people living their lives afloat. One of my all time favorite pictures was taken on Tonel Lake. It is a picture of a 4 or 5 year old boy rowing to a neighbors floating house in a large steal washtub. Unforturnatly it's predigital..so I can't post it. My single greatest memeory of the lake people is that the people were so very clean and smiling in the midst of such filth and poverty. I still can't figure out how they manage to keep their clothes so bright white while being surrounded by so much mud and dirt.

My partner and I are planning a three-day side trip to Siem Reap during our next visit to LOS in August.  Can anyone recommend a local tour guide for that time.  We usually book our own air and hotel, but would gladly accept any thoughts on that too.  My second posting - please be gentle.

Khorat:

My second posting - please be gentle





Hey Khorat, smart move   .....it worked.....the Drama Queens respected your wish....



and I am surprised that so many already visited Siem Peap and Combodia..... the "hidden sleeping beauty", probably..... I hope I will be able to go there very soon too.... the only country besides Myanmar I have not visited in South-east-Asia so far.....



by the way, if anybody is interested in informations about Malaysia and Indonesia, then dont hesitate to contact me ..... I know both places very very well (much better than LOS actually). Will be at Jawa and Bali again in July......

The attitude to myself and my boyfriend in Cambodia was very interesting. There was no hostility as such and most people were just interested to know what our relationship was. I stayed in a typical tourist hotel and encountered no problems (there is a very obvious age difference between myself and my boyfriend).



Our local guide was very polite but obviously very curious and my Thai boyfriend eventually told him that we were gay. Our guide replied that he didn't think there were any gays in Cambodia (!) but wasn't bothered. He actually teased my boyfriend about how handsome he was and pointed out how much local girls admired him. But it was all good natured and I didn't feel any need to disguise my affection for my boyfriend.



I used one of the three day tickets for the Ankhor region but the rains were a real nuisance and I wouldn't recommend a trip in the rainy season. I've never seen rain like it.



Jon

I would recommend that you plan to stay at the Golden Banana Guest house in Siem Reap.  It is a gay guest house run by very nice guys and I am sure that they will be able to hook you up with a good local guide. They have a web site Google it up and check them out.



There are lots of great guys on this board who will be very helpful. I have met many of them in person, and have been given great recommendations and suggestions; just ignor the bitter mean queens.

Edited by: Soi10Tom at: 23/6/05 12:55 pm

What an incredible coincidence both Surfcrest and Tom happen to see the cute kids in wash tubs.



The truth is most of what you see on Tonle are tourist props. They make a lot more money with tour boats than fishing. The cute wash tub brigade was there for me too, right on cue.

 

I think the kids in the wash tubs are for real.  This is the "bicycle of the lake" for the kids. Kids always figure a way to get around, play and look for trouble. I think that is just how kids do it on Tonel Lake. As surfcrest said, they ask for nothing and the kids did not even seem to notice us.

I did not intent on sounding cynical. Sure they are real kids, real Cambodian kids and the wash bucket is real too.



I thought it was cute. The moto boy and I became friends and we talked a lot. I met his family and many of his friends and they had loads of questions for me. I asked about the bucket brigades and was told that it's a show for the tourists. Under Pol Pot that section of the river leading to the lake was used for launching fishing boats and no one lived in river houses.



As for the kids having fun, I am not sure about that. How long can a wash bucket amuse a small child. I wondered if some enterprising parent kept pushing their child out in the water to entertain the tourists, and remember to look like your having fun.  I felt sad for the kids.



As for them not asking for money, hardy proof that this activity was some natural artifact of real Cambodian river life, the parents who own the boats already got your money.



 

In one of the most remote parts of Angkor Park are the ruins of Preah Khan. Its a long drive down dirt roads that probably vary between dusty (when I was there in February) and muddy (The rainy season).

Very little of the ruins have been restored from the damage caused both by tree growth and deliberate damage by the Khmer Rouge. There is a tiny village at the site where you can get a fairly decent meal, although the flies were a nuisance.

The ruins themselves were pretty thick with mosquitoes, which made the uneventful tour a bit irritating.

At the gate of the temples we found water buffalo grazing peacefully with the flies and an amazing collection of men and boys fishing in the water / muck for some sort of fish that they had to catch with their bare hands.

While not all of them were anything to look at, I did get some photos of the event...not that I actually saw them catch anything.











Cheers,

Here are some photos of Siem Reap stuff.



James Lim Yiv (Guide & Taxi Service)





Golden Banana Huts





Kids on Tonle Lake in Tubs





Perhaps this thread should be moved to the "Another Country" forum. With the soaring price of oil in the world, Cambodia / Thailand is by no means an exception and unless you have been there within the last few months, expect travelling costs to have gone up.



Cheers !

Edited by: Surfcrest at: 24/6/05 1:07 am

While it may have been a cue for the parade of tourist boats that depart from the river's stench out onto the lake and to various floating attractions. This lot of kids seemed only to be having fun in their tubs, splashing one another and chasing each other around the floating villages. There were no requests for cash, coins and most of the many photos I took of the kids went unnoticed.

At the same time there were several kids paddling their canoes and dugouts to and from school in their bright white and blue uniforms.

This biggest tourist trap was the price they charged us for taking a boat built for a dozen, out with only two. Perhaps it would have been cheaper through a group tour arranged in advance from town.

While seeing the lake might be necessary, having traveled so far anyway..there wasn't much there other than the Cambodian / Vietnamese communities living side by side in this floating village.



Has anyone noticed the spell check function has not been working for the past day?



Cheers,

Edited by: Surfcrest at: 24/6/05 9:52 am

After paying $20 US at "Check Point Charlie" we travelled down a long dusty road towards the river. Gradually houses or shacks appeared, we found it hard to believe that anyone could live in such conditions. As we got closer to the river, the stench of feces, garbage and rotting fish became overwhelming. Finally we made it to the river, where the boats are launched. The river had a smell to it I'll remember forever.







In this putrid smelling river, men were net fishing for some sort of fish unfortunate enough to exist in such filth yet fortunate enough to be caught and put out of it's misery I guess. Uhhh...I wouldn't be eating fish around here  







Not far down the river is the school where the lake dwelling children come to learn.







Dressed mainly in their white uniforms, they come and go by canoe and by dugout, much like land dwelling children would come and go on bicycles.



















Once you are out on the lake itself, where the children and their families live you find everything including floating churches...this one being Catholic.







and sometimes you find more tub kids....  







Cheers !  

Edited by: Surfcrest at: 24/6/05 9:36 am