Siem Reap
SIEM REAP is the capital of the province with the same name in northwestern Cambodia. It is the second largest city of Cambodia and the population is approx. 140000. The town is the major tourist hub in Cambodia and the gateway to the ruins of Angkor, the seat of the Khmer Kingdom from the 9th–15th centuries. Angkor’s vast complex of intricate stone buildings includes preserved Angkor Wat, the main temple, which is pictured on Cambodia’s flag. Giant, mysterious faces are carved into the temple at Angkor Thom. The provincial capital is located in the south of the province on the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake, the greatest sweet water reserve in whole Southeast Asia. The name of the city literally means Siamese defeated, referring to the victory of the Khmer Empire over the army of the Thai Kingdom in the 17th century. The proximity of the Angkorian ruins turned Siem Reap into a boomtown in less than half a decade. Huge, expensive hotels have sprung up everywhere and budget hotels have mushroomed. Property values have soared to European levels and tourism has become a vast, lucrative industry. The Siem Reap of today is barely recognizable from the Siem Reap of the year 2000. Though some of the town's previous ramshackle charm may have been lost the developments of the last few years have brought livelihoods, if not significant wealth, to a good number of its citizens. This has been at a cost to the underprivileged people living within and beyond the town's limits that now pay inflated prices at the central markets and continue to survive on poorly paid subsistence farming and fishing. If Cambodia is a country of contrasts, Siem Reap is the embodiment of those contrasts. Despite the massive shift in its economic fortunes, Siem Reap remains a safe, friendly and pleasant town. There is an endless choice of places to stay or dine and a host of possible activities awaiting the visitor. Siem Reap has French colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter and around the Old Market. In the city, there are museums, traditional Apsara dance performances, a Cambodian cultural village, souvenir and handicraft shops, silk farms, rice paddies in the countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake. Siem Reap today (being a popular tourist destination) is also the place for world-class wining and dining across a range of cuisines, sumptuous spas, great shopping and a creative cultural scene that includes Cambodia's leading contemporary circus.
HISTORY. The name "Siem Reap" can be translated to mean defeat of Siam and is commonly taken as a reference to an incident in the centuries-old conflict between the Siamese and Khmer kingdoms, although this is probably apocryphal. The traditional tale claims that King Ang Chan of Cambodia tried to assert greater independence from Siam, which was then struggling internally. With the Thais distracted by internal problems, King Ang Chan attacked. He seized the Siamese city of Prachinburi in 1549, sacking the city and making slaves of its inhabitants. Only then did he learn that the succession had been settled and that Maha Chakkraphat was the new ruler. Ang Chan immediately retreated to Cambodia, taking captives with him. King Maha Chakkraphat of Siam was furious over the unprovoked attack, but Burma had also chosen to invade through Three Pagoda Pass. The Burmese army posed a much more serious threat, as it captured Kanchanaburi and Suphanburi. It then appeared before Ayutthaya itself. The Thai army managed to defeat the Burmese, who quickly retreated through the pass. Maha Chakkraphat's thoughts then turned to Cambodia. Not only had Ang Chan attacked and looted Prachinburi, turning its people into slaves, but he also refused to give Maha Chakkraphat a white elephant he had requested, rejecting even this token of submission to Siam. Maha Chakkraphat ordered Prince Ong, the governor of Sawankhalok, to lead an expedition to punish Ang Chan and recover the Thai captives. The rival armies met, and Ang Chan killed Prince Ong with a lucky musket shot from an elephant's back. The leaderless Thai army fled, and Ang Chan allegedly captured more than 10,000 Siamese soldiers. To celebrate his great victory, King Ang Chan supposedly named the battleground "Siem Reap", meaning 'the total defeat of Siam'. In reality, surviving historic sources make this derivation appear unlikely, since they date the decline of Angkor to more than a century before this, when a military expedition from Ayutthaya captured and sacked Angkor Wat, which began a long period of vassal rule over Cambodia. The 1431 capture coincided with the decline of Angkor, though the reasons behind its abandonment are not clear. They may have included environmental changes and failings of the Khmer infrastructure. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, infighting among the Khmer nobility led to periodic intervention and domination by both of Cambodia's more powerful neighbors, Vietnam and Siam (Thailand). Siem Reap, along with Battambang and Sisophon, major cities in northwest Cambodia, was under Siamese administration and the provinces were collectively known as Inner Cambodia from 1795 until 1907, when they were ceded to French Indochina. During the 18th century, under the rule of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, it was known as Nakhon Siam. With the acquisition of Angkor by the French in 1907 following a Franco-Siamese treaty, Siem Reap began to grow. The Grand Hotel d’Angkor opened in 1929 and the temples of Angkor became one of Asia's leading draws until the late-1960s, when civil war kept tourists away. In 1975, the population of Siem Reap, like all other Cambodian cities and towns, was driven into the countryside by the communist Khmer Rouge. Siem Reap's recent history is colored by the horror of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Since Pol Pot’s death in 1998, however, relative stability and a rejuvenated tourist industry have revived the city and province. Siem Reap now serves as a small gateway town to the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. In recent years, the city has regularly ranked in the top ten for "Best Destination" lists produced by entities such as Trip Advisor, Wanderlust Magazine and Travel + Leisure.
GETTING THERE. Siem Reap International Airport is the second largest airport in Cambodia. Its modern architecture is based on the traditional Khmer style. Its facilities are limited. There are separate terminals for international and domestic flights The airport is served by 15 airlines, all of them from the Asian region. The airport is around 7 km from the town center. There is a taxi and tuktuk service available for transfers to downtown. Various bus companies offer their service on the Phnom Penh - Siem Reap route and the journey takes approx. 6 hours. Other destinations served from/to Siem Reap are Battambang, Sisophon and Poipet (Thai border), Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham, but also Sihanoukville at the south coast. Another option reaching Siem Reap is by boat on the Tonle Sap from Phnom Penh (about 5-6 hours) or Battambang (4-5 hours). This way of travel can be very interesting, giving you the opportunity to view life on the lake, floating houses, working fishermen. There is a railway line from Phnom Penh to Poipet (Sisophon being the nearest station to Siem Reap), but no trains currently run in Cambodia. There are many options getting around in Siem Raep itself. Cars with drivers can be hired for single or multiple days and also Tuk-tuks offer their service for a tour around town or to visit the temples and ruins. Many rental shops for bicycles and motorbikes can be found as well. Last but not least you can explore the town of Siem Reap itself also by foot, as it is fairly compact and flat.
ATTRACTIONS. Angkor Wat is the central feature of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the magnificent remains of the Khmer civilization. Angkor Wat's rising series of five towers culminates in an impressive central tower that symbolizes mythical Mount Meru. Thousands of feet of wall space are covered with intricate carving depicting scenes from Hindu mythology The most important are the Carved Bas reliefs of the Hindu narratives. They tell a story about gods fighting demons in order to reclaim order which can only be achieved by recovering the elixir of life known as amrita. The gods and demons must work together to release it and then battle to attain it. Angkor Thom is an inner royal city built by Javavarman VII, the Empire's famed 'Warrior King', at the end of the 12th century and is renowned for its temples, in particular the Bayon. Other notable sites are the Terrace of the Elephants, the Terrace of the Lepper King. The city can be accessed through five city gates, one at each cardinal point and the Victory Gate on the eastern wall. A number of significant temples are dotted around Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom within the Angkor Archaeological Park, including Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Bantery Kdei, just to mention some of them. These temples may be visited along the grand circuit or the small circuit routes. Other sites are the Roluos group of temples located to the east of Siem Reap. Last but not least Banteay Srey is a 10th-century Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva and notable for its fine intricate decorative carvings on rose pink sandstone. Located in the area of Angkor, it lies near the hill of Phnom Dei, 25 km north-east of the main group of temples that once belonged to the medieval capitals of Yasodharapura and Angkor Thom. 7 km south of Banteay Srey you will find the Landmine Museum. The War Museum Cambodia covers the last three decades of the 20th century when the Khmer Rouge was active in Cambodia. It is located between downtown and the airport. Located along the road to Angkor Wat and opened in 2007, the Angkor National Museum offers visitors a better understanding of the area's archaeological treasures and the Golden Era of the Khmer Kingdom. A stroll over the Old Market, Angkor Night Market and Central Market is recommended as well. Artisans Angkor is a semi-public company founded in 1992 which aims to revive traditional Khmer craftsmanship and provide employment for rural artisans. It is also associated with a silk farm where visitors may learn about sericulture and weaving. Phnom Kulen National Park is about 48 km from Siem Reap and contains a number of attractions such as its two waterfalls and the Kbal Spean’s river of 1000 lingas. It is also home to Preah Ang Thom, an active, 16th century pagoda that is home to the largest reclining Buddha in Cambodia. There are four floating villages around Siem Reap: Kompong Khleang, Kompong Phluk, Chong Kneas, and Meychrey, home to a bird sanctuary. Tonle Sap is a combined lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia. It is in the heart of Cambodia and is home to many floating villages. Tonle Sap is 30 minutes south of downtown Siem Reap at the port of Chong Kneas. The lake and its villages have many unique features and attractions, making Tonle Sap tours popular with tourists.