2 Days Angkor Wat Tranquility Tour

I’ve been waiting to go to Siem Reap since seeing Tomb Raider as a child 23 years ago. I felt that I paid a premium to have the best experience but I really feel this was a 7.5/10 if I’m being fair. The guide seemed to be trying his best to do his job but unfortunately it wasn’t the experience I was looking for. On day 1 his itinerary differed from the one I had and picked, his added on 5 more stops. He told me that we must do his as that’s what his company sent over. I wasn’t ask and my feelings weren’t considered at all. The day dragged and dragged. Eventually I asked if we would be stopping to get lunch as this became an 8 hour day and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I was told no, I didn’t pay for that, it wasn’t on the schedule and I could have coconut water. I was shocked! I ended up cutting the day short because I was worried I would have a medical emergency in the heat with all the physical activity we were doing. The same attitude continued on day 2 and I was growing frustrated that I the paying customer didn’t seem to matter. So I finally put my foot day and started calling the shots. But it never would have come to this. As a young, female, traveling alone on a trip I’m paying for I don’t feel I should be put in that position. We also kept having language barrier issues that added to the frustration. Realistically I only understood about 60% of what was being said, things were being repeated 3 or more times seemingly just for the sake of filling in space. He kept telling me to ask him questions but when I would he almost never understood them. I’m sure this tour would work well for some people but it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Mr Pal Chen was an excellent guide and a nice guy with it. Tons of detailed history in everything we saw. We really enjoyed the tour and especially appreciated the way it was put together, so that we could still see the important sights, while avoiding the crowds. Highly recommended.

Visiting the many temples around Siem Reap is an essential part of the experience, and Angkor Wat is just one of many temples which remain from the Khmer Empire. One needs a really good guide to explain this 500 years of history, and Mr Bunpheng Chan was outstanding. He not only has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the temples, but he does his best to make your tour ‘tranquil’ by avoiding the worst crowds and finding new and better places to experience these amazing structures. He is, amongst other things, a good photographer, so we have many memories that include us in the pictures. Bunpheng made sure we were well-looked after with water and rest breaks, and his experience of life during Cambodia’s recent past helped us to get some perspective on the situation in the country today. We couldn’t recommend Angkor Doors enough, and we were so impressed that we took a tour of the war museum and Killing Field site the next day.