Siem Reap
Siem Reap is a small town of some 10.000 people,
divided by a river which gives it its name. The town is also the
capital of Siem Reap province. It has some small markets where
all kinds of merchandise and local agricultural products are
sold.
Near the river (mostly on the east side) are some good
restaurants selling Khmer and Thai food for very reasonable
prices. Just walk from your hotel to the main bridge and head for
the lights. When you sit down in a restaurant some girls will
come at your table wearing the colors and name-tags of the major
beer brands like Angkor and Tiger beer. You are expected to
choose one (a beer, I mean) and the girl will keep your supplied
througout the evening. No beating Dutch Heineken beer, of course,
which they also sell. The major hotels like Grand Hotel and Ta
Prohm all have restaurants too, if you can afford it.
The town square in front of the Grand Hotel below will look quite
different from the picture, in 1996-97 a major restyle was
carried out.
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There are some discotheques and bars in the
western part of town. They play pretty loud music, some western,
some modern Cambodian. The dancings charge a small entrance fee.
Visit one and see that modern Khmer dancing differs somewhat from
the western style.
Siem Reap also has a company performing traditional Khmer dances.
I saw them one evening entertaining the guests of the Grand
Hotel. Ask at the desk there if you are interested in attending.
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Services: the Post Office is at the riverside, a few hundred meters south of the Grand Hotel. Siem Reap has a nice telephone system. All major hotels have phones, mostly in working order, but generally at outrageous prices. Better find one of the new bright orange pay phones you will find here and there. You'll need Cambodian phone cards to use them, sold at the GPO and at some hotels.
