Cambodia Cycling Feedback

Cambodia Cycling aims to provide once in a life time adventure tours with real life experience. You will enjoy local food, home-stay to experience rural Cambodia at its most authentic with combination of our culture and history. Below are some of the comments we have received from our guests. In order to improve our services, we appreciate all the feedbacks.

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Mr. CHAD REX AUSBURN (2pax) - Package 4 days 3 nights in SIEM REAP
Date: 14 to 17 February 2010

Kudos on a fantastic holiday in Cambodia! I wanted to send you a quick email to provide some feedback on our recent trip that you assisted with. First, the guide you arranged for us in Siem Reap was EXCELLENT! He was knowledgeable, polite, dependable, flexible, and represented Cambodia very well. I would absolutely recommend him as a guide for any English speaking tour group. Please pass along my highest thanks to your colleauges in Siem Reap so they know what an excellent job Mr. Chamnan did during our visit.

Regarding the Angkor Village hotel/resort, it was a very good resort. In reality, both properties were good and I would recommend either of them.

Thanks for a good trip. You guys did a great job on this one!

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I am sending this email firstly to say how much I enjoyed the bike trip I recently completed with your company. I was on the bike trip from Seam Reap to Siagon which commenced on the 30/01/2010. The trip was better than I could have expected and I particularly would like to thank both the guides and the other staff on the trip whose services went well beyond what would normally be expected. I am already thinking about doing another trip this time maybe in Laos / Northern Vietnam so if you can suggest a suitable trip please let me know. I may not be able to do this trip until later this year or early next year depending on what would be a suitable time, weather wise.

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Tim & Marika McGettigan (American & German)
Date: 19 January to 11 February 2010 (Indochina Bike Tour) & Vung Tau Beach Extension

Yes, the weather is cold here, and from what we have heard we missed a lot of colder weather when we were in Cambodia.

We both agree that our trip was excellent. The hotels and food was better that we expected. I think that Cambodia has a great future as a cycling destination. There was really nothing that we would like to have had differently. Maybe, just a few tips:

-        Offer the cold beers at the end of the day as part of the service. Customer pays for the beer, of course. A lot of people will not use that service, but the ones that like a cold beer at the end of the day, before a shower, will really appreciate it.
-        Mention that free wireless Internet is available in almost all hotels. That is more & more important, and just might induce some unsure people to go.
-        If the weather is always as good as it was on our trip, then I would emphasize that in your web site. That is probable the most important reason why Europeans go to SE Asia in the winter.
-        Also highlight how many people in Cambodia speak English. That is a big advantage over Thailand & Vietnam.

It is a little early now, but when we plan our trip next winter, we will certainly think of Cambodia and your company as an alternative.

Hope you have a good season and thanks for all of the effort that you put into making our trip so enjoyable. It is really good that you can enjoy a beer with your clients. That makes for a good atmosphere.

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We recently cycled with you and we wanted to thank you very much for this wonderful experience… We had a fantastic time with you and were very impressed with the professionalism of what your company offers. We felt very safe and well taken care off during our time with you.

Thank you so very much for showing us the beauty of your country,

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Mr. Hilton and Mrs. Shanee SANDARS (U.K)
Date: 05 to 19 December 2009 (Bangkok to Saigon)

Thanks for a fantastic trip; we had an absolutely wonderful time. We look forward to cycling with you again.

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Mr. Chris and Clare Hozack (Australia)
Date: 25 to 30 November 2009 (Angkor Cycling Back Road)

I just thought i'd quickly let you know that Sam Boeun (sorry i know i've spelt his name wrong) is such a great guide. i have never had a guide so knowledgable on every aspect of the tour - archeaology, history, government, law, everything! We are really looking forward to the next couple of days with him. We had the best time, and at a reasonable cost.

My husband Chris and I decided to split our honeymoon into two parts – beach in Thailand and adventure in Cambodia. We had a mediocre time in Phuket and left for Siam Reap after 7 days. Hun Socheat from Cambodia Cycling designed our itinerary especially for our fitness and interests, and tailored it to our budget and timetable. It was challenging and interesting, and our guide, Buoen, was incredible. His knowledge was bottomless as he explained Cambodian politics, history, and archeology.

The support vehicle provided plenty of water and snacks, and all meals were delicious. We were never hungry or in want of anything during the 5 days we spent with Cambodia Cycling. Despite experiencing exhaustion and discomfort (which were our own fault since we asked for that itinerary!), there was a euphoric sense of achievement when we finally finished. We were already discussing our next trip at dinner on the last night. We had a fantastic trip and recommend Cambodia Cycling for any adventurous people without reservations.

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We really loved the trip. You guys made us feel safe without smothering us. We liked the fact that sometimes we were just left to cycle on our own, but knew you weren't too far ahead and the van wasn't too far behind.

All the hotels were a lot better than we expected, and the one in Siem Reap, Tara Angkor Hotel, was one of the best hotels we have ever stayed in. We thought that you could have maybe offered a range of hotel options, as some people may have wanted to pay extra to stay in 5 star hotels or other may have been happier saving money and going for the 2 star option.

Food was also a big surprise. All the restaurants were very good, although the food in the first one we ate at in Siem Reap (We think it was called Cafe Indochine) was a bit bland. But we really did enjoy our picnic lunches!

But all in all it was one of the best holidays we have ever had, we are recommending you to our friends and we hope to be able to see you again on a trip to Laos!

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I enjoyed it very much. Cycling proved to be a wonderful way to see the temples and the surrounding countryside. Much better than a car. I honestly cannot think of anything for improvement. The bike was quite comfortable, the lunch was lovely, and Da is an excellent guide. It was also quite nice to have the support van with cold water and those refreshingly cold wipes.
I have friends coming to Siem Reap in November. I've highly recommended the tour, so they should be contacting you soon.

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Name: Mr. Ben Smith 02pax (South Africa)
Date: 25-29 August 2009 (Mekong Delta Cycling 5 Days / 4 Nights)
Our time in the Mekong Delta was really enjoyable. We could see alot on the bike and the cycling route was perfect with scenery and the people living around Mekong Delta. The wonderful smile of the children. I would recommend the cycling around the Mekong Delta. It was one of the best cycling trip in Vietnam. Thank you to arrange the bike fitting and the putting the cleat for us and all your support team. We will recommend this trip to our friends and like to come back to Vietnam again.

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Names: Ms. Alissa Kruse & Mrs. Lorna Kruse USA
Date: 3-13 August 2009 (Cycling Angkor to Sihanouk Ville)

We really had a great time on our trip. It was great that you were able to work with our time frame of the random 11 days and work in as much as possible. Highlights were the home stay, hike with the family dad, killing fields, Siem Reap hotel (Tara Angkor Hotel), Angkor wat and of course the biking. Your planning and communication was really great before, and throughout the trip. Thanks so much, we really had a great time on this personal tour, and have highly recommended you to other teacher friends that like to bike and travel to the countries you go to.

Alissa Kruse

Thank you so much for the great care that you gave my wife, Lorna and my daughter, Alissa Kruse. They had a wonderful time and thought very highly of you and all your hard work and efforts to make their cycling adventure a most memorable one! They tell me that I would have enjoyed everything...Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how much they appreciated your expertise and your personal efforts that helped make their trip so enjoyable!

With Sincere Appreciation!
Mr. Don Kruse

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We've just got back from our long weekend in which we went to Phnom Penh. It was a really really good trip and fascinating to see another part ofCambodia. We spent 3 nights there and managed to fit in quite alot of sight seeing- The genocide museum S21, the Killing Fields, The Royal palace and the silver Pagoda as well as all 3 markets.

The accomodation out here is really good, on arriving i didn't really know what to expect, despite being shown picutres by alice at the training day i was still unsure of where we would be living, but was very pleasantly suprised. As i'm sure you know, we have our own house between the three of us, so we all have our own room and our own space, 2 bathrooms and a nice dining area. Perhaps i'm a bit biased since i love asian cuisine, but the food is really good, and it's lovely not to have to worry about doing it myself. We hope to try and do a cookery lesson at some point before we leave and have seen lots of places where we can do that so when we come back we'll all be professional Khmer chefs!

On thursday we start our next part of the project, and it seems very strange that we have already finsihed at trailblazers and the orphanage.

I really loved working at the orphanage - the children are all very loving and when we arrived on the first day a couple of them ran up to us and gave us big hugs. I found that i had a passion for teaching and am quite sad that that part is over, although we've promised to go back and visit the kids
before we leave.

Vietnam_Cycling_Tours_Rice_Planting

Working at trail blazers was quite an experience!! visiting the villages where trailblazers was helping out was very interesting, and a great way to see what rural life in cambodia is like. This was definately the best part of working there, although we did meet some lovely people whilst we were working at the base in siem reap, washing sand etc. On one trip out to one of the villages we were most definately the star attraction for that day if not the entire week/month, with the whole village crowding round us and
wanting to get a good look at us!

We're looking forward to the next part of the project and will keep you
updated on how that goes.

Laura, Vivienne and Maud!

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Name: Kim Leong & Family from Singapore (2 adults & 1 child 13 years old)
Date: 11-12 June 2009 (Angkor Cycling 2 Days)

Consider the first time to Cambodia. It is amazing and eye opener for us on this trip. Our request for a supporting vehicle because of my daughter and also we just book for 2 days cycling and we were provided a supporting vehicle along with us. Excellent cycling guide, helpful, understanding cycling team and support driver.

The 2 days trip covers different routes and destinations. In addition to seeing some of the temples in Siem Reap, we were given an excellent tour on the historical facts, the culture, boat ride at the lake and surely not forgetting the visit to one of the home in the village where we carried out some community work with the cycling team.

Our appreciation to the cycling team and effort for providing an unforgettable and memorable trip for us.

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Name: Audrey Huang & Mr. Chris (USA)
Date: 11 - 18 May 2009 (Cycling Angkor to Sihanouk Ville)

We really enjoyed the bike tour. Both the driver, An Souk and the guide, San Bouen, were EXCELLENT. We really enjoyed their company and their knowledge. Bouen is an exceptional guide and his knowledge of the temples was comprehensive. Overall, we really liked the trip. Thank you so much for helping us arrange it.

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Names: William Minton, Rowan Gaffney, Louise Kavanagh, Johanne Nelson, Catherine Morpeth, Hector Witt, Rachel Dixon, Alexandra Locker, Daniel Jarrett (U.K)
Dates: 1 April to 10 June 2009 (Gap Year Volunteer Group 6-10 Weeks)

Everything is great here thanks. Most of the placements I found great. Although despite seeing the benefit of the work we were doing I didn't feel that the trailblazers placement was that great. Only one person really took the time to explain anything. The other placements that the 10 weekers did I found particularly good. I think that if it is possible for the 6 weekers to experience maybe one of the placements they would gain alot from it.

We really got under the skin the country and managed to feel like we were helping where it was really needed and mixing with lovely people.

The house is lovely and we are really enjoying the placements and the tuk tuk driver are really funny!
No problems to report and all three of us are travelling afterwards around Thailand as well.

Thanks,

Rowan Will and Cat xx

Apologies for not getting in contact thoughout the last ten weeks, internet time was so valuable and went so quickly!

But it was the most amazing experience that I'll never forget, and it's all thanks to you at The Leap, because I'd never have heard about it otherwise. So thankyou!

Thankyou so much for all the support and help, it's been invaluable.

Catherine Morpeth

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Name: Hugh, Fiona and Sarah Stocker 03pax (New Zealand)
Dates: 14-19 February 2009 (Angkor Adventure 6 Days/ 5 Nights)

We enjoyed our stay in Cambodia very much, and thought the cycle guide Mr. B San was excellent. His knowledge of the history of Cambodia and the temple sites was excellent. He was always friendly and and helpful.

Your company provided good value for money, was reliable and provided all the things you said you would. We would be happy to recommend your company to other tourists.

Thank you very much for a wonderful experience.

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Lara Chapple, Rosie Cornick (UK)
Date: 6 January to 16 March 2009 (Gap Year Volunteer 10 Weeks)

I have just filled in the post scheme questionnaire but I also wanted to include a letter to say thank you again for everything. Our fantastic experience with The Leap was brought sharply in to focus when we did a volunteer project with another company, which was a disaster.

This was the single best experience of my life, everyone was so helpful and made the whole process really easy. Socheat our project leader was beyond incredible…I only have good things to say! I had never done anything like this before but I know that all of my expectations were exceeded.

The morning work in Samrong village was amazing. It was really good fun weaving the baskets (although I struggled a bit with the mats)! In the same way as the well, it was amazing to see a tangible finished project. I have so many pictures of her house in various stages of being built and finally when it was finished! It was a really amazing thing to be a part of. Building the paddy field was the hardest work I have ever done! It was particularly bad when it got to the point when Socheat turned around on the way back home and said, "It's getting really hot now". You can only imagine how hot Lara and I were!! It is also very cool to know that the next placement is going to be planting that field we laboured over!

I will never forget Cambodia and my experience there and I know I speak for Lara and our families as well when I say how well looked after and safe we felt. Thank you again for everything!

X Love Rosie Cornick x

Thank you so much for your email. I really appreciate all your efforts.

I mainly wanted to share with you, what an incredible experience we are all having. Though I am speaking on behalf of the others, we all talk a lot about how we feel about Cambodia, and I well and truly believe that you have given us every angle on the country. For that, I am eternally grateful. I have never been so involved, and felt like I'm truly being of service in a place before. Siem Reap is beautiful! I am very excited about returning there, and the new arrangements sound superb. Pnom Penh is fantastic! I was shocked (in a positive way, if that makes sense) byt the poverty that is ousted from the main city. It is a real privilege to be able to see how the majority live, and, not to sound overly cheesy, but it is certainly teaching me a lot, as it's a true awakening.

The highlight at Trailblazer was certainly going out to deliver the filters, and seeing the rural communtities. Teaching at the orphanage there was such fun, and they have made tremendous progress in building the place in the short period I was there for. The children's English is surprisingly fluent!

Here, the work is beautifully hard. I love waking up knowing I will see something that I am sure to remember. The Monks are a dream, they really are. Though I feel very attached to those adorable kids at the pagoda already. They are fast learners, and refuse to have a break from their lessons. The Nuns and kids at the afternoon school are just as bright and gorgeous! It is a pleasure teaching them. Plus I have aquired a new flower-making skill from my visit ti the community this morning.

Of course, I have so much else to say, but I thought I would touch base and thank you for allowing me such an experience. It is more than what I could have asked for on this placement, and I really mean that.

Lara.

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Joelle Dunne, Katherine Brashaw, Natasha South, Hannah Standring (UK)
Date: 6 January to 16 February 2009 (Gap Year Volunteer Group 6 Weeks)

All is well here, you guys have done an amazing job at organizing us! We have met other people with different organizations who have not had such good experiences.

Socheat is the perfect project host and has been looking after us very well. The family we are staying with are lovely and I think everyone is pretty much happy with the way things are :)

The work is good, think we like the orphanage more then Trailblazers, we seem to clock watch a bit there but it's fine and does break the day up. Cambodia is an amazing country and I'm loving Siem Reap so far so no complaints from me!

Joelle

I am home now and already Cambodia seems very far away!

Socheat and his family are amazing, you have found a gem there. If we need anything we ask him and he is very helpful. He is doing the volunteer work in Phnom Penh with us as well so he really cares.

In terms of the work I have really enjoyed everything we have done. It's great that we have had such variety but at the same time I have felt as though we have had enough time to make a difference.

Katherine Brashaw

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Name: Financial Design for Life (AFA Rising Star Winner) 14people (Australia)

Dates: 31st Jan - 01st Feb 2009 CYCLING CHALLENGE (2 Days Angkor)

The group had a great time your service was excellent. Chris Browne (Tour Leader)

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Name: Jenny Gould (Australia)
Date: 28th Dec 2008 to 06th Jan 2009 (Cambodia Trekking & Cycling Trip)

My time in Cambodia well exceeded any expectations that I had of the country and especially the organized tour. Being the only person on the tour gave me an incredibly high level of personalized service by Socheat and several local guides, particularly Rith. You were both so knowledgeable in all areas of the temples, museums, villages, locals and surrounding areas as well as being personable and very easy to get along with. It was a pleasure being in your company. The itinerary covered the regular tourist spots along with many less visited and traveled. A particular highlight for me was the village stay at Chambok – the happy village life makes you realize that you don’t need material objects to be happy. The balance between trekking and cycling was perfect and was a much more enjoyable way of getting around with the perfect weather. I can still taste the jack fruit in my mouth and I’m missing the fish soups every day.

Thank you for such a fantastic trip, I can’t wait to get to Vietnam and catch up with you again in the next 12 months!

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The holiday was excellently organized with a good diversity of activities, accommodation etc. Restaurants were good and you were flexible with Sue's requests. Thank you for finding all the fruit many of which I had never had and some which Sue had not tasted. We were very well looked after. We enjoyed the home stay in Chambok as it made us appreciate electricity and facilities elsewhere. Dara (the driver for support vehicle) was very helpful and seemed to enjoy the trip which also helps.

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Names: Peter (England), Waifong Yip (Malaysia) & Soira Stone (New Zealand)
Date: 16th to 25th November 2008 (Cambodia Discovery Trip)

We have enjoyed traveling around Cambodia especially the cycling. The Khmers are a friendly bunch of people. Boeun was very informative and helpful. He was always making sure that we were ok and looked after us very well. You have been very good. It was very much appreciated. The drivers we had were very good, helpful and friendly. We liked Steung Siem Reap Hotel and Goldiana Hotel in Phnom Penh very much as the staff were helpful and friendly and the pools were nice. The home-stay in Beng Melea had good scenery. Overall you and your team have done a great job organizing the tour for us. We will definitely recommend your travel company and to our friends and families.

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Names: Singapore International Golf Hub (12 people)
Date: 05th to 08th August 2008 (Cambodia Golf Tour)

Sofitel Royal Angkor Hotel is nice. We really enjoyed the 02 golf courses of 18 holes at Sofitel Phukeetra Golf and Angkor Golf Courts. The green at Sofitel Phukeetra is better. The tour at the temple was great. All the ladies enjoyed the half day Spa package at Shinta Mani while we were playing golf. Thank you to look after them well. Thank you so much also to offer complementary massages to all our men at the Sofitel.

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Names: Marcia & Paul Secord (USA)
Dates: 08th-12th January 2008 (Cambodia Bird Watching Trip)

A fantastic trip - with the temples Angkor a high point (one of many) for me! Our guide there, Sophoan Rath, was especially good - we highly recommend him for future tours. He was able to show us a large temple some miles out in the country, which was much appreciated and a bit of an extra effort for him.

We a still amazed that everything, and I do mean everything, worked so well - right down to the flights home.