I promise to show you the real Cambodia in a fun, safe and affordable fashion. My reputation has been built on over ten years experience designing tours that highlight the best cultural, historic and outdoor features of my country.

Please take a look at my website and contact me if you would like to schedule my services.

Or-kun! ( thank you in Cambodia ).

Your Dreams Can Become Reality In Cambodia

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The best way to see everyday life as well as the special sights in Cambodia is to arrange a guide.

They take the hassle out of getting around and explain the detail of the temples and the sights. They also have insight having lived and worked as a local. The guide we had was really great and he helped us to maximise our time in Cambodia by taking us to our prefered list of temples along with offering us a chance to experience Cambodian life. He gave us great choices,

noticed when we were hot or tired and offered us options. He took great photos which allowed us to soak up the experience. I would highly recommend this guided tour option. www.cambodianguide.com

Special thanks to Pam Jackson & Ralph Cornford came from Australia who pick up our services in Cambodia on 19 - 22 October 2009. More Info. : http://pamincambodia.blogspot.com/

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I recently spent 17 days in Asia and one of the highlights of my trip was my time in Siem Reap with Sowanna. He is so knowledgable in the history of his country and the many temples we visited.  As a 75-year old single traveler, Sowanna treated me like a member of his family,

always helping me up and down the steep steps of the temples, taking photos of me for my children in the temples, making sure I had cold water to drink (it was very, very hot) and paying for lunches to get the local prices rather than tourists. Without his guidance, sense of humor and many kindnesses, my time in Siem Reap would have suffered greatly.  Thanks again Sowanna!

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I don't think I am saying anything different to what other people have said already. Angkor Wat and it's related temples are simply breath taking to behold. It is an experience that everyone should do.

We did the temples in one day which while it can be done, is still very gruelling. Our guide was Sowanna and he was fabulous and we cannot recommend him enough. He took his time explaining everything to us in easy to understand language. However, we knew our guide was superior to everyone else when we encountered a Canadian tourist who had collapsed during his tour. There were so many people standing around him including his tour guide and no one was doing anything for him. As soon as Sowanna saw the situation he completely took over and started massaging him to get his circulation going and he ordered one of the security guards to call an ambulance. He was very authoritative and competent and everyone there was grateful that he was around.

So I think it is important to have a good guide, but I would also confidently recommend Sowanna because you will be in good hands in the event of an emergency. His contact details are: and his website is http://www.cambodianguide.com

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2010

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I visited Cambodia with my wife Nadya in August 2009. Before our travel I found a local guide, Mr. Sowanna Yun, on the Internet (--). He helped me to figure out the itinerary for our 8 days in Cambodia and booked hotels ( Phnom Penh Hotel ) in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap ( Tara Angkor Hotel ). Both hotels were booked for suprisingly low rate; later on Sowanna told me that the hotels give a huge discount if you book through the guide, as he has a special agreement with them.
 Cambodia is a country of my dream, and we decided not only to visit Angkor, but also to see some sites off the beaten path, such as temples South of Phnom Penh,

Sambor Prei Kuk and Preah Vihear (the last one also Unesco Heritage site had just listed). Our flight from Moscow was through Doha, Qatar, and then Bangkok. The weather is August wasn't too hot, actually, it was like an average NYC summer.

But it was rainy, at times. Our guide Sowanna did his job amazingly well, was always on time, was very honest,supportive and accommodating to our desires and needs. He knows the history of his country very well. By my experience, you definitely need a guide in Cambodia, especially if you go to locations outside of Siem Reap and do not speak Khmer.

Phnom Penh gives an impression of a very poor, dirty, and at times shady city; I'd not recommend walking unaccompanied outside Sisowath Queue and the area around the Royal Palace. Thanks to Sowanna, we didnt have to walk around much, as he also provides a car with a driver. WE saw all main Phnom Penh attractions, namely:
 1. Royal Palace - interesting Thai/Cambodian-style complex of XIX century.
 2 Tuol Sleng - former Khmer Rouge prison - delapidated walls, barbed wire, a lot of fotos of prisoners and their guards,
 3 Vat Phnom - not too impressive, modern monastery, but important historical and religious sight. A lot of monkeys on the temple site.
 4. Independent monument and the monument of Cambodian-Vietnamese friendship (the friendship which in reality does not exist)
 5. National Museum - by far the most interesting places in the capital, with fine examples of Khmer sculpture and metal work.
 
 We spent one day traveling South in the direction of Cambodian-Vietnamese border. Here you can see several beautiful temples, less frequented by tourists:
 
1.Phnom Chisor, the ruined 11th-century temple. You have to climb up 420 steps to reach the ruins! - and (besides ruins themselves) you will be rewarded by the beautiful view on the fields stretching far away to Vietnamese border.
 2. Prasat Neang Khmao - small but charming rarely visited temple. It is not very impressive, maybe, and badly looted, but has its own charisma.
 3. Tonle Bati - the site of well preserved and very beautiful Ta Prohm Kel temple. It has some very unusual bas-reliefs - read a guide book or ask Sowanna about their meaning!
 Also South of Phnom Penh is Killing Field memorial - a pagoda filled with skulls of victims of Pol Pot regime. To be continued.
Dmitry and Nadya. http://wild-forever.livejournal.com/

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Hi. Sowanna,We arrived back OK to Thailand.I have sent some photos for you

I would like to thank you once again for a fantactic holiday, you really made it very memorable for us all. I will be in touch and I already have some friends who will use your services when they come for

Regards,
Cristina and Rodrigo
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Thanks a lot our Dear Friend Sowanna!!!...
Our tour was really nice!!! we enjoyed a lot!!!
Regards from Your chile friend,
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I spent the 2010 new year's weekend (actually only one and a half days) in Seim Reap visiting the Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. The experience was fantastic, thanks to the incredible organization of my guide Sowannna Yun (www.cambodianguide.com).
We managed to cover the Angkor Wat complex, the Bayon Temple, the Tha Prohm temple while I was there. I admit that this is not enough time to appreciate the full beauty of this magnificent area, but if you only have a weekend to spare, it would still be worth your while. Ideally, I would spend about 4 or 5 days in and around Siem Reap.
My local guide, Sowanna Yun, made my trip possible. He took me around in an air conditioned car (he also has access to motorbikes and tuk-tuks). His connections allowed us to drive into places where other cars (except police) were prohibited - this saved a lot of time and I got to see a lot of extra stuff. His English is very understandable; his knowledge of Cambodia history and the significance of the temple carvings/statues was amazing; and he knew exactly what pictures to take. I simply gave him my flight itinerary before I left to Cambodia, and Sowanna booked my hotel and arranged my whole weekend.
Unfortunately, I suffered from mild sunstroke on my first afternoon. Sowanna came with me to the hospital and waited to make sure I was okay. If it wasn't for him, my trip really would have been ruined.

Scott Aubrey : scottaubrey@hotmail.com , Tokyo , Japan

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Hope you’re well and the school is doing fine! All the best, Susi

After doing much search on the Internet and asking friends for recommendations we contacted the Cambodian Guide (www.cambodianguide.com) to be our guide during our 5 day trip to Siem Reap Dec. 2009.
It was the best decision we took! Sowanna Yun was most knowledgeable and friendly. Every email I sent to him was promptly replied. Our flight out was delayed one day due to heavy snow but Sowanna rearranged everything right away and kept me informed of all the changes by email and by SMS. When we finally arrived in Siem Reap there was our Tuk Tuk driver, a lovely man called Vanna, waiting for us to take us to see the floating village at Tonle Sap Lake.
The next day we were picked up punctually at 5 am to see Angkor Wat at sunrise. It’s a most breathtaking sight when you first see the silhouette of the 5 towers and the reflection in the water (of the pond in front of Angkor Wat) against the sky as the day becomes lighter and brighter. It was a magical moment and it surpassed all my expectations! The next two days were spent visiting various different temples, like Angkor Thon, Banyon, Ta Phrom with many gigantic trees with powerful roots that coil around the ancient stone slabs like a huge cobras, waiting to become alive!
We were very interested in visiting the charity project that Sowanna supports, Home Stay Volunteer Teacher Org. www.hvto.org , so we ask Sowanna to take us there.  It’s a project that teaches 2 villages English after school or work. It’s located about 40 km from Siem Reap, on the way to Bang Melea Temple. We stopped at a market to pick up lots of notebooks and pencils for the children. Basically HVTO, initiated by Sim Piseth, a young Cambodian guide in his 20s, built 3 classrooms next to a primary school to teach English to any villager who wishes to learn. Currently they have about 600 pupils (children, adults, monks) and the classes are held throughout the day.
The children were very enthusiastic and eager learners, they also had very neatly written notebooks! We were amazed by their beautiful handwriting, in both Khmer and English.
A competent and energetic young Australian lawyer was teaching on the day we visited; she was being assisted by a Khmer speaking Cambodian teacher as well. She told us that the pupils are very keen, but the days are too short so classes have to stop around 5:30 pm due to darkness. The village doesn’t have electricity, and the school doesn’t have power generator to charge batteries for lighting. She also told us that many basic things, like toothbrush, tooth paste, soaps, flip flops, are luxury items, so she’s organising a donation of lots of toothbrushes so the children will have nice healthy teeth.
This visit was the second highlight of our visit as it made us understand how everyone of us could help by contributing just a little time and/or money to solve some very basic things in life.  HVTO is a most worthy project and we have decided to work with Sowanna to help it grow; the next item on the list is a power generator so they can have light and learn in the evenings as well.
A last note, we loved being driven around by our Tuk Tuk driver, Vanna. He was always punctual and smiling! He took us to a simple restaurant that served delicious Cambodian food! We could have gone there for every meal. He also took us to Healthy Hands for a 4-hand oil massage. Pure bliss! On the last day Vanna took us to the airport and we were very sad to leave him and beautiful Cambodia!

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Hi there dear travelers.

I have traveled to Cambodia with bunch of my friends from Ukraine and USA in Nov-2007.  My friend from Jamaica went there few months earlier and recommended to use services of local guide Sowanna Yun (his website: www.cambodianguide.com ). Sowanna provided excellent services and booked for this great hotel for our group (eight people). Location was great; you can walk couple blocks to local market. T-shirts, clothe, souvenirs are very cheap. Hotel has excellent pool with wet-bar.  Rooms are specious and hotel itself looks very nice with traditional Cambodian decoration.  Staff was very friendly.  We had top floor room with

 small balcony overlooking the pool area.  We had only one small issue– my friend ordered vine in pool bar and it was not good – probably bottle was opened for too long.  However, we called manager and he immediately brought new bottle and opened in front of us.

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He knows everything about Cambodia and Angkor temples. My trip was flawless. Strongly recommende!

Igor Bakman

igorbk@gmai.com

More Info : http://igorb.livejournal.com/15452.html ( Israel website )

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Figorb.livejournal.com%2F15452.html

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Dear Mr Sowanna,

I write to express my appreciation for the wonderful time that my family and I had on our trip to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat). It was made especially enjoyable due to your services as a Guide. We were able to cover all the significant sights in 2 days. Your description of the temple architecture in simple English made it easy for all of us to understand and appreciate without getting bored.
Special mention for your photographic skills and knowledge of all the strategic locations to take pictures which resulted in some fantastic shots. Thanks once again for the most memorable trip.
Mahender and family.
I will be writing a review in other websites and hope it will attract more tourists to use your services.
(Kualalumpur, Malaysia)
Sent using BlackBerry
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Email address : Mahender.Viswanath1@sc.com

website : www.scopeinternational-kl.com
Mahender V
Standard Chartered Bank

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More Info. : http://svirepij.livejournal.com/tag/kampuchea

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://svirepij.livejournal.com/tag/kampuchea&ei=7ay4Spj-JJao6APQ-cyGAg&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsvirepij.livejournal%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Special thanks to Pavel and Regina who used our pick up services in Cambodia and posted many pictures of Cambodia.

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Finding a Trustworthy Guide in Cambodia

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Special thank for family - Dayle & John came from Australia who donated a small house for old & poor Cambodian family. I and a Cambodian family would like to pray for Lord Buddha to bless your family to meet all happiness and good health and long life forever.

Sowanna efficiently lead us through as many sites as we wanted to see.  He was conscious that our pace was good for all, with breaks as needed.  We covered extensively that region in 3 days with him.  He was flexible and had a very nice way about him.  He was trustworthy and easy to be with for long periods.

Special thank for family - Helga Wiig Stangeland & Daniel Ueland came from Norway who donated the 17 Dictionaries in different kind for our supporting School in English language to keep in library. I and English teachers and students would like to pray for Lord Buddha to bless your family to meet

Dear Sowanna,

Charles and I had a wonderful 4 days in Siem Reap.  You made our visit to Angkor Wat very, very special.  Thank you for sharing with us your passion, thoughts, and deep knowledge of history, religion and culture.  Angkor Wat came alive for us in many ways.  You should be very proud of this national treasure.  We will always remember our visit to Siem Reap.

We will certainly recommend you to our friends.  Please use me as a reference for others who wish to consider your guiding services.

If you ever travel to Boston in the future someday, please let us know.  We would be honored to host you and your wife as our guests.  Charles sends his warmest regards and appreciation.

Wishing you many blessings in your life,

Tamara & Charles

, Boston, USA

Wanna - The Greatest Tour Guide in Cambodia

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I and my group (altogether 5 women) spent 5 days in Cambodia. We arranged our program in advance with Sowanna and he booked for us an excellent hotel as we agreed on it.

Our trip was excellent and memorable thank to our guide to Sowanna. He’s a very talented, experienced guide so we could rely on him every time. He’s very flexible and accomplised all of our wishes. For example On the way to Beng Melea – to a distant but a very interesting and intact

place – we realized in a village that a wedding ceremony was held and as we were interested, Sowanna arranged for us to participate ont he ceremony and to take photos there. These was a magical moment for us. He knows well every monument and buildings he could show us the best places for taking photos. He could show us the most interesting places among the historical places and int he villages too.

Our bus was always very clean and we got cool fresh water every day in the bus during the trip. He took us restaurants where we could ate safe and healthy food. It’s also very important.

So, I could recommend to everybody to take their visit to Cambodia with Sowanna. If anybody need any information about him or about our travel, please feel free to write me: zelko.csilla@mkb.hu or csillogo11@gmail.com

Dear Sowanna, I hope you are satisfied with my testimony. I wish you all the best and good luck in your job and private life too.

Best regards,

Csilla

HUNGARY

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Hi Sowanna,
We got home in KL on time safely and found out that Malaysia is hotter than Siem Reap this couple of days.  We thank you for taking good care of us and being considerate to JoJo's need. We developed 300+ photos from our camera, beautiful Angkor pictures! enjoy the trip very much-  You're a super tour guide,
Best Regards,
Steve & Suchen

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Dear Mr. Wanna,
 
Our trip to Cambodia was amazing.  We learned so much about your country, both past and present, in just three short days. 

Again, thank you for making our trip so rich.
 
Maryan Cerina, Canada 2009

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Hi Mr. Sowanna,

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Dear sowanna

Happy to see your email ...we all arrived here safely and was sharing our experience

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Hi Sowanna,

We had a great time in Cambodia and then went to Vietnam for several days.

I am now back in the U.S. and have attached some of the group pictures per your request.Thank you for doing such a great job at sharing your beautiful country with us.  The people we met were so friendly and I highly recommend that everyone experience the rich culture and learn from the history that Cambodia has to offer.  We enjoyed your stories and will recommend your services to our friends.

Best wishes,

Parul

psomani@mba2009.hbs.edu

Special thanks to Ms. Parul and friends who used our pick up services in Cambodia on 11 - 16 May 2009. May the Lord Buddha bless all of you and family to meet all happiness and longevity.

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Many thanks to Cambodian Guide : Sowanna
We travelled to Siem Reap last November (we are a couple).
Before travelling, and according to other reviews  read here, decided on a personal guide to help us around siem reap (we were travelling from Lisbon to London, London to K. Lumpur, and from there to Siem Reap), staying only two days.
Before departure, we contacted, by e-mail, severel private guides, in order to stablish a tour, suited to our needs, as well as get quotations.
Well, he received several answers back, but, without a doubt, the most professional one was the chosen one: Mr. Sowanna Yun (www.cambodianguide.com).
We could not ask for more. It started with the fact that we, on the survey e-mails sent, we mentioned that we were arriving at 10 o\'clock in the morning, and wanted to start seing things on that day.
Sowanna was the only guide that actually read the e-mail, so his purposal was to pick us up in the airport, taking us to hotel, for check in, etc, and not, as we saw in other guides: \"sunrise at 5 oﾃつｴclock in the morning\"...
His answer, besides being the fastest one, was the best.
During our tour Mr. Sowanna was not late not even once, and not even a minute.
Even if we decided to sleep an hour after lunch, he would wait for us at the reception.
We managed to visit a lot of temples during our 2 days stay... exactly the ones we wanted, and at the best times (Sowanna knows the hours to see every temple, so we are always able to visit when there are fewer people there - we have lots of photos in which you see no one...).
Also, he knows how to take pictures - always checking for the best angles - and he has no problems in sending everyone else off the site... just to take a picture of you... alone! lol
It is also good to mention that he carries, in his car, lots of refrigerated water, that is kept fresh throughtout the day, with massives amounts of ice, and that he is always offering to you - included on the price.
As it is too hot, Mr. Sowanna is always making sure that you catch the cold air from the car\'s A/C.
One other thing that was important to us, was that not even once the guide tried to take us to the \"comission shops\". The only visit to an artisans centre was replaced by sleeping hours, without any complaint from Mr. Sowanna.
With him, our experience was the best of all.
Just enough words, just enough temples, just enough explanations, and we honestly believe our journey would not have been the same if we had other guide.
And, believe me, although we are experienced travellers, we did not know what we were going to find.
Keeping it short - www.cambodianguide.com  - Mr. Sowanna Yun, in fact the only guide in Cambodja.
In case you have some specific questions, please contact us.
Greetings from PORTUGAL!

Mr. joao : joao762@msn.com : Tel. 351937405723

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Dear Sowanna,
 
Here are some photos as promised. We have a very nice collection of photos

You did a great job, both as a guide and private photographe

Kind regards, Marloes

edmarloes@live.nl

Special thanks to Marloes de Saegher and family came from Holland who used our pick up services in Cambodia on 21st - 23 May 2009. May the Lord Buddha bless you and family to meet all happiness and longevity.

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Dear Sowanna,

“Thanks Sowanna for the good visit during these 3 days ! You respect all our wishes, with nice optimization of the visit.

We sincerely appreciate your explanation on all history, with good sence of humor.

We wish you all the best for you and your family

Best regards

Annick Deschamps

Planning & Logistic Apparel & Accessories

Salomon S.A. – SOFTGOODS Logistics

74996 Annecy Cedex 9,  France

Tel. +33 4 50 65 44 88, fax +33 4 50 65 45 97.

annick_deschamps@salomon-sports.com  www.salomonsports.com  www.amersports.com

Special thanks to Annick Deschamps and friends came from France who used our pick up services in Cambodia - Angkor. May the God bless you and family to meet all happiness and longevity.

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Hello Sowanna,

Natalie and Hayden are extremely thankful to their guide and driver for making their first trip to Cambodia one of the best holidays they have ever been on.

Cant wait to come back and we will certainly contact Sowanna again when we do.

Kind regards,

Natalie

Special thanks to Natalie and Hayden (Natalie.Lee@infor.com  ) came from Singapore who used our pick up services in Cambodia on 14 - 16 March 2009. May God bless you and family to meet all happiness and longevity.

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Hi Sowanna,

Thanks for guiding us around Angkor Wat, Bayon, and all the other great treasures of Siem Reap. We really appreciated it and learned quite a lot from you.

And, our best-taken photos are those on the first day with you. :D  A lot fun indeed. Please find attached some photos with you. You may take any to show on your website. For our future friends visiting Cambodia , I would definitely recommend your accompany.

Best regards,

Jean Liu

Special Thanks To Ms. Jean Liu`s group came from China  who used our pick up services in Cambodia - Angkor Wat .

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Good Morning Sowanna,
 
I'm very good, thanks for asking. How's everything over there?Is it stil raining? We got plenty of pictures in Cambodia actually and all of them are good.

I hereby attach some of the pictures that you could probably use in your website..till the next one, you take care..

Kind Regards

Sarindran

Malaysia

indistripped@hotmail.com

Hi. Sowanna

Thanks for a great day showing us angkor wat.

Best greatings from four happy norwegians.

Tom Faye

tfaye@bluezone.no

USA

jason.bhardwaj@gmail.com

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Hi Sowanna,

Nice to see your mail. Our trip was great. I really liked cambodia very much; more than temples I like people of cambodia..nice simple and innocent..We had great time with u and visiting temples...you took very well care of us.

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Hi Sowanna,
 
We've back to Malaysia.
Just wanna let you know that this is a very great experience of mine to travel around Siem Reap, I know very little about Cambodia until Chris told me a bit about her first time visit to Cambodia, and I know pretty much about it right now, especially those temples which are really really amazing,

I saw a lot of pictures before on books/magazine/Internet but it's very very different when I stand inside the temples, it's so alive! Also, 4 days is really not enough, I wish I could stay longer, hee... :-D
And so sorry to keep changing the schedule at very last minute,

I'm looking forward to visit Cambodia again, perhaps Phnom Pehn and Tonle Sap lake, and of course the Angkor Wat again! Now I need to arrange and filter the photos we took, it's more than 1000!!! @_@
At last, I hope everything is great in Cambodia and please send my regards to your family as well. Good night. :-)
 
Your friend from Malaysia,
Khai Lee (Shiva)

fantaghiro_yap@hotmail.com

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Special thanks to Mss. Amy Wang and friends came from Hong Kong.

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backtrack: cambodia tourism plug.

i promised my tour-guide i'd put on my blog more about his services to promote the tourism industry in siem reap---in light of christmas and i'm 2 months late---here it is!

this is long overdue because i've mainly blogged about the humanitarian aspect---but siem reap itself is a city of hidden treasures and breathtaking sites.

his cousin hong lee was also our driver throughout the trip

prior tourists had great reviews so i emailed him and he quoted us with a

More information on Amy Wang`s website : http://akmybee.xanga.com/718261255/backtrack-cambodia-tourism-plug/

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Hi Sowanna,
We got home in KL on time safely and found out that Malaysia is hotter than Siem Reap this couple of days.  We thank you for taking good care of us and being considerate to JoJo's need. We developed 300+ photos from our camera, beautiful Angkor pictures! enjoy the trip very much-  You're a super tour guide,
Best Regards,
Steve & Suchen

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