| Siem Reap ក្រុងសៀមរាប |
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| — City — | |
| Street Scene in Siem Reap | |
| Nickname(s): Great Gate to Angkor | |
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Siem Reap
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Cambodia |
| Province | Siem Reap |
| Settled | 802 |
| Official | 1907 |
| Government | |
| • District Chief & Governor | Sou Phirin (CPP) |
| • Deputy Governor | Kim Chay Hieng (CPP) |
| Population (2009) | |
| • Total | 171,800 |
| Time zone | Cambodia (UTC+7) |
Siem Reap (Khmer: ក្រុងសៀមរាប) is the capital city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia, and is the gateway to Angkor region.
Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In the city, there are traditional Apsara dance performances, craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake.
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 boulevard, and mid budget to mid-range hotels in the Phsar Leu area.
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The name Siem Reap means the 'Flat Defeat of Siam' — today’s Thailand — and refers to the centuries-old conflict between the Siamese and Khmer peoples.
This name was baptized by King Ang Chan (1516-1566) as “Siem Reap”, meaning “the flat defeat of Siam” (Cambodians call Siam or Thailand “Siem”). It was because of the victory over the Thais which King Ang Chan counter-attacked, and shot Prince Ong dead on an elephant’s back, and routed the Thais and captured no less than 10,000 Thai troops.
The history was recorded that King Ang Chan of Cambodia tried to assert further independence against Thailand. The Thais also had been through internal trouble themselves during these years. King Prajai was poisoned by his wife, Queen Sri-Sudachan, who committed adultery with a commoner, Worawongsa, when the king when on the campaign against Chiang Mai. The Queen then raised Woravongsa to the throne. The nobles hated Woravongsa, who was a commoner, and lured the usurper and his family to a place outside the city where he was assassinated together with Queen Sri-Sudachan and a new-born daughter during the royal family’s procession by barge to see a white elephant (allegedly just captured). The nobles then invited Prince Tienraja, who was a monk in a monastery, to disrobe and ascend the throne under the title of King Maha Chakrapat (1548-1569). Being informed of the internal troubles in Ayudhaya, King Ang Chan attacked Prachin in 1549 and successfully took away Thai inhabitants. At Prachin, he obtained information that King Maha Chakrapat has become the new king of Ayudhaya, signaling that the question of succession in Ayudhaya had thus become settled. King Ang Chan therefore retreated and did not advance any further. King Maha Chakrapat was very angry at this, but his hands were tired, because the Burmese had just come by the way of the Three Pagoda Pass, took Karnchanaburi and Suparnburi, and appeared in front of Ayudhaya.
Cambodian history presents the reason for the next Thai attack because King Ang Chan refused to give King Maha Chakrapat a white elephant when he asked for it, it indicated that King Ang Chan declined any symbol of vassalage to Thailand. King Maha Chakrapat’s attention was now turned towards Cambodia. He put Prince Ong, the Governor of Sawankaloke and Srey’s son, in charge of an expedition against Cambodia. King Ang Chan counter-attacked, and shot Prince Ong dead on an elephant’s back, and routed the Thais and captured no less than 10,000 Thai troops. It was because of this victory over the Thais that King Ang Chan baptized that battle area as “Siem Reap” meaning “the flate defeat of 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. 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 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 site 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 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 rubies 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.
Businesses centered around tourism have flourished thanks to the tourism boom. There is 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.
Angkor Wat (Wat 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.
Opened on September 24, 2003, the Cambodian Culture Village assembles all the miniatures of famous historical buildings and structures of Cambodia. There are 11 unique villages, which represent different culture heritages, local customs and characteristics of 19 multi races. At each village, the tourists will be able to enjoy the excellent wood houses, carving, soft skill in stone, traditional performances in the different dance styles such as: Apsara dancing, performance of ethnic minorities from northeastern Cambodia, traditional wedding ceremony, Circus, Popular games, Peacock dancing, Acrobat, elephants shows, and boxing.
Opened on 12 November 2007, the Angkor National Museum offers visitors a better understanding of the area's archaeological 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:
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.
This flea market offers fake Khmer antiques as well as tourist souvenirs.
Another market where one can find food, clothes and jewellery.
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.
According to the Koppen climate classification, Siem Reap features a tropical wet and dry climate. The city is generally hot throughout the course of the year, with average high temperatures never falling below 30 C in any month. Siem Reap has a relatively lengthy wet season which starts in April and ends in November. The dry season covers the remaining four months. The city averages approximately 1500 mm of rainfall per year.
| Climate data for Siem Reap | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 32.0 (89.6) |
33.3 (91.9) |
34.6 (94.3) |
35.5 (95.9) |
35.2 (95.4) |
33.5 (92.3) |
32.7 (90.9) |
32.0 (89.6) |
32.2 (90.0) |
31.3 (88.3) |
30.6 (87.1) |
31.0 (87.8) |
32.83 (91.09) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 19.7 (67.5) |
20.8 (69.4) |
26.1 (79.0) |
25.1 (77.2) |
25.4 (77.7) |
24.8 (76.6) |
24.8 (76.6) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.5 (76.1) |
23.9 (75.0) |
22.4 (72.3) |
20.3 (68.5) |
23.57 (74.42) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 0.7 (0.028) |
3.5 (0.138) |
28.0 (1.102) |
61.2 (2.409) |
175.9 (6.925) |
221.3 (8.713) |
236.6 (9.315) |
151.0 (5.945) |
276.1 (10.87) |
248.0 (9.764) |
81.7 (3.217) |
10.1 (0.398) |
1,494.1 (58.823) |
| Source: worldweather.org [3] | |||||||||||||
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. A new airport is planned 60 km from Siem Reap.[4]
Media related to Siem Reap at Wikimedia Commons
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