The arrangements to hire Kimseng were made by one of the friends with whom I traveled to Cambodia. We arranged to go out to see sunrise at Angkor Wat and Kimleng was at the hotel just before 4.00 am. We arrived at the temples and sat for ages at the side of a large lake - but no sunrise! It was one of those mornings when it was overcast and the sun was hidden. What we thought were temple towers turned out to be trees - we were disappointed and a bit concerned that the day was going to be a bust.

But Kimseng quickly redeemed himself. He took is to Ta Phom and what an experience that was. We were the first visitors to the site that day and had it to ourselves. He pointed out many, many architectural features and suggested pointed out good shots. As it was a still and misty morning I ended up with some great shots of the trees growing on the site with the sun filtering through. Then a walk along the back roads with a chance to photograph giant spiders, water buffalo and some kids singing Frere Jacques! We sang along with them and everyone burst out laughing and had a good time! We spent a good 2 hours at Ta Phom and were getting hungry so we went to the Khmer Kitchen and had a very good breakfast (Kimleng's choice) which fortified us for a long visit to Bayon. Again Kimleng found us the good photo stops and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this spectacular site. We returned to Siem Reap for lunch and siesta and Kimleng picked two of us up for visits to the Elephant and Leper terrances and then to some small ruined temples in a quiet, wooded glen away from the main sites - a special place.

The next day Kimleng took us to some of the lesser known temples before taking us to Angkor Wat itself. He had been trying to get us there when it was less busy but we seemed to have hit a day when there were many coach tours all day long. But he knew how to avoid the crowds and we did see a lot of this huge temple complex. It was mid-afternoon by the time we were there and it was exceptionally hot - we really appreciated his ice-cold water and frozen face cloths!

Some of our party was leaving for Bangkok but the two of us remaining in Siem Reap booked him again on our last day. Unfortunately a touch of tummy trouble prevented me from going but my friend had a wonderful day at some small temples and then visited a school and a village.

For four of us for two days Kimleng charged under $100! A bargain! We gave him a tip of an equivalent amount and still felt we had been undercharged! My friend spent half that (I think)+ tip on her half-day plus trip.

Overall aside from the non-existent sun-rise, we were well pleased with our trips with Kimleng and can thoroughly recommend him. He is friendly, conscientious, knowledgeable, and you feel you are being given a day out with a good friend. He aims to educate the visitor and he talked about life in today's Cambodia and spoke of the troubled time period when he was growing up. All in all an enlightening experience.

My time on this trip was priceless and way above my expectations even though my expectations were high!
I never expected to discover the water villages and be invited into homes and paddle around this unique community. KImleng gains access to the culture effortlessly. Without Kimleng I wouldn't have even know about all of the unique and special places we visited.
Kimleng's English is perfect and sharing time with him was really the highlight of the trip. I'll be back again to visit Cambodia now that I know it is not just a 4 day sight seeing place and now that I know how much more there is to discover.
Anyone would be lucky to come across Kimleng on their trip to Cambodia