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Ankgor - Great Guide & Itinerary

Ankgor - Great Guide & Itinerary

Old Feb 11th 2002, 9:29 am
  #1  
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We just returned from at trip to SEA, including 4 days/5 nights in Siem Reap. We stayed at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor, which, albeit it expensive, was quite nice, with excellent food. YOu can save 20% by booking through email at [email protected]

We had asked the hotel several months back to book us the BEST GUIDE possible. They said that they would and certainly lived up to their word. The guide's name is LAP TEK. He has been guiding since the country opened up in 1993. His English is excellent and he his very knowledgeable. He really enjoyed telling the Hindi stories (and Cambodian variations) as represented in the carvings (particularly Ankgor Wat). Except for one sunrise & sunset, our scedule was generally 7 - 11 in the morning and 3 - 5:30 in the afternoon, giving us time to enjoy the hotel's pool and avoid the scorching son.

Mr. Lap was very receptive to our desired itinerary, and also made some excellent suggestions for things not in the books (such as the River of the 1000 lingums, beyond Bantrei Srei). Mr. Lap is mentioned favorably in one of the first post-civil war photo books, which is by Michael Standen.

The cost is $25 for Mr. Lap per day, and $25 for the driver per day (air conditioned nice car). The only extras, besides the entry fee, are $10 for Bantrei Srei and $10 for the River of 1000 lingums. We, of course, gave a nice tip as additional.

People should understand that a good guide greatly enhances your enjoyment. A moto driver or even car driver, at best, points you in the direction of the temples. Further, it is difficult to find you war around, or even have full enjoyment, with your nose in a book.

Mr. Lap's contact information is as follows: email: [email protected], mobile: 855-12-630-350 (his card says best to call at 7PM Cambodian time, which is 7AM in NY), and mailing address is: #0257, Group 11, Wat Damnark Village, Salakamroek Commune, Siem Reap, Angkor, Cambodia.

Our itinerary, which was great, was as follows. Please contact me with any questions at [email protected].

Monday, 28 January

morning: (7AM – 11AM)
South Gate of Angkor Thom***
Bayon***
Terrace of the Leper King**
Phimeanakas & the Royal Enclosure*
Elephant Terrace*

afternoon: (3PM – 6:30PM)
Ta Prohm***
Angkor Wat*** (sunset)

Tuesday, 29 January

morning: (6AM - 11AM)
Angkor Wat*** (sunrise)
East Mebon**
Ta Som*

afternoon: (3:00PM – 5:30PM)
Neak Pean**
Preah Khan***

Wednesday, 30 January

morning: 7AM – 12 noon
Banteay Samre **
Kobel Spein (including 1 hour climb)

afternoon: 3:00PM – 5:00PM
Roluos Group – Bakong***
Preah Ko**
Lolei*

Thursday, 31 January

morning: 7:00AM – 11AM
Prasat Kraven**
Banteay Kdei**
Ta Keo**
Thommanon** ]
Ta Nei**
Vehir Principal
Tep Pranam (buddah)
Preah Palilay
Prasat Bei

afternoon: 3:00PM – 5:00PM
Banteay Srei***
Ta Prohm*** (redux)
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Old Feb 11th 2002, 5:01 pm
  #2  
R. Kalia
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[From Usenet newsgroup rec.travel.asia] kkail <[email protected]> wrote in
news:v_R98.151550$KM2.6797188 @atlpnn01.usenetserver.com:

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Amazing! He speaks Hindi in addition to English and Khmer? Even more amazing, you
understand Hindi?

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You were overcharged. But maybe he then gave you a kickback for this advertising.
 
Old Feb 11th 2002, 8:46 pm
  #3  
K239
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For the benefit of Mr. R. Kalia (and for my own benefit), I want to point out that
the Hindu stories were told in English. One can even get the Bible in English these
days! (It was my error to say Hindi instead of Hindu.)
 
Old Feb 12th 2002, 3:45 am
  #4  
Michael
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i just want to point out that it's simply stupid to say that moto drivers in siem
reap are "just anything"... there are moto drivers and there are moto drivers, and
some of them are incredibly knowledgeable... all of them are much cheaper than the
$50/day that this poster spent... who told you what moto drivers do? someone who had
a good one or just mr. fifty-bucks-a-day?

i jump on this blanket statement about moto drivers in siem reap because i just left
cambodia and have to say that except for one real deadbeat, the moto drivers i had
(6-8 dollars a day) were personable, knowledgeable beyond the call of duty, and
contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the country.

have you ever noticed how people who wouldn't know good food if it came up and bit
them tend to judge a dish based on its cost?

michael
 
Old Feb 13th 2002, 8:33 pm
  #5  
Mort
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I think that a car ($20/day) is better than a motorcycle. First you have A/C then you
avoid breathing the dust from the road in the dry season (at present).

I was there last week, a little surprised by the low number of tourists,even at
Angkor Wat and Bayon. Some buses of Japenese tourists in the afternoon but you are
often alone in the other temples.

Mort
 
Old Feb 18th 2002, 2:25 pm
  #6  
Aitor
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Default Re: Ankgor - Great Guide & Itinerary

Hi,

I see nothing bad in the original post. The poster propose a way, his way, to visit
Angkor, I see it magnific and most of us have to learn from him to do the same.

It is true that they could be overcharged. It doesn't matter, the question is that
they are satisfied with the service of this guide and they wanted to share the
experience with us, and this is very possitive.

I have been in Angkor, and see a lot of proposals. Since I have travel for month and
a half, I had to reduce my budget comparing with the people that travel for just some
days. We rented a small motorcycle without driver for two people and paid 5 dollars
per day. That was our experience, very possitive for us.

Anyway ours it is just a proposal, I understand that another people prefer to pay
more for some confort and have a real guide (not semi guide) to help and assist them.

Since you pay a lot of money to enter Angkor, you have paid much more to fly from
your country, what are 100 dollars per day for a group of people?

Regards

Aitor http://w3.to/travellers

On 11 Feb 2002 18:01:26 GMT, "R. Kalia" <[email protected]> wrote:

    >[From Usenet newsgroup rec.travel.asia] kkail <[email protected]> wrote in
    >news:v_R98.151550$KM2.6797188 @atlpnn01.usenetserver.com:
    >
    >> word. The guide's name is LAP TEK. He has been guiding since the country opened up
    >> in 1993. His English is excellent and he his very knowledgeable. He really enjoyed
    >> telling the Hindi stories (and
    >
    >Amazing! He speaks Hindi in addition to English and Khmer? Even more amazing, you
    >understand Hindi?
    >
    >> The cost is $25 for Mr. Lap per day, and $25 for the driver per day (air
    >> conditioned nice car). The only extras, besides the entry fee, are $10 for Bantrei
    >> Srei and $10 for the River of 1000 lingums. We, of course, gave a nice tip as
    >> additional.
    >
    >You were overcharged. But maybe he then gave you a kickback for this advertising.
 

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