Guesthouse is a reasonable place to stay. During my time there, I felt reasonably safe. Just to share with you an experience- on the first night, Dekey and I was tired. So as we open our room door, we did not take in the key- it was stuck outside the door knob the entire night. Someone (probably the worker) must be wondering why a key was stuck at the knob and pushed the door to see (luckily we lock in the door barrier-so even someone with a key cannot come in from the door from the outside). The moment he pushed the door and saw there are people in the room, he quickly apologised and shut the door. No one really tried to break in.
I would recommend either Mandalay Guest House (family run business) or Popular Guest House (mainly guys manning the counters).
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Fried rice with meat- USD 2- USD3
Milkshake USD 1 – USD 3
A cup of coffee- anywhere from USD 0.50 (Mandalay Inn) to USD1.50 – normal coffee ok, not even talking about Mocca or Expresso yet.
1.5 litre of bottled water- USD1 (standard all over even if you buy from the streets)
A can of coke/fanta- USD 1 for 2 cans (standard in all temple sites)
Coconut water -drink directly from coconut- USD 1 (standard in all temple sites)
Angkor Tshirts- lowest we could get: USD5 for 3.
Postcards: USD1 for a set consists of 10 postcards inside.
Scarfs: a lot of scarf like those we see selling in pasar malams for RM10 are sold for USD5 (almost USD20) in Old Market. However, there are better qualities ones which you can get for around USD5 or lower after you bargain.
Note: The price is based on my trip in 2006.
Many can speak English, with varying degree of fluency.
USD is very widely used in Siem Reap- so no need to exchange local currency. Vendors (even the roadshow mineral water seller) will quote in USD.
Cambodia is a country still very deep into poverty. That is why don’t feel upset if you have to pay USD1 for a big bottle of water from the street- they need the money to survive.
As you approach tourist areas, street peddlers start following you coaxing you to buy things. Many of these peddlers are young children who can converse in simple English. Buy from them instead of from tourist shops. These children need the money so much more.
Begging is a common scene you will see and the locals will know that you are a tourist at a glance. If you give to one kid, you may find suddenly many would appear.
Unlike Sri Lanka whose people love souveniors from Malaysia, Cambodia people are more interested in $$.
Tshirts- cheapest is at Angkor temple areas. Many guidebooks recommend Old Market but the price at Old Market are generally more expensive.
Guide Books- you can buy from street peddlers at Angkor temple areas or the handicapped in Pub Street.
Water- for foreigners, it is better you drink bottled water to avoid upset stomach. If you buy water, buy from the street vendors instead of from the minimart or restaurants. Nope, price from street vendors are not cheaper but these people are much poorer.
Other things you may want to consider buying: very unique wood carvings, cushion covers (I bought a set for my best friend and she loved it), gemstone. We bought a number of stuff from this store in Old Market: Ly Sukunry, No. 24, Phsar Chass, tel 012 828845/ 012-406899 (not Maxis- it is a Cambodia handphone line). The owner (husband and wife) seemed quite honest and they offer is the most reasonable prize compared to other stores- the shop is quite inside the wet market area (yes, market where people sell fish, vege, etc).
Tip: Explore the prize offered by street peddlers or stores located at temple areas. When buying something, always ask yourself: How much you are willing to pay for the item? Then either mentally or use a calculator to calculate the equivalent value in USD and quote the price. You have to bargain because items are always offered at a high prize. Of course, it is only proper that once the vendor agreed to your price, you should buy it.
I noticed some people like to critize the items in an attempt to bring down the prize or keep haggering the price- don’t do that. It is not nice – if you don’t want it, just walk away.
Have a heart- Unlike hawkers in Malaysia selling chau koay teo who can be millionaires (with big bungalows and driving Mercedes), street peddlers in Cambodia are very poor. There are so many of them offering the same things so no hidden rich there. So even if you find that you paid a high price (because you either forgot or did not bargain good enough), think of it as doing good charity. You money helped ut food on the table of a big family (Cambodia families are generally very big-lots of hungry mouths to feed).
Old Market area- Still, Old Market carries more varieties compared to the street vendors. Important tip- as you appoach the Old Market from Sivatha Street, you will see there are 2 sides of it. One consists of a complex and across the road, you see some are souvenior stores merged with a Market. Go to the one merged with the Market. The inner you go, the cheaper the price (of course you have to bargain a bit). For instance, the same cushion cover cost USD3 (after final discount) outside are sold for USD2.
When I travelled to Siem Reap in October 2006, I happily shared my travel photos in Webshots. Webshots was a popular free photo sharing platform them, before features like Flickr become popular. I know sometimes the speed is slow, but I had appreciated the fact that I was allowed to host these photos for free. So it was no big deal if they plaster a banner on top and a little Adsense ad on the side.
After putting the photos, adding notes, I hardly checked the photos. Till I noticed recently that I was getting a lot of spam- spammers leaving urls of all kinds of websites as comments in my photos in Webshots. My blogs are okay because the spam comments, which are a lot, are taken care by Akismet, a plugin that came with WordPress templates.
The spam comments made me went back to Webshots and lo and behold! How the advertisements have grown:
As I have done with photos of my travels to Thailand, I decided to create a specific blogs and transfer all my photos here. This will be done in stages- after having the photos transferred, I will start deleting most of the photos.
In terms of layout, I felt it will be more user friendly for users to navigate in a blog than in an album. Even though albums can display slideshows or rotates on the sidebar, it will not be able to get the overall picture with explanation at a single glance. And since I’ve taken photos and wrote much about the travel, it will good to put a story behind the photos- when I went there, I was very dilligent in taking photos and jotting down notes.
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