Nightlife

Siem Reap is a town where most visitors are up with the sun and out visiting the temple sites, but there are a few good evening options.

Apsara dance is an ancient art in Cambodia. Dancers in traditional gilded costume practice their slow art: elegant contortions of a dancer's wrists. Combined with a fine buffet dinner in the traditional indoor banquet-house theater, contact the folks at the Angkor Village (tel. 063/963-561) to make reservations for the nightly show. Dinner begins at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30pm (tickets cost $22/£12).

The Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor has a similar show in an open pavilion on the lawn at the front of the hotel. Times and performances vary so be sure to call tel. 063/963-888 in advance. Most hotels have a performance space, and many small restaurants have shows of varying quality.

Okay, admittedly this one is pretty kitschy, but the kids might like it: Cambodia Cultural Center, far west of Siem Reap on the airport road (Svay Dongkum; tel. 063/963-836) holds a host of shows and all-day events, including a mock Khmer wedding and Apsara dance. Call for current offerings, as the program varies. If you don't like the performance, take heart that you can walk the grounds, set around a large central pond, spend some time in Cambodia's only wax museum, walk among all of Cambodia's sights done in miniature, or visit various exhibits of village life and rural skill. You can even get around in an electric car. This one's most popular with Asian tour groups.

Dr. Beat (Beatocello) Richner plays the works of Bach and some of his own comic pieces between stories and vignettes about his work as director of the Kantha Bopha Foundation, a humanitarian hospital just north of the town center. Admission is free, but donations are accepted in support of their valiant efforts to serve a steady stream of destitute patients, mostly children, who suffer from treatable diseases such as tuberculosis. Dr. Richner is as passionate about his music as he is about his cause. You're in for an enjoyable, informative evening. Performances are every Saturday at 7:15pm just north of the town center on the road to the temples.

Bars & Clubs

There are a few popular bars near the Old Market in Siem Reap. Below are just a few. Most nightlife centers around what has become the de facto "Bar Street" in the center of the Old Market area, where lots of hip little spots hop into the late evening (usually 2am and sometimes later). It's a great place to swap tales of temple touring and meet up with other travelers.

The Angkor What? (Pub Street, 1 block west of the Old Market; tel. 012/490-755) was the first -- and still the most popular -- one here, more or less where it's at in Siem Reap. Sign your name on the wall and say "Hi" to all the folks you met that day at the temples or on highways and byways elsewhere. Easy Speaking Café and Pub, just next to the busy Angkor What?, handles the spillover. A similar crowd stays late. Buddha Lounge (tel. 012/865-332), in the same area, also rocks late and has a free pool table.

Ivy Bar is a popular expat haunt. Works of local photographers line the wall, and this is the office away from the office for lots of travel writers and correspondents. It's just on the northwest corner of the market (tel. 012/800-860).

Dead Fish Tower (tel. 063/963-060), on the main road heading toward the temples, is set up like the rigging of a tall ship, with precarious perches, funky nooks, and unique drinks.

Laundry (tel] 016/962-026) is the funky side of Siem Reap. When the temple town gets psychedelic and stays up really late, this is where it happens. On a side street to the north of the Old Market, it's open nightly, but usually hosts special events that you'll see promoted all around town.

Linga (North of Old Market; tel. 012/246-912) is a gay bar that attracts a decent mixed crowd to their 2-story corner location overlooking the small side street and the traffic on Mundul 1 Village St. The walls have psychedelic paintings of Buddhist monks.

Molly Malone's (Bar Street, across the street and west of Red Piano Bar; tel. 063/965-576) is the hippest pub in town. They've got local expats playing live music, a mix of original songs and covers of crowd pleasers like old Beatles and Roberta Flack numbers. The bar is fully stocked with a fine selection of Irish whisky and they've got a good stock of imported beer.