Siem Reap
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Siem Reap is the capital of Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.
Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In town, there are Apsara dance performances, craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake.
Siem Reap today, being a popular tourist destination, has a great deal of hotels and restaurants. Mostly smaller establisments are concentrated around the Old Market area, while more expensive hotels are located between Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There are a variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha, and budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area.
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[edit] The Province
Siem Reap is small charming gateway town to the world famous heritage the Angkor temples. Thanks to those attractions, Siem Reap has transformed itself into a major tourist hub. Siem Reap nowadays is a vibrant town with modern hotels and architectures. Despite international influences, Siem Reap and the people have conserved much of its image, culture and traditions.
[edit] The Wat and the river
The town is a cluster of small villages along the Siem Reap River. Those villages are originally developed around Buddhist pagodas (Wat) which are almost evenly-spaced along the river from Wat Preah En Kau Sei in the north until Wat Phnom Krom in the south, where the Siem Reap River meets the great Tonle Sap Lake.
The main town is concentrated around Sivutha Street and the Psar Chas area (Old Market area) where you can find old colonial buildings, shopping and commercial districts. The Wat Bo area is now full of guesthouses and restaurants while the Psar Leu area is often crowded with local commerce. Other fast developing areas are the airport road and main road to Angkor where you can find a number of large upscale hotels and resorts.
[edit] All things tourist
Businesses centered around tourism flourish thanks to the tourism boom. There are a wide range of hotels ranging from several 5-star hotels and chic resorts, to hundreds of budget guesthouses. A large selection of restaurants offer all kind of food including Italian, French, German, Russian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Burmese. Plenty of shopping opportunities are around the Psar Chas area while the nightlife is often vibrant with a number of western-styled pubs and bars.
Most tourists come to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor temples and the ancient ruins. While those are still the main attractions, there are plenty of other things to experience such as a dinner with an Apsara Dance performance, a trip to fishing villages and bird sanctuary, a visit to a craft workshop and silk farm, or a bicycle tour around the rice paddies in the country side.
[edit] Accessibility
The town is 7Km from the Angkor international airport and 6Km from the temples of Angkor. Siem Reap is accessible by air from Phnom Penh, Singapore, Bangkok, Kaula Lumpur, Vientaine, and Hanoi, and by land from Phnom Penh and Thai border. It’s also accessible by boats from Phnom Penh
[edit] References
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