HomeAsiaSouth East AsiaMy Thailand and Cambodia Tour Overview By Marcos Detourist on May 8, 2010My trip to Thailand and Cambodia is finally over and I’m now back at home skimming through the photos and reminiscing wonderful experiences I’ve had during my stay there. My purpose of travel was primarily for work, hired by a friend as an assistant photographer for a big corporate event in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I only had limited time to see the different sights as a DIY tourist so I won’t be doing a comprehensive guide like my Hong Kong and Macau Tour. Rest Assured, I have a lot of useful info to share about traveling in Thailand and Cambodia that will slowly fill this blog in the coming weeks.Locals buying fresh flowers for the Khmer New Year in Siem Reap, CambodiaMy trip lasted for 10 days but taking into account the time wasted on the road and the fact that I was on super early midnight-ish flights, it was more like 6 days in Siem Reap and only a full day in Bangkok.There are no direct flights from the Philippines to Cambodia so, from Manila, I first had to fly to Bangkok and then go directly to Siem Reap overland. Sunset at the Eastern front of Angkor WatIn Cambodia, I was only able to visit Siem Reap, which is where most tourists go anyways. Siem Reap is where the famous Angkor Wat, the world’s largest single religious monument, is located and hundreds more temples and remnants of the ancient city of Angkor, which served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 13th century.My work there involved covering a rewards incentive program for best performing employee’s of the Asia-Pacific arm of EMC, a multi-billion dollar company which sells storage software and systems to companies like Google, Yahoo, and many other companies (like Bank of the Philippine Islands). I had to cover some of their many exciting activities like mountain bike treks and walking tours of the temples, horseback riding and off road buddy rides around the countryside, charity building in impoverished local communities, cocktails and dinners at a few of the high-end hotels in town. It was like hitting two birds in one stone, getting the chance to see the different sights of Siem Reap and getting paid at the same time but instead of doing the tours myself, most of my pictures were of other people doing the tours. Of course, I did manage to steal some shots of the sceneries for my blog.Since I stayed there for almost a week, I also got to meet a few locals and tourists, which was a great way to learn a deeper sense of life in Cambodia. The Grand Palace in Bangkok, the former residence of the Royal Family of ThailandAt first, I thought the timing of my visit was perfect because it coincided with the Thai New Year (Songkran) during my arrival and then the Khmer New Year celebrations a few days later. Immediately before my flight to Bangkok, news started to break out about the worsening Red Shirts demonstrations and a blood bath with Thai Government forces which resulted in the death of a foriegner and a number of locals. I decided to go straight to Cambodia to avoid the riots, hoping that it was going to die down after the New Year fever is over. Unfortunately, when I got back to Bangkok from Cambodia, the Red Shirts demonstrations were still active as ever and they even moved just a block away from where I was staying in Silom.While I was there, I can feel that I wasn’t in any particular danger or anything since, at the time, the Red Shirts were having a peaceful demonstration and the locals didn’t seem to be in an immediate threat of a breakout. I was actually a bit amused seeing them across the street and then passing through Thai army men stationed at the Silom area, particularly the Bangkok Bank, and putting up barbed wire barricades everywhere. Though, It was quite a hassle because the traffic was horrible and all the malls in the area like Siam Paragon, Siam Center, MBK had closed down for a week already, which was a bummer since I was planning to do a bit of shopping.I really only had one full day of sightseeing in Bangkok so I decided to visit the city’s most sought after destination, the Grand Palace and a few other sights in Rattanoksin Island like the temple of the Dawn (Wat Arun), the giant reclining Buddha (Wat Pho), the giant standing Buddha (Wat Intharawihan), and the marble temple (Wat Benchamabophit). I was also able to visit PatPong, Bangkok’s red light district, and take a few nightshots of Silom, Bangkok’s Business Center, and Sathon, Bangkok’s Financial Center. I even almost got fooled by scammers at the Grand Palace.As usual, my time was so not enough to thoroughly get a better grasp of the places I visited and take a comfortable amount of time to take great pictures. Nevertheless, my trip was way beyond my expectations and I got to learn a lot about other cultures and more about myself, which for me is what travelling should be about. I’m sure, I’ll have the chance to visit Bangkok again anyways … at least, I will have a lot to forward to for my next visit.Don’t leave yet. There’s more!Planning a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia SpeedlinkingFirst time in Thailand and CambodiaTwo Weeks Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand Itinerary4 Days Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) Itinerary, VietnamSiem Reap Itinerary - Cambodia DIY Travel Tips4 Days Siem Reap Itinerary — Angkor Big Circuit and Roluos…Comments Da saysMay 9, 2010 at 2:19 amwelcome back, looking forward to more from your trip chymera00 saysMay 10, 2010 at 9:55 pmthanks Da :D dodong flores saysMay 10, 2010 at 12:02 amWow! Quite an interesting trip… chymera00 saysMay 10, 2010 at 9:54 pmThanks nong. Will surely reveal more about my trip. bhvmi saysMay 20, 2010 at 10:33 pmAngkor….bautifull place…hope someday can see it… Ma-ane saysJune 5, 2010 at 12:43 amHi,You have a very nice blog regarding Thailand and Siem Reap. We are planning our trip there as well this coming June 21-23.Can you post something about the road trip from BKK to Siem Reap? Is it really a hassle? Mnga scammers on the boarder? What was your experience. I have been reading Tales of asia a lot and that blog makes me scared to get in the boarder.You mentioned you almost get scammed at the Grand Palace? Can I know what was it or how was it so I can be warned and be watchful for situations like those?I am Ma-ane from Kidapawan City, just at the foot of Mt. Apo.Thank you and hopign for response from you. chymera00 saysJune 5, 2010 at 11:28 amI’ve posted my itinerary here:https://www.ambot-ah.com/thailand-and-cambodia-itinerary-cambodia-leg-part-1-of-2/ https://www.ambot-ah.com/thailand-and-cambodia-itinerary-thailand-leg-part-2-of-2/I was planning on posting my experiences in depth but it takes me forever to finish writing stuff hehe.@Thailand – Cambodia Border Gate: Crossing the border was pretty straightforward. We encountered no scammers along the way. Just be mindful that if you have a Filipino passport, you get a free pass to Cambodia and don’t need to pay anything (like visa fees) to anyone. If someone attempts to collect money from you, just firmly tell them you have a Philippine Passport (but don’t give it to them, never give out your passport to just anyone) and move on to the line for the immigrations counters.Once we crossed the border, some Cambodian guy offered us a taxi for $30 for the 3 of us and he said his taxi was parked some 200 meters from the border gate. We declined but he still pestered us through the whole process of getting into the gov’t bus to the transport center in Poipet and getting a taxi to Siem Reap. We didn’t shoo him away because we didn’t want to be rude … but we should have because just before we were about to enter the taxi he demanded for a tip … walang hiya talaga! sinundan lng kami tapos mag demand ng tip.@Scammers at the Grand Palace: My experience has that I as strolling around the royal ground in front of the grand palace and I was offered a tour of Marble Temple, Wat Indrawihan, Golden Mount, Export Center, Wat Pho for only B40. I went on with the tour since I thought it was a steal. The catch is that they take you to these jewelry shops they codename “Export Center.” The whole time during your tour random (overly friendly) people would come up to you and share their experiences on how it was a great investment for them to buy from the ‘Export Center” etc… If you’re not buying anything, the tuktuk driver still gets like a 5L gas rebate from the jewelry store for each customer that he sends. They also mentioned that there was a big sale at the export center since it was “Buddha Day,” it’s ridiculous since there is no such thing.Just a general rule, if anyone offers you something that’s too good to be true more often than not, they are a scam so be very cautious when you get to that situation. Posting of new comments is disabled temporarily.Connect with Marcos on:Detourista.comMarcosDetourist.comFacebookInstagramTwitterDetourista.comDiscover more travel guides and blogs about the Philippines and beyond by Marcos DetouristChoose your next destination: Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
Ma-ane saysJune 5, 2010 at 12:43 amHi,You have a very nice blog regarding Thailand and Siem Reap. We are planning our trip there as well this coming June 21-23.Can you post something about the road trip from BKK to Siem Reap? Is it really a hassle? Mnga scammers on the boarder? What was your experience. I have been reading Tales of asia a lot and that blog makes me scared to get in the boarder.You mentioned you almost get scammed at the Grand Palace? Can I know what was it or how was it so I can be warned and be watchful for situations like those?I am Ma-ane from Kidapawan City, just at the foot of Mt. Apo.Thank you and hopign for response from you.
chymera00 saysJune 5, 2010 at 11:28 amI’ve posted my itinerary here:https://www.ambot-ah.com/thailand-and-cambodia-itinerary-cambodia-leg-part-1-of-2/ https://www.ambot-ah.com/thailand-and-cambodia-itinerary-thailand-leg-part-2-of-2/I was planning on posting my experiences in depth but it takes me forever to finish writing stuff hehe.@Thailand – Cambodia Border Gate: Crossing the border was pretty straightforward. We encountered no scammers along the way. Just be mindful that if you have a Filipino passport, you get a free pass to Cambodia and don’t need to pay anything (like visa fees) to anyone. If someone attempts to collect money from you, just firmly tell them you have a Philippine Passport (but don’t give it to them, never give out your passport to just anyone) and move on to the line for the immigrations counters.Once we crossed the border, some Cambodian guy offered us a taxi for $30 for the 3 of us and he said his taxi was parked some 200 meters from the border gate. We declined but he still pestered us through the whole process of getting into the gov’t bus to the transport center in Poipet and getting a taxi to Siem Reap. We didn’t shoo him away because we didn’t want to be rude … but we should have because just before we were about to enter the taxi he demanded for a tip … walang hiya talaga! sinundan lng kami tapos mag demand ng tip.@Scammers at the Grand Palace: My experience has that I as strolling around the royal ground in front of the grand palace and I was offered a tour of Marble Temple, Wat Indrawihan, Golden Mount, Export Center, Wat Pho for only B40. I went on with the tour since I thought it was a steal. The catch is that they take you to these jewelry shops they codename “Export Center.” The whole time during your tour random (overly friendly) people would come up to you and share their experiences on how it was a great investment for them to buy from the ‘Export Center” etc… If you’re not buying anything, the tuktuk driver still gets like a 5L gas rebate from the jewelry store for each customer that he sends. They also mentioned that there was a big sale at the export center since it was “Buddha Day,” it’s ridiculous since there is no such thing.Just a general rule, if anyone offers you something that’s too good to be true more often than not, they are a scam so be very cautious when you get to that situation.