SIEM REAP is it as bad as its being portrayed?

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:10 am

pissontheroof wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 12:36 am
John Bingham wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 10:52 pm

I'm confused by this post. By Siem do you mean Siem Reap in Cambodia or just Thailand?
Good morning ! He didn’t say SiAM
Cheese

They both mean the same thing and are used interchangeably.

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:30 am

I don't think anything is particularly bad about Siem Reap, I just don't know if I wouldn't get bored there after 2-3 weeks. Lots more options in Phnom Penh, but maybe something as simple as buying a bicycle and rekindling my love affair with cycling could fix that.

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 9:08 am

Alex wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 8:30 am I don't think anything is particularly bad about Siem Reap, I just don't know if I wouldn't get bored there after 2-3 weeks. Lots more options in Phnom Penh, but maybe something as simple as buying a bicycle and rekindling my love affair with cycling could fix that.

3 reasons I stayed in Kep
1. the sea
2. it gets dam hot in SR
3. GF's family

9 months since i Left Kep to return to Phuket.....NO regrets!

Roryborealis · Post by **Roryborealis** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:28 am

Siem Reap during covid was peaceful. Everyone was leaving and going out of business. It's great to see the place coming back to life again (new buildings and investment money), but it is literally impossible to find a hotel room that doesn't constantly shake from construction tools, subwoofer bass speakers and drunk Koreans all day and night long. But hey, those alcoholics are rich. So the Khmer staff bows down. Rich, alcoholic Koreans can do as they please in Cambodia. Hmm, sounds familiar. God forbid anyone interferes with alcohol sales.

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:51 am

Roryborealis wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 11:28 am Siem Reap during covid was peaceful. Everyone was leaving and going out of business. It's great to see the place coming back to life again (new buildings and investment money), but it is literally impossible to find a hotel room that doesn't constantly shake from construction tools, subwoofer bass speakers and drunk Koreans all day and night long. But hey, those alcoholics are rich. So the Khmer staff bows down. Rich, alcoholic Koreans can do as they please in Cambodia. Hmm, sounds familiar. God forbid anyone interferes with alcohol sales.

What happened to Siem Reap Governor Decrees Noise Must Stop at Midnight ?
newsworthy/siem-reap-governor-decrees-n ... 54590.html

Nothing ? That was only a few months ago.

pissontheroof · Post by **pissontheroof** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 2:58 pm

John Bingham wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:10 am
pissontheroof wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 12:36 am
John Bingham wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 10:52 pm

I'm confused by this post. By Siem do you mean Siem Reap in Cambodia or just Thailand?
Good morning ! He didn’t say SiAM
Cheese
They both mean the same thing and are used interchangeably.

Yes , by you i see , but …
Not if you are basically thai , like we are , ( not you )
I been here over 10 years (11/11/11 the day will live in infamy on you tube )
and still can’t talk cambrodian, to me it sounds like a drunk australien tryin to talk thai .

พิซออนเดอรูฟ ®

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 4:37 pm

WildAlaskaKen wrote: ↑Tue Sep 05, 2023 2:46 am
John Bingham wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 10:52 pm
WildAlaskaKen wrote: ↑Mon Sep 04, 2023 9:35 pm Ill be moving back to Siem in December. I might be keeping my place in BKK too. I wouldnt rent anything in Siem sight unseen. I found a place last time (Pre Covid) in one day, so it isnt hard. And the roads were worse then.

I like being on or close to a main road. I like a place nearby to buy a handful of eggs, a tea and some noodles. I rarely go out late at night, so I dont need to live near nightlife, which is non existant anyway. I dont think it will take me more than a few days to finds a place when I come by in November to start the process, which will be easy if I keep my condo in Bangkok.

I like Siem Reap because its quiet, inexpensive and laid back. The bars down on Sok San have their usual 24 hour drunks, the expat community is pretty cool and since my social and cultural mileau is weed smoking hippies, its fun for me. You will find assholes and cliques everywhere, up to you how you behave, nobody will give you trouble.

I was in Siem all through Covid. I moved there to enjoy a laid back lifestyle, with the option of monthly trips to Bangkok for good food, shopping, partying, etc. RT airfare was $80, o yeah...and then they closed the border! Cool beans for me, since I had the Temples all to myself for a year.

So now without Covid, I can come back and satisfy the above plan. I think Ill keep the condo, cheaper than a hotel even though that 40 floor elevator ride to get Food Panda drives me nuts. Thats where Siem shines for me: Order up from Cafe Soriya, when they arrive walk out the door in my sarong with belly hanging over with my hair blowing in the breeze, nobody bats an eye. Compare Bangkok: Order ffrom FoodPanda. Get dressed 5 mins before he arrives. Tie hair back. Go out door, walk down hall, exit security door. Elevator, 6 of them. 40 floors. Use key card in elevator. Walk out to lobby, folks in and out, another two security doors, folk everywhere, might as well just take a taxi to a restaurant for all that, since I already had to get dressed just to get breakfast...
I'm confused by this post. By Siem do you mean Siem Reap in Cambodia or just Thailand?
Post is pretty clear, Siem Reap a nd Bangkok. Both.

Maybe if you move to the capital you can start calling it "Phnom".

down_time · Post by **down_time** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 5:07 pm

I think Phnom Penh residents have always looked down a bit on Siem Reap, I think mostly because many of them have not spent much time there and just see the tourists tbh.

But there is a lot to like, some great restaurants (https://www.theworlds50best.com/discove ... amnak.html) and decent places to get a civilised drink, all close enough not to have to deal with mountains of traffic. You can be out in the countryside in minutes with some fantastic trails for cyclists, bikers and tons of small rarely visited temples to wander around. Decent expat community, good accommodation options for less than PP with gardens and pools, not miles away from town. If you don't hang around on pub street or Sok San road (and you don't need to) then you don't notice them really.

Negatives though are the public holiday crowds, KNY in particular is a nightmare and best dealt with by sheltering in place for a few days. Tourist buses clogging up the smaller roads. Miles from the beach so you need to fly or drive 11/12 hours. Less options for food & drink than PP. A dearth of cultural activities, museums, galleries, sporting events, live music etc (although PP while improving in this still has a long way to go).

I would say though I think the best days for western expats in Siem Reap have come and gone, it's no longer the sleepy, dusty town it was in the early/mid 2000's which gave it a certain unique charm. Many of the more interesting long term expats have now moved on (in one way or another) and the future looks like it will be dominated by Asian tourists, expats and businesses. Western tourist numbers were falling before Covid and it's unlikely to they ever return to the numbers seen in the mid 2010's, less tourists mean less businesses and a different expat demographic.

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 5:19 pm

I like Siem Reap and I've been there about 6 times, first in January 2000 and last time January 2023. There's a whole lot more vegetation and wildlife around. The central part has been well planned out. Pub street I can't stand, it's ridiculously noisy with those fucking Temple Group places. The outskirts are a bit messy, quite a lot of abandoned construction. It's okay to visit but I couldn't live there. The capital is not the most exciting city but there's a lot more variety because it wasn't built for tourism.

down_time · Post by **down_time** » Tue Sep 05, 2023 6:25 pm

The great part of Phnom Penh is that is is still growing & developing, much more to do and more places to go than before, and it should in theory continue. Not sure the same came be said for Siem Reap, certainly not for western expats anyway. Plus from PP, weekends down at the coast are easy now with the new roads.

SIEM REAP is it as bad as its being portrayed?

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