Siem Reap, Day #1 – what a cracking start
Siem Reap and a relatively lastminute.com holiday, but a much-needed one as my leave carryover has been piling up. With a great excuse, we all decided we should go away. We needed to take the kids out of school a little longer than the allotted Chinese New Year holiday, but hey that’s fine too. Off we go folks with a long food and travel adventure – and so begins the first chapter; Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #1.
Jude is saying; “Pikachu, you should have rung me! We just so clash!”
A rather leisurely start to the day, almost a little lay-in, as most of the packing we were doing the day before. A nice short flight too and we also gain an hour back due to the timezone. Yep, we were all happy with a no-stress itinerary. We had decided on Siem Reap as we had never been there before but had always talked about going.
Every time Mary and I go to Phnom Penh for the Tabitha house building we think about going to Siem Reap, but never got there. Let’s fix that!
Also some great insights from mates who have traveled there already – such as Shehara, Todd, Bazza, Rutherford, Amanda, Pete, Alan, Thomas, etc. and from mates who have mates there too – thanks, Mark. We tried to take in all your recommendations, some we did, and some we just could not get in. You know what I mean. But you’ll see the week unravel so you can see where we went. This is just Kennett’s Siem Reap, Day #1.
Tuk tuks from the airport to the hotel. Oh yes, this holiday has started well. We are surely loving this already!
I chose a boutique hotel through Booking.com. I really like Booking.com because you can load it for family consideration and all you get back are searches that meet that family ‘scale’ of need. So we checked in to La Residence Blanc D’Angkor.
What a TOP place to stay. The staff was incredible, the food great, the price good, location-location-location, all in its incredible. But do not expect all the amenities of a 6* hotel, but if you want to feel like you are the only guest in a beautiful colonial-style place, with huge rooms and all the above – get your butt here. Have a look here for my TripAdvisor.
This place is contactable through their General Manager who is also such a great guy, Mr Kim Heang Hean, on +855 17 657 008 or gm@residenceblancangkor.com
Check this out. Each bed in the hotel was personalised with ‘leaf writing’. Amazing. Nicely done Le Blanc Residence, Angkor.
It’s the little things about this place. I mean seriously check out the beds. All four beds had this on it. We ended up two-rooming with Amy and Ollie in a massive twin, and Mary, Jude and I have a family room – a huge King and Queen bed with a sofa too. Nice!!!
Even Jude grabbed his surname named bed!
The hotel is 5-10 minutes from the airport by tuk-tuk. So you land and you are unpacked, beer in hand, and in the pool within an hour. How good is that? And with a 1600 flight home, we left the hotel at 1400. No time wasted at all so more time in Siem Reap. Great location. Here we are, Amy’s first time in Cambodia.
A lazy evening at pool – happy hour at 1700 with a 241 offer – yep I’ll take up that challenge.
Dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Photos and reviews of that on the food blog islifearecipe; see here. Quick call out for the complimentary peanuts at the pool bar – WOW. Fried separately and then mixed together are; peanuts, lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaf, chili padi, and then when mixed sprinkle with some sugar and salt. Beer food on steroids. Yummo!!!
