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Here are the updates of Siem Reap Travel Guide from a4trip

admin :: 19 Dec 2007 :: Asia Travel, Cambodia Travel, a4trip Guides :: 1 Comment »

The Angkor site was declared as an UNESCO World Heritage in 1992 and its high artistic value shall be preserved for the next generations. Followings list down the things you can do to preserve Angkor Heritage Sites while visiting Siem Reap

1. Say NO when you are being offered with the artifacts looted out from the pre-historic sites, which include glass and stone beads, pottery, stone tools and metal objects.

2. Keep the heritage sites clean by disposing of your rubbish appropriately

3. Respect the temples as they are active religious monuments.
- Refrain from wearing bikini or being topless in the heritages sites
- Ask for permission before taking photo of monks

4. Refrain from touching the stone cravings and bas-reliefs.

5. Be an environmental friendly traveler.
- Ride bicycle while visiting the Angkor Archeology Park.
Get free Angkor Cycling Route from a4trip
-Conserve water in Siem Reap to prevent of water table dropping.
The descent of water table may cause the collapse of heritage monuments.

6. Help the Siem Reap locals in poverty.
- Make a donation to hospital and NGO.
- Dine in or sponsoring a student in school of restaurant
- Purchase Cambodian-made products and handicrafts produced by physical disabilities.
Check where you can help out in Siem Reap Travel Guide from www.a4trip.com

admin :: 18 Dec 2007 :: Asia Travel, Cambodia Travel :: 2 Comments »

admin :: 12 Dec 2007 :: Cambodia Travel, a4trip Guides :: No Comments »

With more than 40 temples, some of which are in ruins, Angkor Archaeological Park is shrouded with myth, mystery and legend.

Angkor Wat, as the main attraction, is regarded as the most magnificent and comprehensively restored temple. The notable artistry of its massive moats and bas-relief carvings are best viewed at the sunrise or sunset. Photography of Angkor Wat is best taken at dawn as the towers are reflected in the lake beyond the moat wall.

Download your map here

Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei with enormous silk-cotton trees and strangler figs growing from the ruins are best visited at the heat of the day. The roots of silk-cotton tree entwined with the towers and corridors offer a jungle photogenic atmosphere.

Find this information useful? Get your full copy of Siem Reap travel guide now.

admin :: 16 Nov 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: 2 Comments »

For travelers who intend to spend a day visit and to cover most of the major temples, you might want to consider using our suggested itineraries of Angkor Archaeological Park. The itineraries are classified into two types – cycling and tuk-tuk tours, as illustrated in the map, which are cheaper options comparing to car taxi or bus tour.

Download your route here

For 1-day cycling tour, you have to rent a bicycle the night before the tour. The price of bicycle rental is around USD 2 to 3 per day. Start your cycling from Siem Reap at 4 am in order to reach the Angkor Archaeological Park before its visiting hour at 5 am. Purchase your USD 20 ticket pass at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. Cycle toward the Angkor Wat and park your bicycle. Pay 500 Riel to the guardian of your bicycle.

As for 1-day tuk-tuk tour, make an arrangement with a tuk-tuk driver the night before the tour. Ask him to pick you up at 4am for a day trip to Angkor Archaeological Park. The price of hiring a tuk-tuk driver is about USD 10 to 13 for this route. Purchase your USD 20 ticket pass at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. Ask the tuk-tuk driver to stop at Angkor Wat.

After contemplating the sunrise and its architecture from Angkor Wat, you can follow the cycling or tuk-tuk route respectively to continue your expedition of other temples.

There are many food stalls inside the Angkor Archaeological Park where you can stop by for savory dish craving.

Find this information useful? Get your full copy of Siem Reap travel guide now.

admin :: 06 Nov 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: No Comments »

Visa

e-Visa is highly recommended by Cambodia government to tourists as a replacement of the traditional way of getting Cambodia Visa from embassy. Cambodia e-Visa provides the convenience to tourists to apply a Cambodia Visa at any where, at any time as long as they can access to Internet. Tourists won’t need to visit the Cambodia embassy, queue up and wait for the passport to be done. All they need is a computer with Internet. The process is fast, secure and well planned. Cambodia government have constantly upgrade and improve the system in order to serve tourists better.

If you are not eligible for e-Visa, you can apply your Cambodia Visa at the nearest embassy or on-arrival at all major checkpoints.

Weather

It times to visit to Cambodia this November. November to February is the “cool season”, which is dry and not too hot (up to about 30C or 85F). In April it gets really hot (40/100 daily, 30/85 at night), but not rainy. Starting around June it gets rainy and still hot. It rains off and on all the time, so roads are muddy and some areas are impassable, and it stays like that until November, when cool & dry comes gloriously back.

Custom

Keep in mind that shorts are frowned on in temples (such as at Angkor Wat). In fact, few men in Cambodia wear shorts unless they have particular sweaty jobs, so there is a class element to this. But since foreigners are seen as completely strange anyway, they can get away with odd behavior and dress to an extent. Certainly lighter dress is fine during exercise (you can go running or biking in the morning along the river in Phnom Penh). Good walking/hiking shoes are a plus for a visit to the temples. Sandals (not leather) are good for rainy season in the city, the mud and fecal matter just rinses right off!

Money

Bring dollars if you already have them or baht if you don’t. Dollars (and to a lesser extent Thai baht) are accepted almost everywhere in Cambodia, intermingled freely with riel. You will get some riel as change when you spend dollars; just mix ‘n’ match. One dollar equals 4050 riel (as of January 2006); the riel has lost less than half its value since 1995 (those IMF policies keep inflation down, if nothing else). Coins have not been used for many, many years.

admin :: 02 Nov 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: No Comments »

Bonn Kathen (27 October-24 November)
Another major religious festival in Cambodia is Bonn Kathen, lasting for 29 days after the Spirit Commemoration Festival. Town and country folks march in a procession to the pagoda where the monks are waiting to change their old saffron robes for the new ones offered during the festival. The ceremony brings spiritual merit to both lay people and the monks.

National Independence Day (09 November)

Cambodia achieved independence from France in 1953.

Water Festival, Moon Festival (23-25 November)
The Regatta (Bonn Om Touk), Procession of Illuminated Floats (Bandet Pratip), Salutation to the Moon (Sampeah Preah Khe), and Offering of Bananas and Ambok (Auk Ambok); Ambok means “pounded rice”.

This vast festival is probably the most extravagant one in the calendar.

The Water Festival, which ushers in the fishing season and marks the reverse of the current in the Tonle Sap, is a spectacle to behold. At the height of the rainy season, the water in the Mekong River that strongly flows back to the Tonle Sap forces its current to reverse northwest to the Great Lake. As the water level begins to subside, the current reverses its direction again.

Boat races are jubilantly held in Phnom Penh Capital. Racing boats and rowers come from several parts of the country to join that competition. The festivals draws thousands of the castors from all walks of life to the riverbanks to watch long boat races, fireworks and a flotilla of lighted ships under the full moon. There is often a parallel festival at Angkor Wat. Although smaller in scale, it is just impressive due to the backdrop of Angkor Wat.

The boat racing dates back to ancient times, which really marks the strength of the powerful Khmer marine forces in the ancient Khmer Empire.

admin :: 02 Nov 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: 1 Comment »

Angkor has had its golden age and adverse moment throughout the history. With the solid fundamental of military, economic and cultural development during its peak, grandeur temples and water reservoirs were constructed by Khmer kings. These include the Temple of Angkor Wat and Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom.

Since the fallen of the mighty empires, the Angkor site has been swallowed into the tangled tropical forest. Years of war and natural disasters have caused a serious problem to its existence.

It takes years to recover and preserve Angkor site. De-mining and jungle clearing up activities have been carried out around the Angkor site, which slowly waking up its eternal sleep.

In 1992, the Angkor site was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage for its architecture viewpoints and high artist value.

Siem Reap, as the gateway to Angkor, is now urbanized to a tourism city. Its number of population is soaring, in conjunction with the mushroomed construction of hotels, restaurants, pubs and markets.

admin :: 23 Oct 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: No Comments »

The Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, transliterated: Preah Réachéanachâkr is a country in Southeast Asia with a population of over 13 million people. Phnom Penh is the capital city. Cambodia is the successor state of the once powerful Hindu and Buddhist Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries.

A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as “Cambodian” or “Khmer,” the latter of which strictly refers to ethnic Khmers. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the country also has a substantial number of predominantly Muslim Cham, as well as ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and small animist hill tribes.

admin :: 28 Sep 2007 :: Cambodia Travel :: No Comments »