I%26#39;d welcome some posts about the merit or otherwise of hiring an accredited english speaking guide when visiting Seim Reap assuming a cost of $25 per day. I our case, well split this cost between two of us but it will mean we will have to opt for a car instead of a tuk tuk.
Some posters here suggest all that is required is good preparation and a good guide book; others point out that signage at sites is not great and the accrediated guides generally know their stuff and are well placed to add value by interpretting the sites and suggesting itineraries.
Having spent the money to get there, $25 dollars doesn%26#39;t seem to be a lot to pay for a few days to get the most from a visit (on top of the cost of adminission and transport)
Anyway, lets have some votes either way and perhaps some feedback from those who have experienced both options.
Hiring a Guide: fors and againsts
Hi
We didn%26#39;t hire a guide. did heaps of reading (lonely planet, rough guide, websites) and took lp with us.
We did organise a tuk-tuk before we went - found him on the internet, communication first rate, but turned out he had spent the week before our trip in hospital. Sent his friend instead.
We found his friend Suwan amazing. I am happy to pass on contact details via PM. I will not post them here because I think it opens the possibility for his inbox to become flooded with spam.
we%26#39;re going back again in april 2010. will use Suwan again.
One additional comment I would like to make here is that people recommending guides/drivers will do their new friends no justice by just posting %26#39;he%26#39;s a great guide who speaks good english%26#39; - I believe that by giving some more detail about how and why they think he%26#39;s great, future travellers can get a better idea if this guide/driver will fit their needs.
everyone who goes to Cambodia falls in love with the place and it is only natural that we (rich westerners) want to do whatever we can to help. Paying school fees (something we do) or donating to various quality charities is something wlso people might consider.
there%26#39;s my two cents worth
cheers all and happy travels
Helen
Hiring a Guide: fors and againsts
If you%26#39;re prepared to pay, and you want the most, as you state in your third paragraph, then yes, go with an accredited guide.
It does depend on what you want and are prepared to pay.You%26#39;re only there for a short time and a great guide is not just interpreting the sites , but he is also a fountain of information on Cambodia and it%26#39;s people and culture.
Some people will be consious of not spending too much, and will need to research as much as possible, and not take a guide.
But if you have the dollars, nothing beats having someone with you, who is very knowledgeable to bounce your own questions off.
My personal opinion-
I like to stroll around on my own, love the quiet, and do not care much for someone to be giving me all the names of the Jayavarman kings, the dates they reigned, and how they acquired the materials to build each temple. I have been to the Angkor Area twice and enjoyed it thoroughly on my own both times. I did plenty of research beforehand, knew what I wanted to see and got a bit of the history %26amp; whatnot of each place from books, websites and knowledgeable friends so I never once felt I was lacking for info. Just give me a tuk-tuk or moto driver and I%26#39;m set!
It is an entirely personal thing, having a guide, and some people love to be escorted around, hearing details of history, folklore, etc., but it is just not for me.
We belong to the group who had organised both a driver and a guide before we arrived based on recommendations from this site and we were really pleased with both.
I think it costs us about $50.00 a day for both. We only had 3 days to look at the temples and wanted to see as much as we could.
It%26#39;s really a personal choice thing. I read plenty but also liked the personal contact. It%26#39;s one of those no right or wrong answers, it all boils down to personal preference.
As you say in the scheme of things it really is not a huge sum of money especially when you consider that you are having your own personal driver and guide for a whole day. I suppose too you are also helping their local economy when you employ locals as most of the money from the hotels(unless they are khmer owned) and the temple pass goes to foreign companies.
Lovely spot Nowra......
Cheers marian
Nowrabase:
In November my wife and I finished our fourth trip to Asia since 2002. Previously we%26#39;ve been to China, India, Nepal, Bangkok, Saigon, and Tibet. This trip was to Bhutan with a 2 1/2 day stop in Siem Reap at the end of the trip. Since we are still both working we need to maixmize our time during times when we make a short visit to a location. On those occasions we have used Pleseant Holidays which contracts with local agencies to coordinate airport transfers and sight seeing. That has worked out well for us as it did in Seim Reap. When landing in an Asian place for the first time we like to be met by someone, get to the hotel and unwind with a nice gin and tonic. After long flights, what we don%26#39;t need is the hassle of the ';Three T%26#39;s'; taxi drivers, Tuk Tuk drivers or touts!! We had an excellent guide and driver and put in two very productive days of sightseeing.
That being said, many posters have used this forum, and guides like the Lonely Planet to make their own arrangements and it%26#39;s worked out fine.
Again it%26#39;s a matter of personal taste, and our method has worked very well for us.
Money doesn%26#39;t always have to be the factor, it wasn%26#39;t for us. We thought about it quite a bit as to whether to hire a guide or not, and decided to hire one for one day only, thinking if we enjoyed it then we might be able to extend the hire to the next 2 days. Turns out, for us, we preferred it without the guide. I got bored by hearing over and over the detail about the bas reliefs, but there is no way I would have known that beforehand. We didn%26#39;t get much chat about current Cambodian life which is maybe where we would have been more interested. And I would have loved to have learnt more about the construction methods of the building too.
Each to their own I guess. We enjoyed our other trips with a tuk tuk driver, and he couldn%26#39;t speak English very well but told us the name of the temple and I just read from my Lonely Planet book. I enjoyed far more just wandering and taking in the beauty of the place, rather being told the length of the walkway at Angor Wat etc.
When you go to a museum exhibit, are you one of those people who rent a headset and listen to a recorded script for information on the paintings, or do you prefer to stroll around at your own pace and just absorb what%26#39;s in front of your eyes?
The decision about whether to hire a guide is similar, and the answer depends on what kind of person you are.
I hired a driver, not a guide, and as I was on my own, he took me around the temples on the back of his motorbike. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience to whiz through the jungle and by the spectacular temples, and if I%26#39;d been hermetically sealed in an AC car I would not have enjoyed it as much.
The temples are incredibly atmospheric. I liked being able to stroll around on my own and listen to the monkeys in the trees or the electric whine of cicadas, or stop and listen to one of the land mine-victim bands playing traditional music. It all provided a great soundtrack to the viewing of the temples, and someone going on about stone masons and Hindu mythology would have ruined it for me.
After being out all day I would go back to my guest hour and read up on what I just saw and what I was going to see the next day. Get a good book--not just a guide book but a book on the temples--is my advice.
Leslie
Majnuni:
Your museum reference is a good segway to alert Siem Reap visitors to the history museum that is relatively new. It provides an excellent supplement to the temple visits. We spent about three hours there - without any recordings!
I did both and found I prefered doing it on my own. I don%26#39;t remember anything the guide told me, I do however remember what I learned on my own. I also felt I was going at the guides pace rather than my own.
$30 a day for a guide/transport - cheap as chips. Any rate dunno know why people need recommendation - I found one quite easy enough through a lad I used to show me around Phnom Penh. I think for the most part they are more or less the same. Granted some drivers aren%26#39;t official guides, but might as well since prob know the info just as well as the official lads.
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