And a new topic for Cambodia....

Continued from the China/Laos posts.

My itinerary for Cambodia.

Tuesday, 6. November 2018 Pakse Siem Reap Flight 14:40:00-16:10
Will fly in from Laos. Hopefully I can catch a first glimpse in the evening.

Wednesday, 7. November 2018 Siem Reap
Will need to arrange a driver. Want to get to the far parts of Angkor that day.

Thursday, 8. November 2018 Siem Reap Tour
Want to go to Preah vihear by tour. Any recommendations?

Friday, 9. November 2018 Siem Reap Kampong Thom Bus
Plan is to use the day for site seeing in central Angkor. And then hop a bus direction Kampong Thorn.

Saturday, 10. November 2018 Kampong Thom Phnom Penh Bus
Visit Sambor Prei Kuk from Kampong Thorn and then continue to Phnom Penh.

Sunday, 11. November 2018 Phnom Penh 23:10
Visit the tentative sites of the area (Udong, Prei Nukor?)

Questions:
* Can Sambor Prei Kuk be done as a day trip from Phnom Penh?
* Is there anything worthwhile in Phnom Penh?
* Reason I am asking is that I would like to do the river cruise from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and would need to make some space in my calendar...
* Is it hard to arrange transport to Preah vihear?

nfmungard

I have talked to a few locals offering customised tour from [url=https://www.toursbylocals.com ][/url]> I haven't booked them yet but already converse with three of them. You can customize the itinerary and the cost seems decent. If you can wait until 1st week of Oct to finalise the Siem Rep leg, I can provide some tips/recommendation.

My experience is eight years old now but just to give my feedback.


I visited in a pretty easy part day trip from Siem Reap if that is any use. Early morning coach, easily picked up a return ride on a moped at the turn off near Kampong Thom. And I managed to find a space on a busy bus heading back in the early afternoon. But if you are stopping off there on the way it should be pretty simple side trip to make.


Choeung Ek Genocide Memorial (aka the Killing Fields)
Cambodia's largest North Korean themed restaurant (in case you miss the second largest in Siem Reap.) :)


Just a heads up we had to abandon our plans to do a similar trip as water levels were low and that affected the time it would take.


I had a Khemer speaking friend that was able to arrange it fairly easily for me. I would imagine the infrastructure has improved enough that a day trip will be offered by a few places around town (a quick google brings up a few expensive options, but I'm sure there may be other options available around town). This TripAdvisor forum has public transport info, though it may not work as a day trip with the bus timings.

One thing I do remember is that the cost of the drive from the main road up to the temple was a pretty expensive km or so, but there aren't any other real options beyond a rather tiring, boring and potentially dangerous climb (there were mine clearing teams active all the way up when we visited, but then it was a semi active front line as well).


Siem Reap is really set up to cater for tourists, most things are available with a bit of asking around (and I would imagine that stretches well beyond finding a taxi and driver).
Give Angkor as much time as you can, it really is impressive. A decent chunk of a day to cover the main central parts Angkor Wat and Thom and the loop of temples around it is good. I would certainly recommend getting out to some of the outlying parts, Bantaey Srei shouldn't be missed and can easily be combined with a trip to Kbal Speen .

A lot of tour companies and hotels offer private car tour with driver to Sambor Prei Kuk, I did the full one day trip from PP in January, very easy.