7 DAYS, MOCBAI -PHNOMPENH – SIEMREAP -POIPET

Itinerary

ITINERARY IN DETAILS:

DAY 1: MOC BAI-PHNOM PENH (ARRIVAL) BY OVERLAND  (D)        
Meet upon arrival at Moc Bai border and overland transfer from Moc Bai border (Cambodia side 174 km; 3 ½ hours) to Phnom Penh. Dinner and accommodation at hotel.

DAY 2:  PHNOM PENH  (B)
Breakfast at hotel.
Phnom Penh city tour: Visit the Victory Monument, and the National Museum, also called Musee des Beaux-Arts. A French archaeologist and painter, Georges Groslier, designed it in Khmer style in 1917. The museum contains a collection of Khmer art - notably sculptures - from throughout the ages. Visit the Royal Palace, built by King Norodom in 1866 on the site of the old town and the Silver Pagoda. Located within the grounds of the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda is so named because of its floor, which is made up of 5000 silver tiles. The treasures found inside include a solid gold Buddha encrusted and weighing 90kilograms and a small 17th century emerald and baccarat crystal Buddha.
Visit the Notorious Tuol Sleng Museum. In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). It soon became the largest such center of detention and torture in the country. More than 17,000 people held at S-21 were taken to the extermination camp at Choeung Ek to be executed; detainees who died during torture were buried in mass graves in the prison ground. The museum displays include room after room of these photographs of men, women and children covering the walls from floor to ceiling; virtually all the people pictured were later killed. Visit the Russian Market (Psah Tuol Thom Pong), a lively outdoor market where you will find antiquities, silver and gold jewelry, gems, silk, kramas, stone and wood carvings, as well as T-Shirts, CDs and other souvenirs. End your afternoon with the visit of the Wat Phnom Temple, Phnom Penh’s namesake. Overnight in Phnompenh.

DAY 3: PHNOM PENH - KOMPONG THOM - SIEM REAP (B,L)
Breakfast at hotel.
Depart to Kompong Thom to visit Sambor Prei Kuk, located 35km northeast of Kompong Thom
Visit the ancient capital of Chenla with its 100 temples dating from the Pre-Angkorian period. Return to Kompong Thom.
Lunch at local restaurant.
Continue to Siem Reap. En route, visit traditional villages and stop at the ancient Naga Bridge (Spean Pratpo), located 40 Km from Siem Reap. Arrive in Siem Reap and transfer to your hotel. Overnight in Seamreap.

DAY 4: SIEM REAP (B)
Breakfast at hotel.
In the morning, visit Prasat Kravan with its unique brick sculptures and Ta Prohm.  One of the area’s most beautiful temples, Ta Prohm has been relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle, looking very much the ways most of the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them. Visit as well Takeo, Chau Say Tevoda and Thommanon.
Visit Preah Khan temple. Built by the King Jayavarman VII, Preah Khan is, like Ta Prohm, a place of towered enclosures and shoulders-hanging corridors. Unlike Ta Prohm, however, Preah Khan is in a reasonable state of preservation and ongoing restoration efforts should maintain and even improve this situation. Continue your visits to Neak Pean, a fountain built in the middle of a pool and representing the paradisiacal Himalayan mountain-lake and visit the temple of Ta Som as well as Srah Srang (“The Royal Baths”), undoubtedly used in the past for ritual bathing. Overnight in Seamreap.

DAY 5: SIEM REAP (B)
Breakfast at hotel.
In the morning, visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag and the 12th century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Angkor Wat’s five towers symbolize Meru’s five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond.
Visit the ancient capital of Angkor Thom (12th century). See the South Gate with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephants Terrace, the Terrace of the Leper King and Bayon Temple (unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara), until sunset. Overnight in Seamreap.

DAY 6: SIEM REAP(B)
Breakfast at hotel.
Morning, transfer to Banteay Srei temple (10th c), regarded as the jewel in the crown of Classical Khmer Art. Visit the floating village of Chong Khneas, located 10 kilometers south of Siem Reap.  Take a traditional wooden boat for a ride on the Tonle Sap Lake, the “Great Lake” of Cambodia, one of the largest in Asia.
Visit “Les Artisans d’Angkor - Chantiers Ecoles” of Siem Reap and time at leisure at the local market, Dinner at local restaurant and accommodation at hotel.
Visit Banteay Srei temple (10th century), regarded as the jewel in the crown of Classical Khmer Art. Continue to visit Banteay Samre, one of the most complete complexes at Angkor due to restoration using the method of “anastylosis”. The name Samre refers to an ethnic group of mountain people, who inhabited the region at the base of Phnom Kulen and were probably related to the Khmers. No inscriptions have been found for this temple, but the style of most of the architecture is of the classic art of the middle period similar to Angkor Wat. The proportions of Banteay Samre are splendid. A unique feature is an interior moat with laterite paving, which when filled with water must have given an ethereal atmosphere to the temple.

DAY 7 : SIEM REAP-POIPET – DEPARTURE (B)
Breakfast at hotel.
Overland transfer from Siem Reap to Poipet border (155 km, 3 ½ hours).