Contents2 ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd

SIEM REAP & THE TEMPLES OF

NICK RAY Contents

Plan Your Trip Welcome to & the Temples of Angkor...... 4 Top Sights...... 6 Eating...... 10 Drinking & Nightlife...... 12 Shopping...... 14 Temple Views...... 16 Massages & Spas...... 18 Cooking Courses...... 19 Four Perfect Days...... 20 Need to Know...... 22 Siem Reap & Angkor Neighbourhoods...... 24

Banteay Srei (p117) ZZVET/GETTY IMAGES © 3

Explore Survival Siem Reap 27 Guide 143 Siem Reap...... 29 Before You Go...... 144 Arriving in Siem Reap...... 145 Explore Getting Around...... 147 The Temples Essential Information.... 148 of Angkor 79 Language...... 153 Angkor ...... 82 & ..... 92

Ta Prohm & the Temples Special Features Contents of the Small Circuit...... 104 Angkor National & the Temples Museum...... 30 of the Grand Circuit...... 110 Siem Reap Activities...... 32 District...... 116 ...... 82 ...... 122 Angkor Thom ...... 126 & Bayon...... 92 ...... 130 & the Temples of the Small Circuit...... 104 Temples...... 134 Beng Mealea...... 130 Floating Villages of the ...... 138 Roluos Temples...... 134 ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Welcome to Siem Reap & the Temples of Angkor

Siem Reap is the life-support system for the temples of Angkor – eighth wonder of the world – and a regional hotspot for wining and dining, shopping and schmoozing. Angkor is a place to be savoured, not rushed, and Siem Reap is the perfect base from which to plan your adventures. Angkor Wat (p82) ©DANNY IACOB/500PX © ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 6 Top Sights

Angkor Wat The eighth wonder of the world. p82 Plan Your TripPlan SIPPAKORN/SHUTTERSTOCK © o Sights  Top 7

KARINKAMON/SHUTTERSTOCK © Angkor Thom & Bayon The enigmatic faces of the Avalokiteshvara. p92 Plan Your TripPlan o Sights  Top

DMITRYRUKHLENKO/SHUTTERSTOCK © Ta Prohm & the Small Circuit The ultimate Indiana Jones fantasy. p104

GUOZHONGHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK © Floating Villages of Tonlé Sap Waterworld on the great lake. p138 8

Beng Mealea Banteay Srei A slumbering giant in the jungle. The art gallery of Angkor. p117 p130 FAR LEFT: JASON LANGLEY/GETTY IMAGES ©; URF/GETTY IMAGES © Plan Your TripPlan o Sights  Top FAR LEFT: PIER GIORGIO CARLONI/SHUTTERSTOCK ©; MARISHA_SL/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Preah Khan Phnom Kulen A fusion temple of The holy mountain of and . p111 . p122 9

Koh Ker Siem Reap Activities A remote rival capital. p126 Adventures beyond the temples. p32 FAR RIGHT: TIM GERARD BARKER/GETTY IMAGES ©;LUIS CASTANEDA INC/GETTY IMAGES © Plan Your TripPlan o Sights  Top FAR RIGHT: TIBOR BOGNAR/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO ©;KEVIN YULIANTO/GETTY IMAGES ©

Roluos Temples The early capital of Angkor. p135 A showcase of Angkorian art. p30 ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd 10 Eating Plan Your TripPlan Unlike the culinary colossi that are its neighbours and , is not that well known in international food circles. But Cam- bodian cuisine is also quite special,

,Eating with a great variety of national dishes  some drawing on the cuisine of its neighbours, but all with a unique Cambodian twist.

The Staples rice-noodle soup that will peel live frogs to will keep you going grill on a barbecue or Freshwater fish all day. Don’t like down wine infused forms a huge part of noodles? Then try the with snake to increase the Cambodian diet bobor (rice porridge), their virility. To the thanks to the natural a national institution, Khmers there is noth- phenomenon of Tonlé for breakfast, lunch ing ‘strange’ about Sap lake. They come in and dinner, and best anything that will every shape and size, sampled with some sustain the body. from the giant Mekong fresh fish and a splash catfish to tiny white- of ginger. bait. Rice and prahoc Best Khmer – a fermented fish Fine Dining paste that your nose Unidentified Chanrey Tree Designer will soon recognise Frying Objects restaurant on the riverside at a hundred paces – The fiercely omnivo- offering contemporary Khmer cuisine. (p58) form the backbone of rous Cambodians find Khmer cuisine. nothing strange in Cuisine Wat Damnak eating insects, algae, Seasonal set menus are a sensation at this renowned Cambodia offal or fish bladders. restaurant. (p66) They will dine on a in a Bowl Super-stylish duck foetus, brew up Mahob For the taste of restaurant that offers more some brains or snack Cambodia in a bowl, than just the ‘food’ the name on some spiders. They try the local kyteow, a suggests. (p59) 11 Plan Your TripPlan Eating 

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Mie Cafe This understated Road 60 Night Market Live shakes and guilt-free des- wooden house is home to like a local and dive into the serts. (p60) some of best fusion flavours street barbecues of this in town. (p57) popular night market. (p53) Best Good- Sugar Palm Chef Kethana’s Cause Cambodian flavours are Best world-famous after cooking Restaurants with Gordon Ramsay. (p59) International Bloom Cafe This train- Restaurants ing centre has creative Best Cambodian Flow Go with the flow and cupcakes that are works of experience creative flavours art. (p53) Eats in a contemporary setting. Haven Immensely popular Amok It does what it says (p60) training restaurant with on the sign, dishing up some Le Malraux Experience a ‘honest’ food blending East of the best amok (baked slice of Provence in the back and West. (p58) fish) in town. (p62) alleys of the Old Market. Marum Operated by NGO Bugs Cafe Experience Cam- (p59) Friends International, this bodian creepy crawlies in Mamma Shop Authentic delightful garden restau- every shape and size at this Italian cooking just like rant offers creative Khmer alternative eatery. (p55) Mamma made, if your cuisine. (p53) Pot & Pan Restaurant mamma happens to be Spoons Cafe A well- Classic hole-in-the-wall Italian. (p59) regarded training restaurant cheapie that punches above Vibe Cafe Healthy vegan run by EGBOK (Everything’s its weight for presentation. creations, probiotic super- Gonna Be OK). (p58) (p53) 12 Drinking & Nightlife Plan Your TripPlan The transformation from sleepy overgrown village to an international destination for the jet set has been dramatic and Siem Reap is now firmly on the nightlife map of .

Drinking & Drinking Nightlife You don’t have to fight for your right to party here; it’s rockin’ every night and the revelry goes on from dusk until dawn.

Pub St & Around ‘late-night’ (read ‘early guzzle shooters and morning’) bars. play drinking games The heaving ‘Pub St’ until the wee hours. area makes Siem Most bars have happy Reap feel more like Beer Gardens hours, as do some of a beach town than a There are dozens of the fancier hotels. Hit- cultural capital. Pub beer gardens around ting the happy hours St is closed to traffic Siem Reap that are at some of the ritzier every evening as food great places for a hotels is a good way carts, drink carts and cheap beer and local to experience the high scores of party people snacks. All serve up life on the cheap. take over. Great spots ice-cold beer, some in running parallel to 3L beer towers com- Pub St include the Al- plete with chiller. The Best Cocktails ley, to the south, plus best strip is known Asana Wooden House This a series of smaller locally as ‘Cambodian unlikely countryside house lanes to the north. Pub St’. in the city turns out some of the most authentic Cambo- Late night, the crowd dian cocktails in town. (p66) wanders on to Wat Hostel Bars & Preah Prohm Roth Barcode Leading gay bar Happy Hours in town for classy cocktails St and, eventually, to Hostels bars are and a nightly drag show. Sok San Rd, where (p68) there are a number of a big thing, draw- ing backpackers to 13 Plan Your TripPlan Drinking & Drinking Nightlife

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Menaka Speakeasy Lounge Laundry Bar Funky tunes, Temple Club Another long- This ‘secret’ speakeasy leather couches and subtle timer on Pub St, the volume is hidden behind an Old lighting, this is the place always seems to be turned Market cafe and pays tribute for grown-ups seeking to up to ‘11’ here. (p70) to the golden era of Cambo- escape Pub St. (p67) X Bar As the night wears dian rock ‘n’ roll. (p68) Soul Train Reggae Bar A on, all-night drinkers are Miss Wong Experience eulogy to Bob Marley and drawn to the rooftop X like the sassy Shanghai of the friends, this bar is about to a lamp for breezes, 1920s at this sophisticated as chilled as it gets in Siem buckets and a skateboard cocktail bar with designer Reap. (p67) ramp. (p68) gins. (p66) Picasso A convivial U- shaped bar that has cheap and cheerful cocktails dur- ing happy hour and all night Wednesdays. (p67) Top Tip u When Cambodians propose a toast, they Best Late-Night usually stipulate ha-sip pea-roi (50%) or moi roi pea-roi (100%), referring to the Spots amount of the drink you need to finish. This Angkor What? The original is why Cambodians love ice in their beer, as Pub St bar and still going they can pace themselves over the course strong after two decades of of the night. late-night drinking. (p68) 14 Shopping Plan Your TripPlan Despite the rough edges Siem Reap offers some smooth shopping oppor­ tunities. It is a hub for handicrafts produced by local artisans. There are also lots of good-cause shops where

-Shopping your purchasing power can make a dif  ference to development. Kandal Village is an up-and-coming shopping destina- tion with boutiques, galleries and cafes.

Local Products you may want to sell everything includ- buy in Cambodia, ing items, T-shirts, Cambodia is famous and lots you don’t. jewellery, handmade for its exquisite silk, Angkor Night Market cards and more. much of which is still is a popular place traditionally hand- on the Siem Reap woven, and there Temple Sellers shopping scene and are some famous Don’t forget to save is well worth a browse silk weaving centres some spending for to take advantage of around Siem Reap. the temples, as many cooler temperatures. There are many of the villagers sell skilled stone and handicrafts, books wood carvers and sil- Shopping for and T-shirts and need versmiths, and popu- a Cause a piece of the action. lar keepsakes include Several shops support Some visitors get fed busts of Jayavarman Cambodia’s disa- up with the endless VII and statues of bled and disenfran- sales pitches as they Hindu deities. chised through their navigate the ancient production process wonders, while others Markets or their profits. This enjoy the banter and a chance to interact When it comes to is a worthy way to with Cambodian shopping in town, contribute to commu- people. Psar Chaa is well nity development in stocked with anything Cambodia and shops 15 Plan Your TripPlan Shopping 

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Shopping for Best Galleries traditional patterns using traditional methods. (p77) a Cause Eric Raisina Couture House Eric Raisina creates ‘haute Samatoa Experimenting AHA Fair Trade Village with lotus, banana stem Extensive handicraft market texture’ fashion with his original creations. (p74) and more, Samatoa creates supporting local producers original soft with their from around Siem Reap McDermott Gallery own textures. (p73) Province. (p73) Haunting images of Angkor produced in signature sepia Soieries du Mekong Featur- Made in Cambodia Daily ing handwoven silk crea- market at King’s Road that from American photographer John McDermott. (p77) tions; proceeds from sales promotes local artisans help the remote Banteay and their handmade wares. Theam’s House Original Meanchey Province com- (p75) lacquerware creations and munity. (p74) Rajana Quirky boutique innovative art, set in one of selling everything from the most beautiful gallery original T-shirts to recycled spaces in Cambodia. (p73) Markets jewellery. (p75) Angkor Night Market The Saomao Social enterprise Best for Silk original night market and still with original jewellery made the best despite many imita- Angkor Silk Farm See the from bomb casings and old tors, there is no need for silk process from cocoon air-con after dark. (p73) bullets. (p75) to creative clothing at this Sra May Pick up a cotton signature silk farm from Psar Chaa The Old Market krama (checked scarf) to . (p48) is the commercial heart of protect from the elements downtown Siem Reap and IKTT A Japanese-run silk offers a blend of local life at this social enterprise in farm that creates beautiful Kandal Village. (p76) and tourist kitsch. (p74)