We arrived by private car and driver from Battambang in 3 hours--a short ride compared to our previous ones. It was more built up but still very green and nice. The road was good.
We were met by Jaydai, the Guest Experience Manager of the Park Hyatt Siem Reap. Because our Park Suite King was not ready we went to a new restaurant, Cafe Indochine, and had a very nice lunch.
Our hotel in Siem Reap
Our room was 323, a Park Suite King (about US$444 a day) at the Park Hyatt. We were told that the Executive Suites were sold out and we could not be upgraded. The space of the living room/bedroom worked and we really liked having an extra toilet. One view was of the main road and the other was of rooftops. The main road was noisy and the picture windows were not soundproof. The bedroom was large and had room for a table for Audre’s laptop so Dimitri used the table in the living room for his laptop. There was a big sofa and coffee table with fruit on it when we arrived. There was an alcove for the minibar and Nespresso machine. The bathroom was large with 2 sinks and a tub, a separate shower room, and a separate toilet. So the room itself would have been okay if things worked. The first afternoon as it was getting dark, we were both working at our computers and Audre got an eye ache because she was straining to see. It was unbelievably dark in the room. In all of our years of travel, we have never seen a room with such poor lighting—actually close to no lighting. We talked to Jaydai, the Guest Experience Manager before dinner and said we could not stay in that room. By the time we returned from dinner, engineering had installed an additional ceiling light that made the living room livable. Dimitri wanted all light bulbs changed and we went to a nearby lighting store and bought a bulb with 25 more watts. He had engineering put it in a lamp and the entire lighting system in the room failed. That was fixed but that was just the beginning of the lighting problems. One night a light in the shower room did not go off when we turned off the “master” switch of the Elecon system and later a light in the living room turned on by itself. That was bad but the next night, after we turned off the master switch, the reading light over the bed would not go off. We called engineering to remove the bulb from the ceiling. The next day a new transformer or something was installed and we didn’t have any more lighting problems. The Elecon system also was supposed to operate the opening and closing of the drapes. It only sort of worked. The air conditioning was controlled on the Elecon panel and only sort of worked. The HDMI cable in the Elecon panel didn’t work either. We were brought additional lamps and that helped. Our mini frig was replaced with one that worked. We got a new hairdryer. The last problem really bothered Audre: mosquitos. Even with the hotel’s 2 electric mosquito repellers, Audre was getting bitten. She didn’t see them and wondered if she was getting bitten by bed bugs. Then one day she saw (and killed) a mosquito flying close to one of the electric repellers. So she had the housekeeping staff spray again and refresh the repellers. She also installed her own so there were 3 electric repellers.
On the positive side, the shower was very good and the hot water was instant. The art in the hotel and in our room was beautiful. Each day Saranth would make us a special breakfast, excellent, moist, brioche French toast one day, oatmeal made with milk the next, frittata the next. Our breakfasts were delightful with all of the attention the staff paid us. Silvia Susan, the F&B Manager, would make a fuss over us and Vichet would take good care of us. The storage in the room was good enough.
In the meantime, the Guest Experience Manager also tried his best to placate us. All of the staff was super friendly and nice. But, there was only so much they could do with this old, old, old property. The General Manager, Ms. Rina, sat with us at breakfast one morning and was very charming. We learned that the hotel had only reopened in June after being closed for COVID for 2 years. (Thus the mosquitos had found a home during that time and were difficult to evict.) After requesting, we were brought flowers and an orchid for the room, and our fruit was refreshed.
We were disappointed that the Jacuzzi that the hotel’s website said it had was merely seats with air bubbles in the swimming pool and the swimming pool wasn’t heated. For us, 70° F is not an acceptable temperature for sitting in the pool. We used the steam room in the spa and that was okay.
On our last day, Tawan, the Assistant Director of Rooms, treated us to lunch, which was very nice. We were also given some extra World of Hyatt points. As lovely as the staff was, we cannot recommend this hotel. It doesn’t matter how attentive the staff is, if the building itself is not comfortable and doesn’t function properly, it is not a hotel to stay at. As we talked to other guests, we learned that our problems were not unique. The problems will not be solved with band-aids. We think it is a teardown property. Unfortunately, there is no newly built hotel that would be an alternative at the time we visited. However, we saw several buildings that appeared to be future new hotels just waiting for the tourists to come back post-Covid.
Our Touristing in Siem Reap
We had 5 enjoyable days touring with Camouflage Adventures Cambodia with
Samnang, Chief of Operation and Cycling Guide, and, especially with Phearin Un, our
everyday guide. Phearin was an independent guide and he was great for us. The
first day was cycling and temple visits, including Angkor Wat and Bayon.
Phearin gave us the archeological and cultural history while Samnang reminded
us to watch out for the slippery sand/hanging branches and tree stumps on our
single track. Our Trek (XS) and Giant (M) bikes were good enough and the
helmets were too. We were amazed by the many paved cycling tracks around the main temples. Evidently, Aspara, the local district, built them
during COVID-19. Our second day was with Phearin and we visited temples by car.
It was a lovely day, learning about the temples and about Cambodia from
Phearin. We were Phearin’s first customers since COVID-19 shut down the
country! He told us that he estimated that the number of tourists currently
visiting the temples was only 15% of the pre-COVID number. We loved that we
could visit Angkor Wat without a crowd but the economic impact on people has
been devastating. After a rest day, our third day of visiting temples was with
Phearin doing a little biking and a little walking because Dimitri had gotten
an infection and his leg was hurting. Phearin was caring and patient, taking
photos and giving us encouragement. Our 4th day was hiking to the
Kbai Spean waterfall and the 11th-century 1000 lingas. It took us much longer
than estimated because Dimitri’s leg was hurting and the path was full of
boulders we had to climb. Phearin was again great with us—the aged ones. We
were very happy with the car, the hike, and with Phearin. On our 5th
day, we took a long drive in a good van to the mysterious and remote Beng Mealea temple. We
wanted to go there because it was far away and we thought there would be no
tourists. Well, there were tourists because it was a holiday and lots of local families were visiting the temples, including one
annoying family that interfered with our enjoyment. Also, it is indeed a ruin.
We learned a great amount and enjoyed our tours with Phearin and Camouflage
Adventures Cambodia. We spent US $580 and recommend the company and Phearin (phearinun2022@gmail.com).
(After we completed our touristing, and our biking, Audre came across a Giant Bike Store that rented e-mountain bikes at US$30 a day. Aing Kimsan Bicycle Shop and rental, Giant e-mountain bike rental shop, Preah Sangreach Tep Vong St., Siem Reap, info@angkimsanbicycle.com, www.aingkimsanbicycle.com) Oh Well.
Siem Reap
We spent 11 days in Siem Reap, which means Siam Defeat in Khmer (there were many wars over the centuries since the temples were built and lots of destruction from them as well as from Pol Pot). The city is tourist-friendly, with most people speaking English. There are lots of restaurants, some of them very good. Have a look at our Siem Restaurant Reviews by ALEDM.
The city was festooned for the Festive Season. The area along the Siem Reap River and the parks were full of Christmas lights and people. Even though the lights were gaudy, it was quite a sight and indeed festive. On the holidays themselves, the area was wall-to-wall people with a stage for entertainment too. A 10-minute ride back to our hotel after dinner on New Year's Eve took us 1 hour! Fortunately, that night we had arranged for a Grab car (rather than a Tuk-tuk or a remorque) so we were comfortable inside being entertained by our English-speaking driver.
As in Hanoi and Phnom Penh, the Grab App worked in Siem Reap and Dimitri was able to prepay by credit card for all of our transport. It was unbelievably cheap to use taxis. Rarely was a taxi ride more than US$4. When we get to Singapore, it will probably cost 10 times as much to take a Grab taxi.
There were so many businesses and hotels still closed from COVID. As devastating as COVID was for Cambodians, businesses were closed for 2 years. Our Park Hyatt Hotel only reopened in June 2022. There were no reprieves on rent, loans, or mortgages. There were "hotel for sale" and "hotel for rent" all over, as well as businesses still shuttered. It was heartbreaking.
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