I've heard a lot about the wonders of the temples at Angkor Wat, so I finally decided to take a short side-trip while on a visit to Bangkok, Thailand. I was staying at the Nana Hotel, simple but inexpensive and functional. I found tickets at JP Travel around the corner for just over $300. I probably could have found tickets for less, but I wanted to leave the next day and was purchasing two one-way tickets rather than a round-trip. My itinerary started early the next day with a flight to Siem Reap. Four days later I would be returning from Phnom Penh. I would determine my transport between the cities when I got there, but my tentative plan was to ride a ferry.

I didn't book a hotel in advance, but I had a guidebook with recommendations as well as some names of hotels I gathered from travel sites.

I had a seat at the front of the plane and I'm a fast walker, so I was the first in line upon entering the terminal. There were no other flights in at the same time as ours. I had my paperwork, passport-sized photos, and $20 bill ready, but even so, processing my tourist visa seemed slower than I expected. I was glad I didn't have to wait in the line that quickly grew behind me.

Since I had light luggage, I was able to get an inexpensive ride on a motorcycle rather than paying the extra bucks for a taxi. I felt a little uncomfortable holding onto this guy, he had an effeminate voice and I didn't like how he said how happy he was that I decided to ride with him. I mentioned my first choice for a hotel, to which he replied it was very expensive, but I had him take me there anyways. He was correct, the rooms were very expensive with rack rates starting over $100. My second choice was the Freedom Hotel, another one already confirmed as guest-friendly, but my driver didn't know where it was and I hadn't taken note of the exact address. Instead I let him take me to an inexpensive hostel that he recommended, a place called The Golden Temple.

While driving down the short dirt road to Golden Temple from the main street, I noticed a couple of places that appeared to be inexpensive brothels. I would confirm that to be the case later that night.

I forget the exact price, but I think the hostel was about $18 per night. The rooms were fairly nice and they had free internet access on several computers in the lobby. The only things I didn't really like was that they lacked an elevator so I had to hike up a couple floors. Also I didn't care for taking my shoes off and leaving them outside.

I do not know if the Golden Temple was guest-friendly. Based on what I've read, everyplace in Siem Reap is, but most of the guests seemed to be of the regular tourist and backpacker variety. I decided I would try to avoid the spectacle of standing out as THE sex tourist among all of the guests if I could.

Even though I wasn't very fond of my driver, he was persistent about me allowing him to take me on my tour of Angkor Wat. I relented and said he could pick me back up in a couple of hours after I got settled in.

I put my stuff away, got cleaned up, read some email, then headed outside when it was pickup time. First stop was a restaurant for lunch. We stopped at a small, overpriced place that looked like it was more for locals, but the menu I was handed looked like foreigner prices. I could have complained or left, but I just wanted to eat and be on my way, so I stayed. The food was alright, but I was pestered by some mosquitos. Next stop was a convenience store.

Finally we were off to Angkor Wat. I had to pay something like a $20 fee to enter. The next 5 hours were dedicated to a lot of sightseeing, a lot of photos, and a lot of walking. It was a workout, but it was satisfying. I'll try to get some of those photos submitted later.

After some rest and a late dinner, I found a ride to Martinis. I didn't like the place at all. I stayed for a few hours, and it should have been late enough to see any available freelancers, but there appeared to be only a few on what should have been a busy night. There were plenty of guys around, and some did look like they were looking for dates. One of the females was cute and looked like she might have been available, but she seemed more reserved than I was looking for and more interested in dancing with her friend. There were a couple of hot females, but I believe they were models only who took part in a mini-fashion show later that evening. They appeared to be actively avoiding any interaction with anyone that wasn't a dark-skinned local under 25 years of age. Finally there was one flamboyant female that I didn't think was a female. She was the most aggressive person in the entire place, and it was interesting seeing her cozying up to a bald european on the dance floor. I wondered if he knew what we was dealing with and would invite her out, but he eventually left without her. It wasn't long after that when she set her sights on me. She got in my face and grabbed my package. I wasn't positive, but I was about 70% sure that there was a dude in front of me with my balls in his hand.

I was polite and eased myself out of the situation, but I could feel myself being watched from then on. I took that as my cue to leave when I saw that he wasn't looking. As I was getting on the motorcycle to be taken to a brothel called Hollywood, I saw the guy in the dress running out. He was smiling and calling out for me to wait, but I told the driver to go. We had to turn around, so he was able to catch up and smack me on the back (friendly, not forceful) as we drove off.

Hollywood wasn't far, it was only up a nearby street that would be about 2 o'clock if you just walked out of Martinis. There were a fair number of acceptable females, but none too impressive. I found myself a cute one and paid about $35 I think for her short time services. Her performance was only mediocre, but she got the job done.

After that I got a ride back to the hostel, but rather than going in I walked up the road to check out the places I thought were brothels. At least one was, and several females rushed out to see me. I picked a cute one and we went back to her room. This cutie gave a spectacular BBBJ, it was good enough that I opted to only have the oral performance to completion.

The next day I decided to transfer to the Freedom Hotel. The rooms were more expensive, but they were larger and I felt more comfortable bringing a guest back there. When I got into the room I discovered I had broken my zoom lens during the transit, I spent the next hour trying to fix it, hoping for some miracle, but I ended up just tearing it apart.

I spent the rest of the day looking at digital cameras and reading reviews on the web, but I didn't find one I wanted to purchase. I also made my way to a travel agency to purchase my ferry ticket to Phnom Penh the next morning. After that I got dinner and some souvenir shopping done before heading back out for the night.

For this evening I decided to hit the brothels first. There were actually several on the same street as Hollywood, you could see them on the right side of the street on the way. I neglected to get the names of the others, but I think the one I visited was the one right before Hollywood.

The selection here was better than Hollywood and I found myself a beauty, but her performance was lackluster, worse than my Hollywood date, but on the positive side this one was tighter. But after two rather lame experiences, I wouldn't recommend the brothels.

After the brothel I made my way to Zone One. This disco appeared to be more my style. It was difficult to tell who was working and who wasn't inside the disco with all the activity and mix of freelancers with normal females, but there was a selection of availables outside at all times times complete with a mamasan that could call others if you wanted a fuller selection. I found myself a date from this bunch and spent a couple hours with her at the disco before taking her back to my hotel later that night.

I had a ball with this cutie, both at the disco and alone in the room. I was bummed to not have my good camera available for the memories, but I at least managed to snap off a few from my cell phone. They've already been posted under the title "Zone One".

The next morning I had to get up early to catch the ferry to Phnom Penh. I'll write about that trip later.

In summary, I highly recommend Siem Reap for at least a couple days for the culture, history, and temple visits, but there are many better cities to find quality service providers.

Nice write-up BF. I totally agree with your summary statement; the P4P in Siem Reap is there, but is not the reason to go. I'll be interested to see how the boat ride down the river was. For my first trip to Cambodia, I did it the easy way and made the round trip from BKK.

In late January (2007), I made my third trip to Siem Reap (I never remember how to spell the name of that place). Please note that I love temples. I can spend days and days crawling around ruins. However, on this trip, I really felt I'd seen enough. Furthermore, the town itself had actually reached critical mass for tourist attractions. Oh, the temples are the number one destination, fer sure, but the town has enough bars and restaurants to warrant a destination unto itself (as compared to every other city outside of Phnom Penh). I probably won't go back to see the temples, but I'll probably go back just to hang around the town (and for brothels with five clam per hour short-time rates!).

I was there 2 weeks ago and had a blast. I went to all the temples and won over $2700 at the casino in PP and siem reap.

My entire trip was paid for by winnings from there and from the philippines. Thats a surprise cause I never wein in the P.I.

All in all I won about $8700. To top that off I got a free upgrade to bussiness class on the way back to LAX and I didnt even get checked at secondary for once.

im surprised you got short time for $35, but it is Siem Reap, when you go to phnom penh it should not be more than $20 for short time, the Golden Temple hotel, is a hotel were taxi drivers get a commission when they take a customer there, but it is a nice hotel,
looking forward to your pp report.

I am planning to head back to Cambodia in late August/early September. Getting a flight into Siem Reap and out of Phnom Pehn. I am interested in your trip up to PP on the ferry. Looking forward to reading more.

Wow! I have to say $35 or even $20 ST is pretty steep for Cambodia. Standard LT rates for PP are $20. I've heard of people paying as little as $10 but that seems unlikely.

Also, $300 is a lot to pay for a ticket to Siem Reap. I paid 10,000 baht a few years ago for an all inclusive BKK-SR-PP-BKK ticket on Bangkok airways and thought it was a fair deal.

Live and learn though and you've seen one of the wonders of the world which is why you really go to SR in the first place.

Malimike, I've made that trip a few times. You'll find some info here and here. The only thing that's changed is that the new boats are a bit bigger. My advice is to slather on the sunscreen, pack a good lunch and bring a book. It's a great ride if a bit pricey.

Great report. I had fun reading about your adventures about your driver and the lady-boy.

Please bring a camera next time