Pub Street!

 

The most famous touristy street in the city, Pub Street could be anywhere in any major city in the world. It may be designed with that in mind, to aggregate tourists in one place, easily controllable and a sort of evening show case social spot. A lot of restaurants of all kinds. We landed up at a Greek restaurant called Ella just outside Pub Street twice during our stay, with the others being a lot of non-vegetarian fare.

The street is well lit at night and buzzing and overall felt very safe; but as said, it still wasn’t at its peak. Hopefully in 2023-24 it will be back to its best. That said, the street was clean and well maintained and with a range of cuisines. In terms of creating infrastructure for tourism, it was well done.

Just across from Pub Street is the local market, facing the river that runs right through the city. The usual Knick knacks and tourist stuff; and do remember to bargain. Overall, quite nice, and the people were, at least what we saw, heard, and interacted with, quite friendly.

A somber reminder, in the midst of such beauty

Even as you gaze upon the wonders of Angkor and its temples, their intricacy, beauty, style and scale, do remember to look around beyond them, to more modern times. 

Cambodia has an unfortunate history of war and human carnage. While much of that, thankfully, is now in the distant past, the country has made efforts to make sure locals and visitors never forget about the landmines and the havoc they wrought then, and wreck even now. 

Media reports will tell you that even today, that up to 

6 million landmines remain in the land, and Cambodia has the highest rate of accidents caused by landmines. A lot of effort at clean up is on, but it isnt easy. Hopefully one day the land will be free of this scrouge. 

A reminder of the landmines and the havoc they caused is at almost every tourist site in Siem Reap. At almost every major walkway, there are small tents (See photo- this one was at Bantaey Srei temple) under which landmine affected persons sing or play music- they even play music depending on the nationality of the tourists passing by. Tourists can donate if they so wish, but never once did they ever solicit. 

Banteay Srei : an intricate masterpiece of a temple in Angkor

One of the most intricate, intimate and beautiful temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park area is the temple of Bantaey Srei, rediscovered in 1914. 

Its about 32 km (50min or so) from Angkor Wat, outside the city of Siem Reap. You need a vehicle to reach it. Tuktuks and taxis are available, though we preferred a taxi as the distance was a bit too much for an open tuktuk, and the roads outside Siem Reap tend to be not as smooth or well maintained as in the Angkor premises. Our taxi charged us US$ 40 for the day- it was quite worth it, as it become decently humid later in the day. 

This temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva and Parvati, and made in the 10th century, is quite unique, in its sheer intricacy and delicacy of its walls, temple decoration and surroundings. Its name apparently means "citadel of beauty or citadel of the women".  Not surprisingly ,its regarded as the highlight of the Khmer culture. 

Set in jungle land but with a very clean organized entry area, its a small temple as far as the other Angkor temples go. Its made mostly of red sandstone, giving it a very nice tint and colour. There are scenes from the Ramayana across the temple. 

There have been some thefts and damage to this temple over the years, but much has been restored. Each of the six staircases are guarded by human figures with animal heads, but apparently many of these were stolen and had to be remade. 

When we visited in December 2022, much of the temple was sealed off as reconstruction work was still on, but you could still see the temple , its entrances, libraries and with a good camera most of the temple sanctuary itself. 

This may be a bit out of the way from the main Angkor complex, but its a visit really worth making. 

Business of Tourism : Extent of tourism in numbers - the T/P Ratio

Overtourism is the current rage in the travel, tourism, government and social circles. There are cities being overwhelmed by visitors in particular months and empty in others; there are protests and water being squirted over tourists ( which is sad because tourists cant be blamed for local policies that enable them to arrive!).

That said , I thought it would be interesting to gauge from numbers exactly how bad is the problem of over tourism. I compiled a few numbers (see table) from various sources - the Ministry of Tourism India (2022 data) , UN tourism site, Euromonitor, Statista, ET, TOI, The Guardian, CNN and a few others). 

The "T/P ratio" is essentially simply Tourist- to- Population ratio. Just my way to grasp the scale of the issue. 

Not surprisingly, western Europe has some T/P  ratios that could be called alarming. The point here is that not all these millions are leisure travelers. Quite a large component will be business arrivals too. Still, the numbers are huge in already huge cities. Istanbul, for example, gets 25% more visitors thru its gates in a year than its resident population. London, nearly 2x, and Barcelona, the current hot topic, 37 % more than its population. These are serious enough "overruns" to stress out people, resources like water and sanitation, as well as transport. ( populations are measured differently in different cities - some take in only metro city areas; some the wider metro area including suburbs, but the core purpose of the analysis remains good). 

numbers in millions.
Sources: Euromonitor, Statista,
WTTO, UN Tourism Dashboard, media reports,
TOI, ET, Guardian, CNN

India : big on population, low on tourism

Ironically, in the second half of the table, you can see how under-developed India is on the tourism scale. India gets less than 1.7% of global tourism, and its FTA (Foreign Tourist Arrivals) are about 9 mn. Basically, the whole, huge subcontinent of India , one of the oldest and most diverse cultures on Earth, gets less tourist arrivals than any one of the cities in the table! 

India has tremendous potential for tourism - both domestic and international. There are some clear concerns, but they pertain to infrastructure, costs, general perception of safety, and that India is destination by itself requiring much time and planning). 

There's essentially no concern on overtourism for India! As it is, Indian cities are densely populated. A few million more may not even be noticed! 

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Business of Tourism: Rising costs doesn't deter Indian tourists to Europe

Further to the discussion on if entry fees are an effective barrier to slow or stop tourism, take a look at the numbers from India to Europe, the most preferred destination for Indians.  

Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ 
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/

Take a look at the data for Schengen visas issued to Indian citizens (see table 1).  

There are three interesting data points here.

First, there was a smart recovery from the low of the pandemic years (2020-2022) and it really shot up post 2022.  

Second, in the same duration. the Schengen visa fee rose from Euro 60 to 80 per head and is today, in 2024, euro 90. Every three years or so, the EU revises this fee. The latest revision was effective June 2024. 

Third, check out the rejections. There was a smart spike in the rejection % as well. India now is the third most rejected country from European visas. There is no refund for rejections (I think that's unform for all countries, even India). The key data point is- how much Indians lost to rejections. In 2023, it was about Euro 12 mn  against about Euro 10mn in 2022. 

So, what does it look like, in money terms? See table 2 below. 

Table 2: 

Source: schnegenvisainfo.com / TOI/ HT/ 
https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/

So, this clearly shows the price inelasticity for Schengen visas in India. Expect this price to cross Euro 100 by 2026, possibly. The point is, increasing price barriers - visa fees / hotel taxes / entry fees/ fines only cause the demand table to readjust to a higher cost level and go on as usual. Dips if any, will be limited and short. 

So how do you slow down over tourism? I believe more long-term damage to image and attractiveness of a destination will be done by singling out genuine tourists with embarrassment, financial losses, or violence (actual or threatened), like we saw in Barcelona. The latent hostility is even more concerning. Many people will pause a bit, and wonder.  Should I spend my money in a place that's clearly hostile? Or at the very least, disdainfully tolerates me for my money? 

Tricky, knotty issue, it sure is! 

Business of Tourism : What enables over tourism?

Over tourism remains a topic of great debate. in an earlier post, I tried to understand what could be done about it (taxes, phase out, new destinations and so on) .  Here, I wanted to explore another closely related issue : permissions and approvals.

Its easy and convenient to say tourists mess up , clog up and in general ruin the place.  That in itself is a broad generalization and not always true. 

But how and what enabled so many to visit so many areas for so many days? 

Some key factors: local authorities, logistics and prosperity.  

To start with, isn't it local authorities ( municipalities, state governments and national ministries) who allow the proliferation of short stay apartments? 

How does a tourist enable / force / cause flats or apartments to be converted into short stay tourism accommodation without active support,  frame work and planning by landlords and city authorities? 

Does a tourist have any say in housing or zoning or public transport policies of the destination? Clearly, no. 

In all the arguments raging across media, I don't find much debate on the role of authorities in allowing the shift of housing for locals into short stay for tourists (Barcelona did say they would ban all short stays, but after 4 years).  They welcomed the money that came in ( both local landlords who rented out and governments who got taxes and income).  

But perhaps it went overboard?

No one fault can be pinpointed here - it is the responsibility of authorities to grow their economies, and they simply used one economic lever. But then to turn around and blame transient visitors  almost entirely for this problem is a bit rich. Local protestors would be aware of this. Surely they would be asking hard questions of their administrators. 

The other enabler is of course, logistics or access. The expansion of low cost airlines suddenly opened up new destinations otherwise out of budget. Here again, landing / docking rights are the economic assets of the destination-its entirely there prerogative to control them. The tricky balance is to get more money in, without messing up the works- economic, cultural, business. 

The third enabler is the growing prosperity of the middle classes elsewhere in the world that puts more money and enables them to travel, supported by vastly expanded air, sea and road links. In India, at least, foreign travel is no longer a luxury, The moment the young people have excess funds and/ time, they will travel. Its just part of being the new Global Indian culture and imagery that has crystalized over the past decade. And India isnt even the largest source markets for many tourism-troubled destinations- not yet. 

Just look at India only (not even that other big source market - China) . 1400 mn people- of which the middle class would be 500mn. To put that into perspective- that would be more than the population of Scandinavia and most European countries, and quite big chunks of S/ S E Asia as well! Even if 10% of these 500mn are able to travel, that's 50mn. Europe holds the pride of place for every Indian- and even within Europe, certain destinations are always top of the list- Switzerland, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy for sure, Next layer for the more discerning would be eastern and central Europe, and for the jaded Indian, Scandinavia/ Iceland. 

Another interesting aspect is FOMO - the fear of missing out in travel and tourism. Just consider India again. With 65% of its population below 30 years and infrastructure still shoddy for tourism, the longing for the "first world lifestyle" means that a whole mass of people are traveling- and putting on social media that " they made it" . That perfect insta photo/ that perfect facebook post. It all adds to the allure of travel. Its a good thing in many ways for Indians - exposure, style, perspective, confidence. But only if done correctly.

The fourth enabler I would say are the investments into the tourism infrastructure by a lot of players, from hotels, to transport, to F&B and governments. The rapid expansion of chain hotels and Air B&B stays opened up vast accommodation options and allowed more stays for longer. Its a matter of another debate if hotels are better for a city or short stay rentals. Hotels are usually more expensive but offer a control point for the destination. 

In sum, it was a perfect conjunction of circumstances and enablers that drove excessive tourism numbers. There are hard solutions in hand, and some soft, long term. But perhaps the travel industry will find its right, if an uneasy and flexible, balance sooner than later! 

Business of Tourism: Over Tourism causes consternation, concern and chaos

There's a lot of debate and discussion on " over-tourism" these days, on the Internet, print and social media. 

Its a complex subject. On one hand, tourism brings in much needed funds into local economies, helping for services and maintenance, allowing governments to subsidize citizens costs. Clearly, London's museums couldn't be free if the city didn't get so many visitors ( Or may be called "spenders'). Likewise, the big gems of tourism- Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam or Venice, Athens in Europe amongst others. But for every city overrun in Europe, there are tons of others in Asia, the USA and Africa who would love to have (even if temporarily!) the tourism dollars. 

Tourism injects life, vigour, a virtuous investment cycle, jobs, general good feeling, and yes, often times, is a strategic tool in the political or economic arsenal. 

But there are definitely downsides. Too much of a good thing can be a problem. 

Over tourism I believe generally kicks in when local culture, life patterns and services begin to change or bend to the needs and demands of a transient population which attains critical mass to actually cause these changes, and infrastructure ominously breaches the limits it was designed for faster than can be replaced or enhanced. When the local citizen finds no seat on his own city's trams or buses ( as we saw several times across Europe). Or when the local restaurants change menus to accommodate global tastes rather than offer local cuisine, when standardization rather than uniqueness becomes rampant. 

I don't come from a city or nation which suffers from any sort of over tourism, but we actually suffer from "over- population" which , if you think of it, is the same issue as over tourism- and you cant even ban airlines or cruise ships- its there, permanently, every time, every day.  In fact, Indians I believe generally visit the "first world" to experience less crowding, clean air, weather, superb infrastructure and cleanliness! 

While over tourism and over crowding are two sides of the same coin, the approaches and solutions have to be very different.  

Discussing over tourism solutions this time : 

1. Marketing can be used to phase out visits. Not always possible because of weather and vacations. 

2. Entry barriers - visa issuances can be controlled. Easiest method, but could have political and economic repercussions. 

3. Cost barriers- simply make it more expensive, which would filter out the marginal, low and budget categories, but that could be seen as unfriendly, and discriminatory (which it could well be). Cost barriers could be higher taxes, expensive room rates, differential public transport and entrance fees (which does create resentment). It could well be the entrance fees like Venice tried ( But travelers simply adjust mentally to a higher cost plane and kept coming). 

4. Open new areas : could spread the numbers across the land, but presumably, could get overwhelmed as well - necessitating newer areas every few years. Not easy. 

5. Other destinations develop- this could well cause diversion of tourism permanently and cause economic damage. This has started in Vietnam and Cambodia, which have started taking in more Indians diverting from Thailand and Singapore. (When destinations within India develop, that will also divert some tourism- but the sheer numbers of Indians means this is not a worry for Europe, USA , Singapore or UAE and others anytime soon!) 

Just some ideas but no quick solutions. As the massive middle classes of India , China and Asia in general prosper, they will travel. Its a human need. But the numbers can, and will, overwhelm. Destinations need to deal with it. 

I intend to analyze interconnected, historical and economic issues related to tourism and travel going ahead- watch this space. 

The temples of Angkor – in miniature

I found an artisan quite by chance through my research on travel and tourism in Siem Reap on google / google maps and some blogs. 

This was an old gentleman called Dy Proeung who created scale models of the temples of Angkor. These have become quite well known in the travel world, with a lot of blogs, sites and photos, as this one on travel covers it. You can find reviews of this on tripadvisor and blogs/ websites as well, like this one: 

https://leightontravels.com/2022/06/12/miniature-replicas-of-angkor-siem-reap/

Over 84 years of age, he has a lot of experience in conservation and decided to replicate these models. 

With some searching in the back alleys of Siem Reap with our day hire Tuktuk of Bannu, I found the place. Not very attractive, looked a bit unkempt but he had made several temples which were remarkably well made. In fact, I later realized that the only way to see the whole of Angkor Wat, the main temple, was thru this scale model, or take a helicopter tour (available, but too expensive!).

There were scale models of Angkor Wat, Bayon, Bantaey Srei and I think Neak Poan. 

The entry fee was US$2. 

If you have time and are sufficiently interested, you could drop in. The address can be found from google maps.

The Circle Tours of Angkor - all together !

The temples of Angkor - Small + Big Circles 
map source: Google Maps

This route is most of the Small Circle and Big Circle tours put together. This is what you would end up doing if you do both these tours over 2 days (nor advisable to do all these in 1 day- and anyway gets too humid to travel / walk so much - nearly 30 km totally). 

That said, this map still doesn't cover the Rolous Group of 3 temples , 15 km away. 

And this map doesn't cover one of the prettiest and most intricate temples in Angkor- Banteay Srei. Its quite off the beaten track of Angkor, but its totally worth the visit. Will cover it later in this Cambodia series. 

The Rolous Group Tour (Angkor Archaeological Park)

 

The Rolous Group of 3 temples 
map from google maps

The Rolous Group Tour-3 temples

These are Bakong, Preah Ko and Lolie Temple. (See map).

This group of temples is a little off the rest of the temples, and you need a vehicle to reach them. But each of these are starkly different from the small circle and big circle temples.

Bakong claim to fame is the it was the first temple mountain design made by the Khmer Kings near today's Siem Reap. It was the state temple of the city called Hariharalaya, in the area called Rolous. Hence the name " Rolous Group of temples." 

Preah Ko means the sacred bull, and is over 1200 years old. Three Nandi statues face the temple structures, hence the name, 

The third temple of this tour is the Lolei Temple, This is the third and last temple made around 893 AD. There are four temples on a sandstone platform, and at one time apparently this temple was surrounded by water. Quite a nice place. 

The google map shot is of a larger area, to show where the Rolous Group is in relation to the main Angkor Wat ( about 15 km away). 

The Big Circle Tour (Angkor Archeological Park)

 

The Big Circle temples 
map source : google maps

The Big Circle Tour

Temples covered are: Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup Temple. (See map). This is a nice tour with all temples unique in their own way.

Preah Khan is a flat straight line- quite different from other temples around.  This is a 12th century temple, This has been left mostly unrestored, which gives it a whole different feel! 

Neak Pean (means Intertwined serpents in Khmer) is in the middle of a lake ( Preah Khan is on the shorter side of this rectangular water body- see map besides. This temple was said to be built for medical purposes, as it was in the lake and the water would balance the elements. 

Ta Som is also a small temple, on the opposite side from Prasat Preah Khan, This is a relatively simple temple, but has now been restored. 

Pre Rup is a temple made for the Khmer King and dedicated to Lord Shiva. The name apparently means : "turn the body" - so it could have been used for funerals, This is also approx. 1,000 years old. 

Photos coming! 

The Small Circle Tour (Angkor Archaeological Park)

 

The "small circle" tour 
maps : google maps 

The temples in the "small circle tour" are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom complex, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Beanteay Kdei and Prasat Kravan Temple. (see map).

The term small circle can be misleading to say it covers just 6 temples. Actually it covers a large area with all the major sites. 

The Angkor Wat complex itself takes 3 hours if you really want to enjoy it starting from the sunrise. 

Angkor Thom is an enclosed city area with its five gates, and the massive temple of Bayon in the centre. Apart from the Bayon, The Terrace of the Leper King, and Terrace of the Elephants,and  Baphuon temple and all near Bayon. 

Angkor Wat is situated outside the Angkor Thom complex.

The famous, and breathtaking temple of Ta Prohm (made famous by the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie) is between Angkor Wat and Bayon.  Don't miss Ta Prohm! 

The central question: how to visit as much as possible of Angkor?

The Bakong Temple, Rolous Group

First, it’s possible to see all the 75+ temples if you have the time, energy, inclination, interest, and money (yes, it’s expensive).  

Second : the tours are for the temples- the city expanse of roads and canals are not in the focus (if visible at all, as they are covered by jungle). 

Third : most people won’t want or need to visit all temples. So quite intuitively, there are specific tours of Angkor that cover much of the city, temples, and area. There could be others, and you could technically cover many more on your own with the tuktuk, but I took three tours and were quite satisfied with my coverage ( but still less than 15)

These are: Small Circle Tour , Big Circle Tour and the Rolous Group Tour.

I will explain all three in detail going ahead. 

Clarification: “tour” does not refer to group tourism. It refers to the collection of temples on a route designed such that a trip covers temples of a similar nature efficiently.

This tours 5-6 temples each, though the guide can do more if you pay more. This can be by car, tuktuk or guided tour in bus.

The City of Angkor

Most people today wouldn’t be aware of the immensity of the city of Angkor, the capital of The Khmer Empire. At over 1,000 sq km, it would be equivalent of today’s modern cities and certainly one of the largest pre-industrial ever. 

To put into perspective, modern-day Tokyo, the largest city on earth is 2,194 sq kilometers, Los Angeles is 1,300 sq km, New York in the USA is about 780 sq 

The Victory Gate to Angkor Thom

km, London is 610 sq km, and Mumbai is just 157 sq km. 

While these cities today are large, it must be remembered that Angkor was already 1000 sq km a thousand years ago. At that time, most of these cities quoted were either hamlets or didn’t exist at all. The economics, logistics and lifestyles were vastly different then, and running a city that large without modern appliances would have a gargantuan  administrative job, and one that would have needed intellectual capital far higher than may be that of today!

As would be expected, there was a large water body created near the city, and many scholars put the reason for the demise of the city to the changes in the water supply. There were canals and roads in place even then, but perhaps their management wasn’t as good. Whatever it may be, what is left for us to see today is still very awe-inspiring, and not a little humbling. 

There are five gates to the city of Angkor Thom, which houses many of the other temples in a square form. The one shown here is the Victory Gate, where soldiers victorious in battle would enter the city; the other is the Gate of the Dead, for losing armies, and three others dot the four directions. 

The throbbing powerful dynamos that are the cities of today could well be like Angkor, a thousand years hence. Sobering, and inevitable, much as we would deny it.

The Angkor National Museum

https://angkornationalmuseum.com/

This museum houses a nice collection of art, statues and glimpses of Khmer culture as well as some artifacts from the Angkor Complex. Its a short ride from the city centre. 

Don’t miss the Buddhas room. It’s a beautiful collection of 1,000 buddhas tastefully displayed and lit. Each of the notches you see in the walls is a buddha, each different. 

In December 2022, entry fee was US$10 per head. Could feel a bit steep, but it’s a nice enough stroll thru it, and you get to see many of the artifacts that have been moved here from Angkor to preserve them. Worth a look. 

 

 

Siem Reap surprises!

 

The city

This city has evolved into an organized tourist hub, and when we visited in December 2022, it was quite a revelation for its cleanliness, roads, the Angkor complex, and transport.

There are many hotels at all price points and all ratings and reviews, of course, as expected in one of the most visited sites in Southeast Asia. Quite a few in December 2022 were empty. Many suffered badly in the covid years, and in 2022, we heard that tourism had still not recovered, That may have changed now that China has opened outbound tourism, but in 2022, almost no Indians or Chinese were there, and there was a smattering of other nationalities in the city. Consequently, the city was quiet and not crowded, and it presented itself very differently!

Tuktuks and Scooters!

 

Siem Reap is a small city, and the tuktuks are everywhere. As a visitor, you could hire tuk-tuks for the day (which is what we did. It was preferable as you will never know the local actual one-way fares and will end up feeling vaguely overpaid). We negotiated US$15 for the day- and Bannu was quite willing to go anywhere we wanted, as well as to take us around the temple routes.

The other way is to hire a taxi (the hotel will do it for you) ; this was US$75 a day in December 2022. We took the taxi to visit the Rolous Group (more of this group of temples later) which is about 30 km distance from Siem Reap. We found this so much more comfortable than a tuktuk on open roads. The roads outside Siem Reap tend to deteriorate a bit, but nothing to break bones.

Many tourists hire the tuk tuk for the day even to visit the temples (we did this). It was quite comfortable and an experience! Usually all the tuk tuk drivers bring waterbottles in a cooler with them, and those that we interacted with were helpful and pleasant. Just don’t expect them to tell you details of the temples you visit; they are not guides. You will need to do your homework – and there’s a ton of information on every temple in Angkor available online. Short of taking a guide (not a bad idea) , this is the best way to really immerse in, and appreciate the scale and history of Angkor.

TukTuk Pick Up!

 

Most hotels offer either pick up or drop off as part of your booking. We had chosen an airport pick up. We usually always prefer airport pick up as part of our booking, even though it may cost more than taking an airport taxi or Uber. Arriving tired in a new city, sometimes at night or very early morning, we have no intention of navigating the intricacies of fares and maps and always being alert about fare/ route cheating (more commonplace than you think, even in Europe).

In Siem Reap, we were very amused to find our pickup was a tuktuk (the larger version of the rickshaws so much part of an Indian’s life). Had all our bags arrived with us, one wonders how we would have accommodated us and the bags in the tuktuk! But the driver, Bannu, was nice (he was with us all through our stay in Siem Reap). The road into the city was empty- no traffic at all! – and the city itself was quiet and dozing off in the afternoon. It woke up in the evening and early morning, of course, but the afternoon was strangely quiet.

And even more amusing, four days later, our airport drop was in a full 20-seater minibus, only for us! This was charged separately, of course.

Baggage left behind!

We landed, but one of our main bags didn’t- apparently it was still in Singapore and wouldn’t arrive in Siem Reap until the next day. This was a little odd as there was an evening flight as well from Singapore. But what was bemusing was the speed and readiness of the lost / delayed baggage counter. The moment we reached the counter, the person handed us a laminated paper with pictures of bags and sizes and once we identified the bag size from the pictures, the person filled in the forms himself and within 15 minutes handed us US$100 as compensation for the late arrival of the bag. The next morning, the bag was delivered to our hotel. All smooth and without any follow-up from our side. That’s one advantage perhaps of a world class airline like Singapore Airlines.

Apparently, this is a well-known occurrence, and everyone’s used to it! Or maybe we were just lucky as there wasn’t much traffic. Or maybe the person was just very efficient. Either way, while a bit inconvenient, we weren’t complaining. The main bags with the food came with us!

And as a happy consequence of lack of clothes, we had to shop – and found a store called Ten11 (on Sivutha Boulevard- recommended by our Tuktuk driver+ guide Bannu), with some good designs, quality and value for money, courtesy Singapore Airlines US$100! What we bought was very useful when we landed in Hanoi on December 25.

Arriving Siem Reap Airport

Siem Reap is the gateway airport for Angkor Wat. The old airport where we landed was about 6 km from the city centre, a small, neat airport designed in the traditional Cambodian style with no jetways- you walk down the aircraft to the small arrival hall. It was a quaint airport, and for some reason which we still can’t fathom, tourist traffic in December 2022 was so low that the airport and city were practically empty. You can imagine what was the crowd in Angkor Wat, but more on that later.

Update Dec 2023: Since we visited in December 2022, this airport, opened in 1932 and which was coded VDSR or REP, has closed in 2023 and air operations have moved to the new one made by the Chinese, some distance away.

The new airport, coded VDSA, is 40 km east of Angkor and 50 km from Siem Reap, considerably increasing travel cost and time for tourists, but presumably they needed greater space to handle the traffic (projected at 7 million a year), and to avoid damage to Angkor. We hear charges are upto US$ 8 per person in shared vehicle to Siem Reap- you need to check latest prices. The old one was very close to Angkor and in fact, you could see the main temple, if seated on the left side as you approached for landing.

We took the Singapore Airways route, the usual well known SQ424 flight with a 1.5-hour stopover at Singapore Changi and then the new B737 Max to Siem Reap, about 2 hours away. The connecting flight to Siem Reap was from a different terminal but in Changi transfers are all easy and fast thru the inter-terminal train. Remember though, that unlike India, in Changi, the security checks are at the boarding gates, not at one central point. Plus, the staff there are rather rough about not letting water bottles of any kind get through. Much is good about Singapore, but this attitude is unnecessary (have seen and gone through this roughness more than once now).

This SQ flight is sometimes delayed as it’s the only one in the morning giving connections to Siem Reap; so, if you miss this, then you lose the day; our flight was also held back a bit to await some passengers from elsewhere, but there wasn’t any major delay. Apprehensions about the B737 MAX have faded a bit, and most people, I think, did not even realize it was the much-debated aircraft they were riding on.

The flight was uneventful, though I do think Singapore Airlines product has deteriorated slightly in terms of food quality and quantity; or it may be that unlike a few years ago, we have flown on several airlines, so our perspective is better now. Nevertheless, there is nothing much to complain about!

The old Siem Reap airport was bare bones. Nice and neat, but that’s about all. The new one apparently will be much more modern, but doubtful if we will visit Seam Reap again, so can’t comment on it.

Siem Reap- the gateway airport to Angkor

Cambodia doesn’t have direct connections from India, though indirect ones are good. We have primarily two gateways, Bangkok and Singapore. You can use Thai Air Lines+ Bangkok Airways route via Bangkok, or Singapore Airlines via Singapore. Connections are to both Phnom Pehn and Siem Reap. Most people end up at Siem Reap.

We didn’t take Bangkok as there was too much stopover time at Bangkok.  The Singapore Airlines was an A380+ B737 combo. SQ was more expensive but then everyone to their preference. (KrisMiles didn’t hurt, as well!).

Cambodia , Siem Reap and Angkor Wat

 

The famed Angkor Wat. 

“Angkor” is the city and “Wat” means temple. This massive complex is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world, and part of what was once a huge city and civilization but today stands a somber reminder of what awaits everyone who consider themselves invincible. We wanted to visit it for its history, its fabled mystery and its scale- and there was no time like the present!

And what did we find? Angkor Wat is exactly what they all said it was, and more. We were extremely impressed. In December 2023, Angkor Wat was voted as the 8^th wonder of the world, and having seen it, it deserved to be.