Advise on holiday please!

My partner and I went last December, got there on the 10th I think. Not sure how that fits in with Australian school holidays though. Weather lovely, but being from Scotland, we always chase the heat!

We had pre-booked our hotels, but I always tend to do that so there isn%26#39;t the last minute figuring out where to stay. We were there 2 weeks but only went to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. It was more than enough time, we chilled a lot by the pool too which we needed after a busy year at work. I guess it depends on how much of Cambodia you want to see really. I would have said 2 weeks would be fine though.

Tour guide - had one for a day, in hind sight I wouldn%26#39;t have bothered but everyone is different. We just chatted to a tuk tuk driver outside our hotel in SR and agreed what temples we wanted to see/other places to go to and agreed a price and pick up time. So, if you want to go down that route, no need to pre-book.

You will have a lovely time whatever you do, we really enjoyed ourselves.

Advise on holiday please!

You don%26#39;t really need a guide. Once you book a hotel they will do a free pickup. You can can hire a tut-tut (two seater) for usd10 a day for the first few days when you do the Temples%26#39; route. I think after three days you will be temples wary.

7 days in Siem Reap inclusive of a night or two to chill out in Siem Reap should be plenty.

Advise on holiday please!

I highly recommend a visit to SR and the temples and my wife %26amp; I visited the temples in January along with my mate who lives there and its a fantastic sight and the town is really good, built in a square shape with alot of nice restaurants pubs and certainly visit the night market, because its so well laid out and plenty of good things to buy. Other than rainy season when mozzies might be a big problem I should think anytime to visit is OK, and we would also stress that you dont need a guide, read up a bit on the net and buy a book maybe all you need is a registered tuk-tuk driver which youre see will wear a light brown vest with taxi written on it, negotiate a price, we paid about 20 dollars for the whole day, outstanding chap, like %26#39;em all knows the best places and really good service, we only spent one day at it but if youre really into being thorough with most of the temples you may need 2-3 days. They%26#39;re be plenty of tuk-tuk drivers available and we immediately met our man outside our hotel (Wats-Up), when we arrived, off the bus from PP, thats how easy it is. If youre going for 15 days it would give you chance to see PP and Sihanoukville if youre OK travelling by bus a total of 10-11 hours in two hits, obviously you could break it down, good luck Cambodia is well worth a visit.

Dry season is a great time to come as the weather is a bit more tolerable.

Some people don%26#39;t like tour guides, some do. A great tourguide in Siem Reap is Ponheary Ly or her brother Dara. 10 years experience, good enlgish, Khmer Rouge survivors and community activists. Email Lyponheary@yahoo.com

If you think you want a guide (and I do recommend it, to get the full experience and be comfortable) you should book ahead as it%26#39;s high season and you could end up with someone not so good as a result.

15 days is a good amount of time...where else are you going besides Siem Reap?

Hi buzzaround

check out the various trip reports (some, like mine are headed JBR - just back report) for ideas.

we didn%26#39;t use a guide but got a copy of lonely planet and read up ourselves. our tuk-tuk driver Suwan (I can supply email contacts via PM if you%26#39;d like) was also a great source of information, and I highly recommend inviting them to have lunch with you - you%26#39;ll learn heaps about Cambodia this way.

if you do decide to use a guide, read the various posts and look for ones that give you real details about what the travellers did with their guides rather than just those who say %26#39;great guide%26#39; - I understand our (westerners) need to do whatever we can to help our new friends earn a living but you get a better feel for what the guide might really be like from a detailed trip report.

also check out

canbypublications.com/siemreap/sritinerary.h…

it%26#39;s a great site for all that preliminary reading %26amp; planning - this link is to the SR page but there are links to all other areas of Cambodia.

Taking your kids to other countries is giving them absolutely the best education .... more than they could ever get from a classroom or text book. Your daughter will just love Cambodia.

15 days would be excellent - we had 4 in September last year (only in SR)and it was no where near enough for us. We are in the process of planning 18 days for April 2010 - I can%26#39;t wait but it%26#39;s a bit early to be counting the sleeps!

happy planning

helen