Passage through Cambodia Angkor, Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng museum

Early in the morning (around 7am) you'll be picked up at your Bangkok hotel and taken to the Cambodian border. During the 5-hour trip by comfortable minibus you’ll pass through lush green countryside and rural villages. When you arrive in Aranyaprathet you’ll collect the necessary stamps for your passport and walk across the border into Cambodia where your Cambodian driver will be waiting to take you to Siem Reap. It’s a 4-6 hour drive by air-conditioned car and although the roads have improved in the last few years it’s still a dusty, bumpy ride. The road to Siem Reap passes through several small villages where you can get a good impression of daily life in rural Cambodia. Late afternoon you’ll arrive in Siem Reap where you’ll be staying in a comfortable hotel. Siem Reap is a peaceful town with lots of Cambodian character.

Note: On the days of the week when our Bangkok - Siem Reap does not run, you can still leave for Cambodia, but you'll need to travel by different means. You’ll travel from Bangkok by day train to the Thailand/Cambodian border town of Aranyaprathet, where you’ll stay overnight in a simple hotel on the Cambodian side of the border. The next morning, a minibus will arrive to take you on to Siem Reap. This means your trip takes a day longer. If you prefer we can also arrange a flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap for you, at an additional cost. Just ask your travel specialist for more details.

Angkor is the name of the ancient capital of the Khmer empire which was founded in the 8th century AD. The empire stretched all the way to southern Vietnam and China. Later it was the Siamese empire of the Thai that ruled the area and brought many Buddhist influences to the region. Siem Reap literally means ‘conquest by Siam’ so it’s rather noble of the Khmer to have kept the name to this day. The temples were once surrounded by a thriving city filled with wooden houses. Sadly they’re long gone but the temples themselves are magnificent enough. For centuries the city was overgrown by jungle until the ruins were discovered by French explorers in 1900. Several temples have been restored but others are still overgrown. The Ta Prohm temple for example shows you how the jungle still has a hold on the buildings. Giant trees tower over them and the roots have wrapped themselves around the temple walls. It’s a strange but impressive sight.

Phnom Penh is a pleasant city with many historic colonial buildings. Compared to other Cambodian cities it's quite modern with paved roads, modern shops, an attractive boulevard and many cash machines. Today you'll be visiting Phnom Penh's major attractions with your guide. You'll visit the Silver Pagoda and the National Palace but you'll also see the haunting remnants of the Pol Pot regime at the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields. In 1975 the Red Khmer invaded the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Pol Pot became prime minister of Cambodia and made a very cruel and bloody attempt to turn Cambodia into a communist agricultural state. Cities were destroyed and everyone was forced to become a farmer. Currency, education, religion and private property were abolished. From this point on marriages were arranged and children were separated from their parents. Anyone who did not cooperate was executed. Intellectuals and college-graduates were also executed; even wearing glasses or speaking a second language was enough to make someone a suspect. Pol Pot did not believe in their ideas and considered them annoying nuisances. 

The Tuol Sleng Museum is an incredibly moving museum. It confronts visitors quite directly with Cambodia's brutal past by means of a series of photographs. An old primary school was used as a prison for torturing political enemies during the rule of the Red Khmer. For many this was their last stop before they were taken to the mass graves of the Killing Fields, located just outside of Phnom Penh in an orchard. Over 17.000 people were killed.

The Silver Pagoda, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, is famous for its solid silver floor, made up of 5000 silver tiles weighing over 1kg each. At the Aspara Foundation in Phnom Penh poor Cambodian children can take singing and entertaining lessons. Opening hours permitting, your guide will take you to see this interesting project. You'll be staying another night in your small, comfortable hotel.

After your overnight stay and breakfast in the hotel in Phnom Penh this Cambodia travel module will come to an end.

Phnom Penh is a good base from which to visit other parts of Cambodia. After a week of travelling you may well feel like a couple of days of peace & quiet on the beaches of South Cambodia. If you still haven’t satisfied your travel addiction you could also continue with the module Dolphin river to Laos or follow the waterways to Vietnam with Along the Mekong to Saigon.

If you wish, you can travel back to Bangkok with our travel module, On the road to Thailand or you can choose for the quick and easy alternative of a plane trip.