Things to do in Siem Reap

Angkor Wat

Please see our dedicated Angkor Wat section for our comprehensive coverage of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and surrounds.

Tara Riverboat

Heavily advertised throughout Siem Reap, the Tara Riverboat is a floating bar and restaurant anchored in the waters of Tonle Sap. It has two advertised packages -- a day and a sunset tour. While the tour includes visits to Chong Khneas and to the Gecko Environmental Centre, it's worth noting these tours are not done on the Tara Riverboat itself, but rather smaller boats with a guide. If you're planning on seeing Chong Khneas or the Gecko Centre anyway, it makes sense to bundle these together and roll them up in a Tara package, but if your main interest is seeing a floating village, then you're better off heading to one of the other, less-touristed villages, like Kompong Phluk or Kompong Khleang. The sunset tour costs US$33 , starts at 15:30 and includes a two-course dinner and unlimited drinks. The daytime trip costs $27, starts at 08:00 and 10:00, takes four hours, and includes the meal but just one drink. All packages include hotel transfers from Siem Reap.

More details
Tonle Sap Lake
info@taraboat.com
http://www.taraboat.com/

Landmine Museum

Once little more than a humble shack, Aki Ra's Land Mine Museum has been reincarnated into the Cambodia Land Mine Museum & Relief Facility -- a registered Canadian-based organisation -- which opened in April 2007 with the aim of building and developing the original museum's vision. The new centre includes an expanded museum, a dormitory residence for up to 30 amputee children and a school. The new museum has an admission fee of US$1.

More details
6km south of Banteay Srey on road to Siem Reap, inside Angkor Park
info@cambodialandminemuseum.org
http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org

Tonle Sap Lake

If you came to Siem Reap on the boat -- either from Phnom Penh or Battambang -- the great body of water you travelled across is the Tonle Sap lake. The name means large freshwater river and it's a combined lake and river system of vital importance to Cambodia's agriculture and biodiversity. For much of the year the lake is quite small, but during monsoon season, the Tonle Sap River (connecting the lake to the far larger and more powerful Mekong River) reverses flow and water from the Mekong River flows up the Tonle Sap river, filling the lake and the floodplain that surrounds it. In the process masses of sediment is dumped, and with the forests flooded an ideal breeding ground for fish is created. This remarkable water system is the reason why the ancient Angkor civilisation was able to thrive here and grow enough crops to support such a dense population. Today, the lake remains the lifeblood of the region.

The lake is home to a number of floating and stilted villages, some of which are well worth visiting, others far less so. While it may be tempting to lump all the villages together, they're not the same, and the general rule is the further you go from Siem Reap, the more interesting and less corrupted by tourism, they are. The most commonly visited (in order of popularity) are Chong Khneas, Kompong Phluk and Kompong Khleang, with the first being the most frequently visited and so the most aggressive toward tourists.

Chong Khneas

If you arrive at Siem Reap by boat then you've seen Chong Khneas -- it's the mostly Vietnamese-inhabited, floating village that surrounds from the Siem Reap dock. It's the closest village to Siem Reap, home to the Gecko Environmental Centre and is the launching pad for Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary -- that's all to say Chong Khneas sees more than its fair share of camera-toting tourists. It's become a bit of a tourist trap, with a lot of pressure on people to buy things, from tourist knick knacks to a can of coke or postcards. When you're jostling among other boats carrying foreigners who are trying to pretend you're not there, the whole thing feels a bit contrived -- because it is. It's not all bad though. If you do decide to visit Chong Khneas, be sure to visit the Gecko Environmental Centre, where you can learn a bit more about the lake and take a rest from refusing to buy some fake opium pipes. If you don't have the time nor the money to visit the villages further afield, then you may as well take a look here, but be prepared for a touristy and at times frustrating experience.

More details
Tonle Sap lake

Kompong Phluk

Heading east along the bank of Tonle Sap will take you to Kompong Phluk -- and a world away from the tourist trap of Chong Khneas. Unlike its well-touristed sister, this is a stilted rather than floating village (you may see some floating rafthouses about the place). It's a very different place between the wet and dry season. The houses are on 6m stilts, so in the height of the wet the water is close to the top, but in the dry, the village is, well, dry, and so the houses tower six metres above you. During the dry most villagers move out into temporary shacks lakeside as that's where their livelihood is (it also saves them having to climb six metres worth of stairs daily). Kompong Phluk also has substantial mangrove -- or "flooded" -- forest and, a trip through by boat is part of the standard deal. While Kompong Phluk gets tourists on most days, it sees but a fraction of the trade of Chong Khneas and the extra time and expense spent getting here is well worth it. Kompong Phluk can be reached by boat from Chong Khneas, though you're better off travelling by tuk tuk or moto and then boat (wet season only) via Roulos village. Expect to pay around $30-40 for a trip here out of Siem Reap.

Kompong Khleang

Like Kompong Phluk, Kompong Khleang is a stilted rather than floating village. It's massive -- the largest on the lake -- and around 10 times the size of Kompong Phluk. As with Kompong Phluk, the main livelihood here is fishing, but in a number of ways it is a more interesting village to visit. There's a large village temple and a good stretch of village can be wandered through, even in the height of the monsoon. Further afield you can continue by boat out to a meeting tree where locals converge to sell their catches of the day -- or you can continue even further out onto the milky waters of the Tonle Sap. The water within the heart of the village is nine to ten metres deep in places and is a brackish, almost black hue -- this certainly isn't water you want to swim in -- but the area all around the central village is fascinating and very unadulterated by tourism. It's a long drive or ride from Siem Reap to here (figure on 1.5-2.5 hours each way) but well worth the effort and expense. If you've got the time and the money, this should be your number one choice on this bank of the lake. While it's possible to get here by boat from Chong Khneas, we'd suggest coming to and fro by road via the village of Domdek. Expect to pay US$50-70 for a guesthouse tour out of Siem Reap. Highly recommended.

Apsara dancing

Just about every guesthouse, restaurant, shop and tuk tuk driver will happily set you up with an evening of Apsara dancing. Though seemingly ubiquitous, the dancers are often talented and the apsara dance is still very much a part of modern Khmer culture -- it's not just a tourism invention. Most shows include a few sets of dancing, including Apsara, classical and folk dancing, and many of the shows include a buffet dinner and some drinks. Prices hover around the US$10 mark, though you can pay quite a bit more if you'd like a flasher setting and/or upmarket cuisine. It's a good, if touristy, way to see traditional Khmer performance art. If $10 is totally going to blow your budget, try to wangle an invitation to a Khmer wedding -- there's often Khmer dancing and (less appealing but more humorous) pop music karaoke performances at those too.

Cambodian Cultural Village

Cambodia's very own Disneyland -- or something thereabouts -- the Cambodian Cultural Village attempts to wrap up the entire country within a single theme park. Attractions include scale models of the Royal Palace and National Museum along with full-size models of different types of Khmer, Cham and Chinese housing and a wax museum with various historical figures and celebrities striking a pose. It's very specifically angled towards domestic tourists, but if you've got a slow day and can't face more ruins, a visit here is more exciting than doing your laundry, though the steep admission fee (US$12) dissuades many.

More details
Airport Rd, Siem Reap
http://www.cambodianculturalvillage.com

Butterfly Garden

This tourist trap boasts supposed lush gardens and 1,500 butterflies. When we visited, we spotted one butterfly the entire time we were there. The gardens and the koi pond were so moldy and overgrown that they stank. The staff were inattentive and the Khmer and international cuisine served bland and overpriced. Tourist trap for sure.

More details
Wat Bo, Siem Reap
http://www.butterfliesofangkor.com/
Opening Hours: Daily 09:00 - 22:00

Elephant Rides

The two main spots for riding elephants are both out near Angkor, one running in the morning and the other in the late afternoon. Morning sessions are held near the South Gate of Angkor Thom, afternoon sessions run up to near the summit of Bakheng. Elephant riding gets uncomfortable quickly, so many opt for the morning session, which doesn't involve climbing a hill.

Angkor from the air

It's possible to see Angkor Wat from a tethered balloon or a helicopter. The balloon is set to the west of Angkor Wat on the road to the airport. The balloon rises about 200m into the air and offers good views of both Angkor, Phnom Bakheng and other nearby monuments. There are at least two operations offering helicopter tours, though we're not sure how popular they are as we've never, ever seen one in action. The two main operators are Helicopters Cambodia and Sokha Helicopters. Balloon rides cost US$15, helicopter trips start at $90 for an 8-minute ride and go into the thousands for multi-stop, regional tours.
http://www.helicopterscambodia.com
http://www.sokhahelicopters.com

Beatocello and Jayavarman VII Children's Hospital

One of Siem Reap's most active self-promoters, Dr. Beat Richner performs once weekly on the cello. Performances are accompanied by a talk on the activities of the hospitals and a solicitation for donations of both blood and money. Performances are every Saturday at 7:15PM at the Jayavarman VII Hospital. While the doctor is somewhat controversial, the cause is a good one.

More details
Road to Angkor, Siem Reap
http://www.beatocello.com/

Angkor Hospital for Children

While not as highly promoted as Jayavarman VII, Angkor Hospital for Children also actively solicits blood and financial donations -- and there's no need to sit through a cello performance. Volunteering opportunities are also available here.

More details

http://angkorhospital.org

Cooking Classes

While we didn't try them, the Ox Cart Restaurant (down at The River Garden Guesthouse on the Siem Reap river) offers Khmer cooking classes. The restaurants on Pub Street, The Passage, and Bar Street also offer Khmer cooking classes, with prices starting at about $12 and covering the basic, most popular Cambodian dishes of amok and lok lak.

Pagodas and Shrines

Like any Khmer town, Siem Reap has its fair share of pagodas and shrines, and while they're not nearly as spectacular as the grandiose monuments a few kilometres out of town, you may find some of them interesting. The two that you're most likely to see sit between the Royal Gardens and the Royal Residence on National Route 6. The first, at the centre of a roundabout, and beneath a large tree is the shrine to Ya Tep. The shrine is believed to offer protection and good fortune in return for the chicken skins that pilgrims leave there. Nearby is the much respected shrine to Preah Ang Chek and Preah Ang Chom. More traditionally styled wats can be found in Wat Bo, Wat Keseram, Wat Po Lanka and the very conveniently located, though not overly interesting, Wat Preah Prom Rath.

Motorcycle tours

Hidden Cambodia Adventure Tours (http://www.hiddencambodia.com/)get rave reviews for their motorcycle trips into the surrounds. They offer a varied range of trips from single day excursions through to multi-day trips to Anlong Veng and beyond. We've not used them, but they come very highly recommended. They also have 4WD, trekking and cycling tours to surrounding villages. Harley Tours (http://www.harleycambodia.com/)have also become quite popular among motorcycle buffs, with gorgeous glimmering vehicles, though with day trips around Siem Reap starting at $300 per person, you really need to be brand loyal. If you need more than two wheels to get around, go off-roading with Quad Adventure Cambodia, (www.quad-adventure-cambodia.com), or if you like your transport person-powered, overnight mountain biking tours are available from Terre Cambodge.

More details
Siem Reap

Yoga

Swing by the Singing Tree Cafe (http://www.singingtreecafe.com) for all your yoga needs with a range of yoga offerings on through the week. Their website has details about what's on offer. Raja Yoga (http://www.bkrajayoga.org) also has yoga/meditation offerings throughout the week at its studio near Sofitel. See website for map and directions.

More details
Multiple locations in Siem Reap

Shopping

If you like to shop, you'll be totally in your element in Siem Reap. Be it a scarf for a dollar or a replica statue of Jayavarman VII for a couple of grand, you'll be able to find what you're after.

For down and dirty souvenirs, the Old Market in the heart of the tourist area is a good place to start. Surrounding it is a good selection of boutique and handicraft stores. Prices vary tremendously and while many places boast of all profits going to the artisans that manufacture the goods, sometimes it's a bit difficult to stomach when you see the mark-ups involved -- so shop around. Local pepper, coffee and tea are also very popular -- we're big advocates of Kampot pepper, but have found the coffee not nearly as satisfying. Other popular items include silk, wood, stoneware and clothing -- T-shirts with cute slogans and faux-vintage images abound. There's also a growing selection of rip-off branded stuff and a handful of bookstores selling both real and photocopied books.

A good tactic is to start at Artisans d' Angkor where the prices (and quality) are very high and then go elsewhere to see what you can get that's as close to similar quality as possible while staying within your budget. There's also a burgeoning photo gallery scene with McDermott Gallery and Klick being the two best. Both have a full range of products aimed at most price brackets available.

Get pampered

There's all manner of massage available -- from basic foot reflexology at streetside shops through to all-day indulgence experiences at some of the town's most renowned hotels. At the budget end of the market, it's difficult to beat one of the blind massage places around the Old Market or perhaps Dr Foot for a bit of reflexology, but if you're after some more serious pampering, we've got two personal recommendations -- Frangipani for the flashpackers and Visaya, within the grounds of the FCC Angkor, for a true splurge. Though we haven't tried it, the facilities at Hotel de la Paix are also superb and their packages sounded indulgent. By paying to use the spa you can also hang out in their maze-like pool for the afternoon.

Wildlife watching

Located about one-hour north of Siem Reap, Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity takes in injured and endangered animals, and trains locals to take care of them. It might cost you a bit to get up there, but once you arrive, there's a free guided tour every day at 13:00. The refuge includes a range of Cambodian wildlife, from vultures to crocodiles. Trips here can also be arranged through a partner NGO, Sam Veasna Centre, which also conducts day-long trips to well-known bird watching sites throughout Siem Reap province as well as long-distance tours to see the Irrawaddy dolphins of the Mekong River in Kratie.

More details
Near Kbal Spean
http://www.accb-cambodia.org/en/index.php

Horseback rides

We didn't get a chance to visit, but we hear from previous guests that The Happy Ranch Horse Farm takes what seems like a contrived afternoon activity and makes it worthwhile. Run by a Cambodian-American, most of the horses at the ranch are actually Cambodian ponies retired from racing in Vietnam and Thailand. Because of their small size, there's a weight limit of 90 kg for riders. The ranch itself is an 8 hectare plot about 1.5 km south of the city centre. Rides range from beginner, trainer-led loops around the arena for $10, to four-hour trail rides through the countryside and villages for more experienced riders costing $53.

More details
1.5km south of town
info@thehappyranch.com
http://www.thehappyranch.com/

Angkor National Museum

Visiting the Angkor National Museum was an eerie, surreal experience. For the first 45 minutes of our trip through the mammoth, 20,000-square-metre building, we didn't spot another visitor. The museum opened in November 2007, and its freshly painted, shopping mall-like feel contrasts with the thousands-year-old artefacts contained within it. A visit is a comfortable, air-con alternative to visiting the temples themselves, and a nice educational supplement to the history of Angkor if you visit the park without a tour guide. It's composed of eight separate galleries, all connected by a vaulted corridor with a series of fountains and lined with what seems like all the Angkorian limestone lion and demon heads missing from statues at the temples. After an explanatory film screening called Story behind the legend, you're pointed toward the galleries:

Gallery 1: 1,000 Buddha Images
This is the only gallery that's just one large room, rather than a series of maze-like alcoves, and the sight of all these Buddhas at once is striking. Hundreds of small and miniature Buddha figurines, made of metals, jewels and wood, all individually illuminated, line the walls here, identified according to the period they were made during and where they were discovered. In the centre, life-size and larger Buddha characters are displayed. The display includes Buddhas from Banteay Kdei, Bayon, Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear.

Gallery 2: Pre-Angkor Period: Khmer Civilisation
This gallery and all the subsequent ones combine mural-size explanations and short films through maze-like rooms explaining Angkorian history. The styles of figurines precede the trademark Angkor style, and there's a large collection of lingas, lintels and colonnettes.

Gallery 3: Religion and Beliefs
This room explains several of the most significant Hindu and Buddhist religious stories and folk tales depicted on Angkorian temples, including the most memorable Churning of the Sea of Milk carved into the rear wall at Angkor Wat. Carvings of Buddhist and Hindu religious figures are concentrated here as well.

Gallery 4: The Great Khmer Kings
The gallery focuses on King Jayavarman II, Yasovarman I, Soryavarman II and Jayavarman VII, those most responsible for Angkor's greatest constructions. Figures of the kings and relics from the temples they commissioned abound.

Gallery 5: Angkor Wat
There's a large film gallery inside this section of the museum. It features beautiful, panoramic images of the temple and explanations of how it was constructed. There are also many restored figures from the temple itself as well as post-Angkorian wooden statues used for worship at the temple until several hundred years ago.

Gallery 6: Angkor Thom
In addition to recovered artefacts from Angkor Thom, this gallery includes a history of and artefacts from the vast irrigation projects commissioned by the king who built Angkor Thom with his smiling face looking out from every tower: Jayavarman VII.

Gallery 7: Story From Stones
This room is one of the most interesting. It's a collection of stone pallets with ancient Khmer and Sanskrit inscriptions. The writing on each slate is explained on placards below. The writing on them includes the declaration of the construction of a new hospital, lists of slave names, mediations of land disputes and adulations of kings and gods.

Gallery 8: Ancient Costume
From Apsaras and kings to princesses and warriors, this room contains the busts and statues of distinct fashions and styles as they evolved throughout Angkor time. There's also a collection of ancient jewellery and headdresses. It's a clever segue to the final room -- the gift shop -- where upscale imitations of these fashions abound.

It's $12 to enter the museum, plus another $3 if you want to bring in your camera and another $3 for an educational headset. Sadly, like ticketing and management of the Angkor park, the museum is owned and run by a private company, so little of your admission money goes to Cambodia or to temple restoration (though what the company paid for the concession might). Still, it's perhaps better than these artefacts remaining in the hands of private collectors. A connected mall is still under construction but has a few open stores, including a Blue Pumpkin satellite, several souvenir shops and the sure sign of apocalypse -- a KFC.

More details
Road to Angkor
info@the-anm.com
http://www.angkornationalmuseum.com/
Opening Hours: Daily 08:30–18:30