Thoughts on Group Leader
Yuth In Siem Reap was excellent. He was able to personalise our visits to Angkor Wat and, where possible, to avoid the crowds, and he helped us in so many ways outside our formal itinerary. Sa in Phnom Penh is maybe newer to the role. He was professional and discharged his job properly, but I think he has some way to go to be as good as our other (excellent) guides. I sensed that he was able to give us information while it was on his script, but he struggled if we were asking questions outside of that script.
Advice for Potential Travellers
I added one day at the start of the itinerary, so that I could have a day to recover from the flight from Europe. As it turned out, we really needed that extra day just to get the right amount of time at the temples. I would advise anyone doing this extension at the start of their holiday, if possible, to add two days at the start.
Suggestions
The advertised extension is five days and four nights, with the nights split between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. I feel there is much more reason to spend time in Siem Reap than Phnom Penh and it would be better to weight the number of nights spent in each accordingly. In terms of things to visit in the capital, they were of nothing like as much interest as Angkor Wat, so I would have rather had more time in Siem Reap. It’s not in Exodus’ control, but I think the Killing Fields site needs some rejuvenation. Both hotels were good, but I particularly enjoyed the atmosphere and space of the Angkor Holiday Hotel in Siem Reap; it was a very relaxing place to be.