Siem Reap · Backpacking

Food and beds are the cheap part; market plates run a dollar or two. It is the published fixed costs that add up: US$7 for a foreign adult at the Cambodia Landmine Museum, US$18–38 for a Phare circus seat, and the Angkor pass sitting on top of all of it.

The government's ticket office on the road out of town states on its own site that it is the only official seller, issuing one-, three- and seven-day passes covering ninety-odd temples. Anyone in town offering a cheap pass is selling you a problem at the checkpoint.

Angkor Wat is about six flat kilometres from town, and the small circuit past Angkor Thom, the Bayon and Ta Prohm is a comfortable day on a bicycle if you start before sunrise. Bikes hire cheaply all over the old quarter; you still need the pass.

Giant Ibis runs Siem Reap–Phnom Penh on the expressway and an overnight sleeper down to Sihanoukville for the islands, and its own site undercuts the guesthouse desk.

The park is huge and the middle of the day is unusable for much of the year, so going out at dawn and again at four gets you more per dollar of pass than eleven hours in the heat. Decide that first, then choose the pass length to match.