Information
On this page, you will find useful and important advices and information for organising your trip.
About Siem Reap
The city of Siem Reap is the gateway to the 6 km nearby World Heritage Site of Angkor. In the past 10 years,
Siem Reap changed from a small provincial town to Cambodia's first tourist site.
You will find all kinds of touristic infrastructures. Special interest is focused on the Old Market (Psar Chaa) area with its French colonial architecture and the more Western style like "Pub Street" with a small nightlife, that can certainly not be compared to other megacities like Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.
About Angkor
Nothing in the world can be compared to Angkor. "It's greater than anything left to us by Greece or Rome"
cried out Henri Mouhot, who rediscovered the ruins in the 1870s after a more than four centuries lasting period
of tranquility. The tropical vegetation with its huge trees overgrew the temples and in this state, the first rediscovers
found Angkor. The mystical idea of a "lost city" in the jungle was born - the "Angkor dreams".
Today, in the period of mass tourism, it's certainly more and more difficult to feel like the first explorers.
Anyway, in more remote places like Beng Mealea or Koh Ker, you will still be able to recognize the fascination that means Angkor.
We will not write here all the history of Angkor, which is in large parts the history of Cambodia. For this, excellent books have been published. When you visit Angkor, please keep the following four aspects in mind:
- Angkor was in the 13th century the largest city in the world. Researchers call it "the largest low density preindustrial settlement pattern" with probably over 750 000 inhabitants.
- In the coutryside, the way of living doesn't seem to have much changed since Angkorian times. You only have to leave Siem Reap and after some kilometers, you will find a traditional rural life and cultural landscape. The same sceneries are depicted on the famous bas reliefs of the Bayon. When you want to know how people lived in Angkorian times, just go to the countryside today. It's a trip back in time.
- After a long discussion about the "hydraulic thesis" (has there been irrigation of the rice paddies or not?), researchers have now the data to understand Angkor as an ancient empire, based on a complex water control system.
- Angkors culture came to an end. The decline began slowly at a period of the highest development. The reasons of Angkors decline (and of any other ancient civilisation) should let us think about our own civilisation, its future and its limits. May the visit of Angkor open you new ways of understanding so that the so much quoted "sustainable development" gets a new perspective.
Climate
Cambodia, as the whole of Southeastasia, has only two different seasons: on the one hand hot and dry, on the other hand hot and humid. The so called "dry season" is from november to march, considered to be the best travel season. But the so called "rainy season" from april/mai to october also offers a lot of advantages: First of all, it doesn't rain all the time, but the country is very green, it's flowering everywhere, the temples are nearly empty and the tourist prices go down.
Guidebooks
The best guidebook about Cambodia for individual travelers is certainly:
Andreas Neuhauser, Kambodscha. Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump GmbH, Bielefeld.
Useful information, interesting backgrounds, in German language.
The best guidebook about Angkor and the Khmer civilisation is certainly:
Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques, Ancient Angkor. River Books.
An excellent book about backgrounds and the "CULTURE SHOCK" is highly recommended:
Sam Samnang, Kulturschock. Kambodscha. Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump GmbH, Bielefeld.
Very interesting backgrounds from an insider, in German language.
Links
Hotels and everything you need to know
Hostels and everything you need to know
B & bs and everything you need to know
Ta Som Guesthouse & Tour Services doesn't take any responsability for the contents in the above websites.
TA SOM GUESTHOUSE & TOUR SERVICES 268, National Road Number 6, Siem Reap / Angkor, Kingdom of Cambodia
Phone: 00855 12 830 170 (Mr. Meng) Fax: 00855 63 964 970 (Office) www.tasom-guesthouse.com
