Siem Reap

Siem Reap
Khmer: ក្រុងសៀមរាប
Nickname(s): Great Gate to Angkor
Siem Reap is located in Cambodia
Siem Reap
Location of Siem Reap, Cambodia
Coordinates:
Country  Cambodia
Province Siem Reap
Settled 802
Official 1907
Government
 - Type City & Provincial Capital
 - District Chief & Governor Sou Phirin
 - Deputy Governor Kim Chay Hieng
Population (2006)
 - Total 139,458
Time zone UTC/GMT +7 hours

Siem Reap City is the capital of Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.

Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In town, there are Apsara dance performances, craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake. It is the gateway city for nearby Angkor Wat.

Siem Reap today, being a popular tourist destination, has a large number of hotels and restaurants. Most smaller establishments are concentrated around the Old Market area, while more expensive hotels are located between Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and the town along National Road 6. There are a variety of mid-range hotels and restaurants along Sivatha, and budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area.

Contents

History

The name Siem Reap means the 'Defeat of Siam' —today’s Thailand —and refers to a century-old bloodbath, commemorated in stone in the celebrated bas relief carvings of the monuments. The name has also been translated as 'The Brilliance of Siam', as, for nearly 500 years, before the massacre, it was one of the main border crossings from Ancient Cambodia into Siam.

In 1901 the École Française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) began a long association with Angkor by funding an expedition into Siam to the Bayon. In 1907 Angkor, which had been taken from Siam (Thailand) by force, was assigned to Cambodia. The EFEO took responsibility for clearing and restoring the whole site. In the same year, the first tourists arrived in Angkor - an unprecedented 200 of them in three months. Angkor had been 'rescued' from the jungle and was assuming its place in the modern world.

Siem Reap, Battambang & Preah Vihear received by King Sisowath, 1907.

Siem Reap was little more than a village when the first French explorers re-discovered Angkor in the 19th century. With the acquisition of Angkor by the French, in 1907, Siem Reap began to grow, absorbing the first wave of tourists. The Grand Hotel d'Angkor opened its doors in 1929 and the temples of Angkor remained one of Asia's leading draws until the late 1960s, luring visitors like Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Kennedy. In 1975, the population of Siem Reap, along with that of the rest of the cities and towns in Cambodia, was evacuated by the communist Khmer Rouge and driven into the countryside.

As with the rest of the country, Siem Reap's history (and the memories of its people) is coloured by spectre of the brutal Khmer Rouge Regime, though since Pol Pot's death in 1998, relative stability and a rejuvenated tourist industry have been important steps in an important, if tentative, journey forward to recovery. With the advent of war, Siem Reap entered a long slumber from which it only began to awake in the mid-1990s.

Today, Siem Reap is undoubtedly Cambodia's fastest growing city and serves as a small charming gateway town to the world famous heritage of the Angkor temples. Thanks to those attractions, Siem Reap has transformed itself into a major tourist hub. Siem Reap nowadays is a vibrant town with modern hotels and architectures. Despite international influences, Siem Reap and its people have conserved much of the town's image, culture and traditions.

The Wat and the river

Siem Reap wood carving

The town is a cluster of small villages along the Siem Reap River. These villages were originally developed around Buddhist pagodas (Wat) which are almost evenly spaced along the river from Wat Preah En Kau Sei in the north to Wat Phnom Krom in the south, where the Siem Reap River meets the great Tonle Sap Lake.

The main town is concentrated around Sivutha Street and the Psar Chas area (Old Market area) where there are old colonial buildings, shopping and commercial districts. The Wat Bo area is now full of guesthouses and restaurants while the Psar Leu area is often crowded with jewellery and handicraft shops, selling from ruby to woodcarving. Other fast developing areas are the airport road and main road to Angkor where a number of large hotels and resorts can be found.

Economy

Businesses centered around tourism have flourished thanks to the tourism boom. There are a wide range of hotels, ranging from several 5-star hotels and chic resorts to hundreds of budget guesthouses. A large selection of restaurants offer many kinds of food, including Italian, Indian, French, German, Russian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Burmese. Plenty of shopping opportunities exist around the Psar Chas area while the nightlife is often vibrant with a number of western-styled pubs and bars.

Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport in Siem Reap now serves the most tourist passengers to Cambodia. Most tourists come to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, (about 6 km north of the city), and other Angkor ruins. While those are still the main attractions, there are plenty of other things to experience, such as a dinner with an Apsara Dance performance, a trip to fishing villages and bird sanctuary, a visit to a craft workshop and silk farm, or a bicycle tour around the rice paddies in the countryside.

The Gecko Environment Center is a floating environment center located in the province of Siem Reap on the Tonle Sap Lake. The goal of the center is to promote environmental awareness among the local community as well as visitors to the great lake.[1] The province of Siem Reap is part of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve.

Attractions

Angkor Wat, the reason for Siem Reap's prosperity.

Angkor Wat

Main article: Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat (Angkor temple) is the central feature of the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the magnificent remains of the Khmer civilization. Angkor Wat's rising series of five towers culminates in an impressive central tower that symbolizes mythical Mount Meru. Thousands of feet of wall space are covered with intricate carving depicting scenes from Hindu mythology.

Cambodia Landmine Museum

The Land Mine Museum is run by Aki Ra, a former Khmer Rouge child soldier and landmine layer. He started off by turning the garden of his home into a museum of mines and other ordnance. The museum is now located in a purpose-built location approximately 12 miles from Siem Reap in the direction of Banteay Srei.

A street in Siem Reap.

Angkor National Museum

Opened on 12 November 2007, the Angkor National Museum offers visitors a better understanding of the area's archeological treasures. The Golden Era of the Khmer Kingdom is presented, including the use of state-of-the-art multimedia technology. The museum covers Khmer history, civilization, and cultural heritage in eight galleries:

Angkor Thom

Main article: Angkor Thom

This magnificent inner royal city was built by the end of the 12th century and is renowned for its temple grounds and towering southern gate.

Psar Chaa

This flea market offers Khmer antiques as well as tourist souvenirs.

Central Market

Another market where one can find food, clothes and jewellery.

Phsar Leu Thom Thmei

This market reconstructed from the wood to the stone structure. The word Phsar means Market, Leu means Upper, Thom mean Large and Thmei means New. Now this market is very popular and crowded. People sell all kind of things. It is located about 2 km from Siem Reap, on the right side of National Road #6 when travelling from west to east.

Climate

Climate data for Siem Reap
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: worldweather.org [3]

Accessibility

A boat in Flotin, a nearby village

The town is 7 km from the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (IATA code REP). Siem Reap is accessible by direct flights from Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Seoul-Incheon, Pusan, Kunming, Kaohsiung and Taipei, and by land from Phnom Penh and the Thai border. It’s also accessible by boat and bus from Phnom Penh.

Sister cities

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tsbr-ed.org
  2. ↑ Angkor National Museum website
  3. ↑ "Weather for Siem Reap". worldweather.org. http://www.worldweather.org/145/c00347f.htm#climate. Retrieved 28 Feb 2008. 

External links

Siem Reap Province
Capital city: Siem Reap
Districts
Angkor Chum District • Angkor Thom District • Banteay Srei District • Chi Kraeng District • Puok Thala District • Kralanh District • Prasat Bakong District • Siem Reap District • Sout Nikom District • Srei Snam District • Svay Leu District • Variin District
 Province in the northwest of Cambodia, but not touching Cambodia's frontier
Geography
Siem Reap River • Tonle Sap Lake
Angkor Sites
Angkor Thom • Angkor Wat • Banteay Srei • Baphuon • The Bayon • Ta Prohm