GOLDEN Packages 4D3N (Siem Reap Angkor)

Day 1: Arrival and Sunset at Prasat Chrung

Arrival to Siem Reap International airport, met a tour guide and transferred to hotel for check in. Free at leisure till time for lunch, tour guide will take you to local restaurant on your own account.

After Lunch around 3:00PM start to visit the sunset over Prasat Chrung with nice view of sun is setting down. The gondola is a replica of a traditional Khmer boat known as a Kongkear, which is propelled with a wooden paddle by an experienced oarsman. Prasat Chrung is a good alternative to sunset at Angkor Wat, which is typically thronged with tourists at the end of the day.

The small temples of Prasat Chrung are of great importance to historians’ understanding of Khmer architecture, as they contain intact inscriptions confirming Jayavaram VII’s intention that the whole of Angkor Thom, including Bayon, its moats and walls was a representation of the mountains and oceans surrounding the earth in Hindu cosmology. Back to hotel for dinner and overnight at your selected hotel.

Day 2: Angkor Wat and Great capital of Angkor Thom

Today start early to rise early this morning to witness the sunrise over Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on the globe. Your guide will pick you up at your hotel at 05:00. Enter the grounds of Angkor Wat through a little-known entrance on its eastern perimeter (the western causeway is where the vast majority of tourists enter). Entering this way, you will avoid most other tourists initially and your first impressions of the temple grandeur at daybreak will be relatively private. In the past several decades, Angkor Wat has captured the world’s imagination and taken its place alongside other Asian world wonders like the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal. This incredible temple was built in the 12th century as the capital of King Suryavarman II’s kingdom. The largest and best-preserved of the Angkorian temples, it is also the only one to have remained a significant religious center (first Hindu, then Buddhist) since its founding.

It is the apogee of classical Khmer architecture and has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on the national flag. Around 8:00AM back to hotel for breakfast then start again to visit Ta Prohm, this ruined temple dates back to 1186 and has been intentionally given over to the jungle. The resulting atmosphere is hauntingly beautiful, and not to be missed during your visit to Siem Reap. Explore the ruins with an archaeologist who has led the preservation effort at Ta Prohm for more than a decade, and who can provide fascinating insight into the temple’s history. Ta Prohm is very much an active archaeological site, as well; in 2011, workers unearthed two headless stone statues, the larger of which stands 10 feet high. Both date from the 12th century and are the biggest excavated finds since the 1930s.

Afternoon, after a nice lunch then continue to visit the great Capital of Angkor Thom, the King, Jayavarman VII’s mighty Khmer empire. Bayon is a Buddhist temple was built by King Jayavarman VII, but it incorporates elements of Hindu cosmology in Angkor Thom was built as a square, the sides of which run exactly north to south and east to west. Standing in the exact center of the walled city, Bayon Temple represents the intersection of heaven and earth is known for its huge stone faces of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, with one facing outward and keeping watch at each compass point. The curious smiling image thought by many to be a portrait of Jayavarman himself, has been dubbed by some the Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia there are 51 smaller towers surrounding Bayon, each with four faces of its own. Bayon Temple is surrounded by two long walls bearing an extraordinary collection of bas-relief scenes of legendary and historical events. In all, there are are total of more than 11,000 carved figures over 1.2km of wall. They were probably originally painted and gilded, but this has long since faded.

Quad bike Experience 1h and half for easy ride around the Siem Reap the paddy rice fields. After a brief safety demonstration, you will set off on an adventure with the independence and excitement of navigating your own all-terrain vehicle. Journey on and off road through small villages, rice fields, patches of jungle and ancient temple ruins. Back to hotel for dinner and overnight at your selected hotel.

Day 3: Banteay srei and Tonle sap

This morning start the tour driving 35km north of Siem Reap town to visit the remote temple Banteay Srei, the most finely carved temple in Cambodia, built in 967AD, dedicated to Hinduism. Banteay Srei or "Citadel of Women"" was not built by a King as the ther Angkor temples. It was built by a brahmin of royal descent who was the spritual teacher of King Jayavarman V. It is therefore a hindu temple dedicated to to Shiva and it was erected in the 967AD. It is believed that its modern name (which means Citade of Women in Khmer) is realted to the perfection of its bas-relief carvings. It was "rediscovered"by French archaeologists in 1914, but it was not restored until 1930 being the first temple to be mainly restored through the anastylosis method. On the way visit Landmine museum.  The Cambodia Landmine Museum was founded in 1997 by Aki Ra, a former conscripted child soldier of the Khmer Rouge who has dedicated his adult life to de-mining the Cambodian countryside and providing education and support services for landmine-affected children through an NGO. Explore the museum’s fascinating arden of deactivated mines for a unique glimpse at how the devastating devices were hidden. Then visit the villagers traditionally make palm candy. Next, continue to visit Banteay Samré, built by the same king who built Angkor Wat. Lunch at local restaurant. 

After lunch time, drive approximately 1 hour to Cambodia’s Great Lake, the Boeung Tonle Sap, where you’ll discover a unique way of life. This huge body of water stretching across the northwest section of the country is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. Begin with an ox-ride through the villages and countryside. Observe the lifestyle of these rural denizens as they go about their daily farming routine. Then, travel across the lake in a traditional wooden boat, and witness the extraordinarily rich and diverse ecosystem with more than 100 varieties of water birds including several threatened and endangered species that live and breed on the lake. Visit Chong Kneas floating village, where markets, schools, churches, flower gardens, vegetable farms and even police stations literally float on the surface of the lake. There is even a crocodile farm here.

Day 4: City tours, Shopping, Cooking class and departure

Visit carving school – artisan center where the uneducated, disabled and poor young people from the countryside are offered the opportunity to be trained to work on wood and stone carving. Next, visit local market Psar Chas (Old Market) where most Siem Reap town people pick up fish and vegetable for their foods. Do shopping the local handicrafts or souvenirs including silk, stone, wood and silver carvings. Return to hotel and enjoy dinner at local restaurant. Free at leisure till transfer to the airport for the departure flight, End service.