Mystic Cambodia

Day 1: Arrival – Phnom Penh
Day 2: Phnom Penh – Battambang
Day 3: Battambang
Day 4: Battambang – Siem Reap by speedboat
Day 5: Siem Reap
Day 6: Siem Reap
Day 7: Siem Reap – Beng Melear – Siem reap
Day 8: Siem Reap – Kompung Thom
Day 9: Kompung Thom – Phnom Penh
Day 10: Phnom Penh – Departure

DAY 01: PHNOM PENH – ARRIVAL (L/-)

Pick up from the airport and transfer to the hotel. After lunch, visit the Royal Palace. The palace was opened in 1870 under King Norodom, and now contains the Royal Residence, the Throne Hall, the Silver Pagoda, and other buildings. The Silver pagoda (Wat Preah Keo Morokat) is one of the city’s most visited sites and offers a display of priceless Buddhist and historical objects. The Pagoda draws its name with more than 5,000 silver tiles, which cover the floor in the temple. The building serves less as a functioning shrine, no monks currently reside here, than a repository of cultural treasures such as the famous Emerald Buddha and many other valuable statues and Toul Sleng prison museum (also known as S21).  Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Phnom Penh.

DAY 02: PHNOM PENH – BATTAMBANG (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 Pick up at your hotel and depart for Battambang by an overland transfer (290 km. 4-5 hrs drive). Stop at the Silversmith village, see the pottery manufactories in Kompong Chhnang and visit also a fish market. Lunch on road. Arrive in Battambang, and check-in at the hotel.  Walk through the town to discover its beautiful colonial architecture. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Battambang.

DAY 03: BATTAMBANG (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 Drive along the picturesque Sangker river to the Wat Slaket pagoda, the residence of the provincial Buddhist patriarch. Continue to visit Wat Ek Phnom. Visit a market where Prahoc, the Cambodian fish paste, is made. Visit the Provincial museum (closed on Saturdays / Sundays) and the local market. Drive to Phnom Banon, with its five sandstone towers on top of a hill and enjoy a magnificent view of the surrounding plains until sunset. The same afternoon, you are also enjoying bamboo train with a great experience of sliding on this funny train. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Battambang.

DAY 04: BATTAMBANG – SIEM REAP (by speedboat)  (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 Travel by speed boat to Siem Reap along the Sangkar River; enjoy unspoiled landscapes and traditional daily-life scenes. Crossing Cheur Khmao Pagoda, also known as the “Black Wood Pagoda”, in Bak Prier floating village. Also, cross the Biosphere Reserve and the floating villages of Prek Tuol. Picnic lunch on board.

Continue by boat across the Tonle Sap lake to the Mechrey floating village. Arrive at Siem Reap port and transfer to Siem Reap. In the afternoon, we use tuk tuks as our transportation to take us to visit Les Artisans d’Angkor – Chantiers Ecoles” of Siem Reap. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap.

DAY 05: SIEM REAP (B/L/-)

06:00 Early morning, you will visit the sunrise at Angkor Area – the idea is to view the reflection of the amazing Angkor temple in the morning sun. Return to the hotel for breakfast.
After that, you will start your full-day visit, firstly with the sightseeing tour of the Angkor area. We will spend a full day exploring the wondrous ancient ruins with the South Gate of Angkor Thom, which is famous for its series of colossal human faces carved in stone, the impressive Bayon temple, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas, the Elephant terrace, the terrace of the Leper King. Lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon, discover the world’s wonder site—Angkor Wat, the magnificent temple that was built in the 12th century and it is the largest first Hindu and Buddhist temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world. You will stroll around this massive edifice, seeing the many galleries with columns, libraries, pavilions, courtyards, and ponds full of water reflecting the towering temple. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap.

DAY 06: SIEM REAP (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 Heading out of town, we make our way by traveling on a newly paved road to the intricately carved and well-preserved temple of Banteay Srei. Along the way, we briefly stop at the Preah Dark village and we follow this with a visit the Banteay Samre Temple adorned with impressive relief-depicting scenes of Vishnu as well as Krishna legends. Lunch at a local restaurant.
In the afternoon, visiting the jungle covered temple of Ta Prohm that is an incredible sight. There are enormous big trees and gigantic creepers which embrace themselves in the stone foundations of the structure giving the impression of man’s creation being reclaimed by the powerful forces of nature and we also explore the surrounded temples if time permits. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap.

DAY 07 : SIEM REAP – BENG MELEAR – SIEM REAP (B/L/-)

Breakfast at the hotel.  08:00 Visit the Roluos Group. The monuments of Rolous, which served as the capital of Indravarman I (reigned 877-89). Preah Ko was erected by Indravarman I in the late 9th century dedicated by the King to his ancestors in 880. Visit Bakong, the largest and most interesting of the Roluos group temples, with the active Buddhist monastery just to the north of the east entrance. Lolei was built on an islet in the center of a large reservoir (now rice fields) by Yasovarman I, the founder of the first city at Angkor. Lunch at a local restaurant.

In the afternoon, continue to visit Beng Mealea temple before continuing to Siem Reap, the little- explored temple of Beng Mealea that is waiting to be rediscovered by the adventurous travelers. The sprawling jungle temple covering over one square kilometer is largely over-run by vegetation. Constructed in a distinct Angkor Wat style, Beng Melea preceded and may have served as a prototype of sorts for Angkor Wat. Back to Siem Reap and transfer to hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Siem Reap.

DAY 8: SIEM REAP – KOMPUNG THOM (B/-/D)

Breakfast at the hotel.  In the morning, be free at own leisure in Siem Reap or do the shopping at the local market. Lunch on your own.
13:00 Drive to Kompung Thom province – Kompung Thom is a province located at the central point of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The province has a total land area of 15,061km2 divided into 8 districts, 81 communes and 737 villages. The total population is 576,805 people (110,334 families, women approximately 51%). The province has a road network which links from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on National Road 6, and separates Preah Vihea province from National Road 64 in a distance of 126 km. Dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight at hotel in Kompung Thom.

DAY 9: KONPUNG THOM – PHNOMPENH (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 Departure for a discovery of Sambor Prei Kuk’s temples, certainly the most beautiful examples of the art Pre-Angkorian of the 7th century. Lunch in Kompung Thom, then continue your way to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival, check in the hotel. Dinner on your own. Overnight at hotel in Phnom Penh.

DAY 10: PHNOM PENH – DEPARTURE (B/L/-)

Breakfast at hotel.  08:00 This morning you will explore the National Museum’s collection of Khmer art, which displays over 5,000 objects including statues and other artifacts from Angkor Wat.
Then, go on with visit to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek-both grim reminders of Cambodia’s bloody past under Pol Pot. It is almost inconceivable to confront the nature of true evil here in this gentle land, but the Buddhist memorial at Choeung Ek, commemorates the 1.7 million victims of the 1975-79 Pol Pot regime. This excursion may prove distressing for some. It is, however, an important piece of this country’s historical and cultural puzzle.