Siem Reap

There’s no shortage of accommodation in any category, and to make a visit to Angkor even more memorable, Siem Reap offers some characterful hotels, with individually appointed rooms, many making artistic use of local materials. However, if you want to stay at the town’s five-star or boutique hotels during the peak season (Nov–Feb), it’s best to make a reservation.

The town’s guesthouses are mainly located around Psar Chas and along the Airport Road, though there are plenty more elsewhere. In general they offer a range of rooms – some rivalling those in the cheapest hotels – and a budget restaurant. While the large number of rather gaudy hotels studding National Route 6 look impressive from a distance, up close cracks in their facades are quite evident and Westerners usually find them a disappointment.

As well as having plenty of Western fare, Siem Reap is also one of the best places in the country to sample Cambodian cuisine, with many restaurants serving a good range of skilfully prepared local specialities (and the bonus of menus in English). Cuisines from elsewhere in Asia are also well represented, in particular Thai and Indian, while Korean and Japanese places along Airport Road cater to tour groups.

Inexpensive wholesome dishes with helpings of rice are served up from early morning until late at night at the Khmer restaurants on the west side of Psar Chas. In the late afternoon food stalls selling every kind of Cambodian food set up on the pavements just off Sivatha Boulevard; they’re open until activity dies down in the late evening or early hours of the morning; noodle dishes from $1.

There’s no shortage of watering holes in Siem Reap, so much so that the Cambodians refer to the road north of Psar Chas as “Bar Street” or “Pub Street”. New bars are opening up all the time, and plenty stay open until the wee hours; many have happy hour (or two), and some bars do special deals (draft beer for 50¢ all day) in the low season. Also worth looking out for are happy hours at the more upmarket establishments when cocktails become more affordable.

Entertainment

Outside Phnom Penh, Siem Reap is the only place in Cambodia where you can watch traditional dance being performed. Indeed, it’s actually easier to catch a performance here than in the capital, as several Siem Reap hotels and restaurants package a cultural show, featuring several dance styles, with a meal. Although touristy, these performances are professionally staged, have been going on at Angkor since the 1920s and are well worth booking to see. Shows usually open with the elegant apsara dance, often followed by a light-hearted item or two depicting popular folk tales, such as the fisherman’s dance, which takes a comic look at rural courtship. The finale is a vibrant dance retelling part of the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Hindu epic Ramayana, involving four roles – male, female, giant and monkey – with the dancers wearing intricate masks associated with their character. If the costumes for apsara dance are lavish, then those for the Reamker dances are positively opulent, heavily embroidered and embellished with tails, epaulettes and wings.

To make an evening out of a cultural show you could opt for the regular buffet dinner and cultural performance at the Apsara Terrace of the Grand Hotel d’Angkor (t063/963888). Similar in quality are the shows at the Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra (t63/964600), and the Angkor Village, which stages performances with dinner at its air-conditioned Apsara Theatre (Street 26 t063/963561). Performance times, frequency and price of admission change with the seasons, so call in advance for information and reservations. Free shows of lesser quality are put on by many of the restaurants around town; the Temple Bar balcony for example is packed in the early evening for dinner and the dance performance, but as soon as the show ends the balcony empties and the bar girls arrive.

A Cambodian folk art going all the way back to Angkorian times, shadow puppetry was all but lost during the Khmer Rouge era, but has since been revived, with performances both in Siem Reap and the capital. Entertaining shadow-puppet shows by street children looked after by Krousar Thmei are staged twice a week over dinner at La Noria (t063/964242, phone for prices and to reserve a table). Only a few puppets are used at each performance, changes of character being effected by dressing them in different kramas.

Cambodia-themed movies are shown nightly at Movie Zone ($3) in the Angkor Night Market.

Shopping in Siem Reap is second only to the capital for variety and quality, and in some ways it’s much easier to shop here since the various outlets are much closer together. Psar Chas, sometimes referred to as “Old Market”, abounds in inexpensive souvenir stalls selling all manner of goods, including T-shirts, silk tops and trousers, and traditional Khmer sampots in Western sizes. Beware though as many of the textiles here, such as the fabric used to make the cotton sarongs with elephant motifs, are imported from Indonesia. Also at Psar Chas on the stall near the river are several selling English-language books, including some prominently displayed publications on Angkor. Look out also for a speciality of Siem Reap, woven rattan, made into baskets, place mats and plates – the ones with holes in are for serving dried fish. Remarkably, some great shopping can be had at the Angkor Night Market (wwww.angkornightmarket.com), but walk past the stalls selling imported tack to the back (west side) where you’ll find Khmer Boutique (stall C9) which is a great place to pick up authentic Khmer artefacts (all paperwork provided if your chosen item proves to be ancient). The Night Market is also the best place in Siem Reap to pick up a traditional cotton krama or throw – a great stall is the one south of the Island Bar; they’ll be more expensive than the synthetic mixed thread ones at Psar Chas and the temples, but well worth the extra for the better quality and workmanship; especially prized are those woven at Phnom Sarok.

Craft shops and galleries

Until recently the quality of souvenirs in Siem Reap was something of a let-down, but a handful of international artists have now set up shop in Siem Reap and are offering their Asia-inspired works to visitors. In addition, Cambodian artists are now finding their feet and increasingly offering original works in stalls and shops around town.