Cambodia Family Vacation (IPC04)

Sua s’dei! Welcome to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Upon arrival at Phnom Penh Airport, your private guide and driver are waiting to meet you and your family, holding up a welcome signboard with your family names on it and take you directly to your hotel.

After checking-in, your family will have time to relax and adjust to the pace of Phnom Penh, the vibrant bustling capital of Cambodia. Situated at the confluence of three rivers, the mighty Mekong, the Bassac, and the great Tonle Sap, what was once considered the ‘Gem’ of Indochina.

There will be a short tour briefing this evening with your guide followed by a welcome dinner at Friends Restaurant, Romdeng. It’s a social enterprise based restaurant that empowers disadvantaged youth with vocational training amongst other support. Set in a beautiful colonial building surrounded by a lush garden and swimming pool, Romdeng is the ideal spot to escape – A true taste of Cambodia.

Please note: You must have both a passport and a visa to enter Cambodia. And your passport must also have at least six months’ validity remaining beyond the date that you enter Cambodia. You can get a visa on arrival in Cambodia. Make sure you have two passport-sizes photographs.

Overnight in Phnom Penh
Meals: (_/_/D)

Morning
After breakfast, meet your guide and head out to visit the most remarkable sights of Phnom Penh in a Cyclo (a three-wheeled bicycle taxi), an original Phnom Penh means of transportation and a fun way to explore this lively city.

The first stop is at the Pshar Kandal, Phnom Pen’s oldest market, to enjoy yummy local delicacies such as fried noodles, BBQ beef with papaya salad, noodle soup, and delicious rice and coconut treats. Then it’s a walk through the French Quarter, which will open your eyes to Phnom Penh’s colonial-era architecture. Admire Belle Epoque and Art Deco design, a train station built during colonial times as wells as the Buddhist Temple, Wat Phnom, the tallest religious structure in the city.

Next, proceed to visit the Royal Palace Compound built-in 1866 by the Predecessors of King Norodom, the most conspicuous feature and also one of the most impressive colorful Khmer-style Palaces. Nearside the Royal Palace is the Silver Pagoda (The Emerald Buddha temple), which displays plenty of Buddha Statues that were decorated and made by diamond, emerald, gold, and silver.

Continue to visit the National Museum, the distinctive red building with a beautiful Khmer architecture was built since 1917 containing more than 5000 art objects made of sandstone, bronze, silver, copper, wood, and others. Pass through the River Front Park whose scenery is much worth shooting.

Return to the hotel for a relaxing break during the midday heat.

Afternoon
Gain insight into Cambodia’s recent dark history on a visit to the infamous Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (also known as Prison S21) and listen to English commentary en route. The prison comprises 4 buildings with exhibitions in several rooms. During your visit, you will barely meet a single person who didn’t lose a member of their family during these years, yet they are all willing to talk openly about it with you. They wish you to hear about it and see these places, to ensure that it never happens again.

After an hour and 15 minutes at the museum, take a 40-minute drive to the Killing Fields, see a documentary on the Khmer Rouge regime. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, his government caused the deaths of more than two million people. There will be around 1 hour and 15 minutes to explore the site. An audio guide is available in 15 languages along with a map of the fields.

Overnight in Phnom Penh
Meals: (B/L/_)

Today your personal guide and driver will take you and your family on a full-day trip to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center. Spend a day at this rescue center, where you will meet endangered & rescued animals up-close. This rescue center is considered one of the best in Asia. No small and dirty enclosures here. All animals are well-taken care off and we can tell you all about them and their histories.

Morning
After breakfast, your private guide and driver will meet you and your family again and transfer to a local market to buy some fruit for the animals. After that, continue driving directly to the rare wildlife of Phnom Tamao, Cambodia’s foremost rescue center. Located just 45 minutes southeast of Phnom Penh, Phnom Tamao occupies 1,200 hectares and is home to the world’s largest collection of pileated gibbons and Malaysian sun bears.

Upon arrival you will meet the local caretaker for a tour of the park and learn about the center’s work. Wander the spacious grounds, where the large animal enclosures are a refreshing change from some of the cramped zoos of Southeast Asia.

Hand-feed the center’s female elephants and observe how the staff here train them using gentle reward-based positive reinforcement when they change Chhouk’s prosthetic foot. Kids will love the elephants at the park.

Get up close with leopards, gibbons, otters and the other endangered animals that Wildlife Alliance has helped rescue and care for at the sanctuary.

While touring, your guide will explain the background to the animals and how they were rescued.

Have a delicious Cambodian-style lunch, enjoy fresh coconut water, and escape the heat of the day in our relaxing hammocks.

Afternoon
Visit the nursery in the rehabilitation area – a section closed to the public – and see the beautiful baby animals that the staff care for up close. Interact with rescued baby macaque monkeys in their enclosure as you feed them (at the guide’s discretion).

Finish the tour and wind your way back to your hotel in Phnom Penh where the remainder of the day at your leisure.

Overnight in Phnom Penh
Meals: (B/L/_)

After breakfast your family will be picked up and transferred for four hours to the coastal town of Sihanoukville where you will have three days relaxing at the beach resort. Sihanoukville is Cambodia’s most popular beachside retreat. With a number of lovely beaches, Sihanoukville is where Cambodia’s beach scene is at.

Upon arrival, you’ll check into your resort and relax for the rest of the day. The lovely beaches of Sihanouk Ville are some of the most unspoiled in all of Southeast Asia although the fast-growing of tourism. There are some 10 km of beach stretching the whole length of the town and dozens of small islands just a short boat ride away, which make for a perfect tropical getaway, with facilities for swimming, snorkeling or scuba diving, This free day will provide you some great opportunities to soak up the sun and sea as much as you want by spending your time swimming or lazing on a beach.

Overnight in Sihanouk Ville
Meals: (B/_/_)

After breakfast, head out by boat for an exciting trip to the best of the many islands lying offshore from Sihanoukville. You and your family will be taken to Koh Russei, also called Bamboo Island (transfer time 1 hour).

Upon arrival, take a short hike through the forest across the island. Then you will reach the fine beach in the North of the island, which is still pristine and lined with Casuarina trees. Here is where you will relax and laid back. You can join some of the optional activities such as sunbathing, snorkeling, swimming, or just simply relaxing!

Overnight in Sihanouk Ville
Meals: (B/L/_)

This free day will provide you some great opportunities to soak up the sun and sea as much as you want by spending your time swimming or lazing on a beach. One option is that you can take a walk up to Wat Leu for hilltop sunset views – indeed excellent views of the entire town can be had from up here. Otherwise, water sport activities are always available if your children want to be active.

Overnight in Sihanoukville
Meals: (B/_/_)

Morning
After breakfast and late checkout, your family will be picked up and transferred to the Sihanoukville Airport to board a short flight to Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor Archeological Park. On arrival, you will be met by a new private guide and driver and transferred directly to your hotel in downtown. Check into your family room and spend the rest of the morning at your leisure.

Afternoon
Your guide and driver will take your family to a UNESCO-funded school that focuses on maintaining and developing Khmer culture and arts. Founded in 2012, this prolific school supports striving Cambodian students in traditional artistry higher education and as guardians of Khmer heritage.

Upon arrival, you will have a chance to meet the students and observe in-class training and a musical presentation of Khmer dances. Be personally instructed in “Kbach” techniques. Apsara is Cambodia’s most prominent classical dance and an essential part of Khmer culture. After visiting and meeting up with the students at the school, return to your hotel for some rest.

Evening
Your private driver will take your family Angkor Theater to attend Phare, the Cambodian Circus, a unique and dramatic evening’s entertainment. Cambodia’s answer to Cirque du Soleil, Phare performers use theatre, music, dance, and daring modern circus acts to convey historical, folk, and modern Cambodian stories in a totally new way.

Overnight in Siem Reap
Meals: (B/_/D)

Today you will have a full day of exploration in Siem Reap. You will experience the temple relics in a way that will really let you feel like you’ve escaped the 20th century and traveled a thousand years back to a time when life was simple and nature was surreal.

Morning
After an early breakfast, you’ll be you will be picked up by your private guide and driver. Start your discovery of the temple of the legendary city of Ta Prohm Temple, best known for its gigantic roots of vine that convent down the walls of a thousand years. Worn by time, rain, and overpowered by the jungle, this immaculate structure is hidden under the canopy will leave you feeling like you’ve stepped into the movie set of a treasure hunt adventure. Your private tour guide will give you the history and stories passed through oral tradition.

Leaving the Ta Prohm, pick up your bike and paddle through the hidden rainforest trails, get closer to the greenery and hear the sound of nature along the way to the city of Angkor Thom via the grand South Gate. Here you’ll explore the last capital of the once great Khmer Empire, with the 216 enigmatic faces of The Bayon at its centre. Still, within the ancient city walls, you’ll marvel at the view from the summit of Baphuon, the enormous temple mountain, affording unspoiled views over the surrounding ruins. You’ll round off the morning poring over the intricate bas-relief of the Elephant Terrace, and Terrace of the Leper King.

For lunch, you’ll visit the Sala Bai Hotel School where disadvantaged local youth learn skills that enable them to find gainful employment in the hospitality industry.

Afternoon
Be prepared to enjoy one of the Wonders of the Ancient World: Angkor Wat. At this point, you most probably have gotten glimpses of the towers over treetops and the gates in front of passing. But now you’ll finally get to satiate that curiosity that’s grown in the last few days.

With your guide, you’ll enter Angkor Wat and learn about the stories and amazing architecture that has stunned archeologists leaving more questions than answers. Angkor Wat possesses some of the most intricate and longest stone carvings in the world. This complex is four times the size of the Vatican City making it the largest religious site in the world. Spend the afternoon adventuring through the many passages, levels, and exploring chambers that once housed one of many treasures of the ancient world. It will be an experience that you remember for a very long time.

Finish the tour and transfer back to your hotel where the balance of the day is at your leisure. Chill out and relaxing at the hotel’s swimming pool.

Overnight in Siem Reap
Meals: (B/L/_) 

Today you will explore the unique communities and traditional villages dot the rural countryside near Siem Reap and promise an escape to another world.

Morning
After breakfast, you will be picked up by your private guide and driver, and transferred in a Tuk Tuk southeast to one of the largest and least-visited villages on the Tonle Sap Lake, Kompong Khleang, about 55km from Siem Reap having a population of about 10,000 people, all of whom make a living from the fishing industry. On the way, you will stop for hot sticky rice and then take a detour off the main highway into the countryside. You’ll wind through dirt roads and, in the rainy season, witness families working their rice paddies.

Upon arrival board a private motorized boat to visit the Kompong Khleang,  the two other floating villages, and the Great lake. Explore the canals (wet season) or streets (dry season) of this incredible town. In the wet season, the houses appear to be floating, as water laps at the verandas, but in the dry season towering stilts are revealed, the houses almost like wooden skyscrapers.

During the boat ride, you will make stops to see where Bridge of Lifeworks, visit a Cambodian pagoda and a stilted home in the village to learn a little more about local life. Cruise into the open water of the lake to see a small floating village and learn some more about this incredible natural flood barrier.

You’ll end your tour with a boat ride back to the habour where your driver is waiting to take you back to your hotel.

Afternoon
Spend your time to relax and chill out at the resort. Later, meet your guide again and head out to enjoy Champagne and canapes on the 20-minute gondola boat ride through the moats of Angkor to Prasat Chrung Temple to watch the amazing sunset. This lesser-known temple is set on top of a hill in the Angkor complex offering excellent views and it is an ideal spot to watch the sun go down.

Overnight in Siem Reap
Meals: (B/_/_)

Morning
After breakfast, you and your family will be picked up and transferred to the Operation Orchid House, where you will be promptly greeted by the Zipline Team. After registration is completed, you and your children will be personally fitted in your harness and equipment by the safety rangers. Then, you will proceed to a safety demonstration platform, where your safety rangers will perform a safety demonstration. After everyone understands the rules and procedure, you will be accompanied by two highly trained professionals to the adventure in the treetops. You will soar like an eagle through the Angkor Wat Park rainforest, home to wildlife, with your safety as the highest priority.

You will spend a few hours enjoying the view from 9 platforms, 6 single Ziplines, 2 Super Ziplines, 1 Double Zipline, 1 Spiderman bridge, and 3 sky bridges.

Afternoon
After enjoying a traditional Khmer Lunch your family will then be taken back to your hotel to rest and avoid the heat during midday.

Around 4.PM the Quad Bike Team will come and pick your family up from your hotel. After a quick and comprehensive brief, start the Quad Bike Adventure. Explore the serene and less traveled roads of Siem Reap as you drive through the remote and undisturbed countryside aboard a quad bike. Follow the guide through the lush greeneries of the surrounding areas and iconic rice paddies as you pass by local villages and schools. Throughout the tour, you’ll also be passing by Buddhist monasteries and century-old Angkorian temples that have been long abandoned by civilization. Whether you choose a 1 hour or 2-hour ride, you’re guaranteed to receive the utmost Cambodian service and hospitality and unforgettable memories from your ride.

Overnight in Siem Reap
Meals: (B/L/_)

Your private transfer greets you at the hotel after breakfast and escorts your family to Siem Reap International Airport where you board your flight home or travel on to more adventures, we will help you with the planning.

Meals: (B/_/_)