September 19, 2018

Siem Reap Travel Diary: Tanei Boutique Villas

I’m one of those people who believes that travel breaks down routines, monotony and brings back some adventure, excitement, and exploration to people’s lives. For the most part of last year, my life was just pre-occupied with work, blogging-related events and random brunches and night-outs with friends. Nothing really spectacular or mind-blowing. And that, if not for most people, will cause some burn-out. And nothing can cure that for me than board a plane or a boat or a bus and go somewhere, wherever... You know, to fall in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met. (Yes, I got that from a quote which I like so much.)




Together with three of my friends, we planned for an out-of-the country multi-city trip. And these places were our dream destinations for years now. This trip was supposed to happen last 2016 but got put off for unforeseen reasons. Since June of 2017, after booking our flights, I’ve been looking forward to the day when we finally get to board the plane and start our 6-day journey. 

You know how that can be daunting, waiting for around 6 months for something to finally happen. The main airport in Manila is near where I work, and almost every few minutes I can hear airplanes passing by, and I would be so disconsolate thinking about when I’ll get to board one of those planes again and wishing that I can fast-forward time and make it December already. And then time flew fast and it was December.




I couldn’t be more excited as I’ve already done all that I need to do, bought all that I need to bring, planned even the outfits I’ll wear and started packing 2 weeks before the trip. The destination? Siem Reap, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand. For the next several posts, I’ll be writing a series about our Siem Reap trip and then we’ll get to Bangkok later on. These blog post series won't be about our itinerary or a guide or review (because for sure there are a hundreds of that already on the internet) but will tackle about my experience during this trip and all other thoughts. Besides this is written 6 months past that trip so this will be more of a reminiscing journal. 




Since me and my friends will only stay in Siem Reap for a day and half, I looked for a place to stay that is very affordable yet still comfortable for us. After spending days searching for one in most hotel booking websites, I finally booked Tanei Boutique Villa. I decided to pick them among the ones I looked into because of their price points, location, the facilities and perks that they were offering at that time and that they were the only one who responded to my queries timely. 




We board a plane to Siem Reap on a late night flight and arrived around 10 or 11pm. The hotel we were staying at sent Sarath with his tuk-tuk to pick us up! We were excited that our first taste or experience of Siem Reap was already so authentic. And I loved it while we were driving along the streets of Siem Reap to our hotel, because Siem Reap looks just like any suburban/slightly rural areas in the Philippines too except that the signages are in Cambodian.




Our tuktuk driver and tour guide, Sarath (who speaks very good English btw) suggested that we take the Angkor Complex tour the first thing the next morning which everyone agreed to. We have to be up by 3am the following day so we were not able to go out of the hotel to get some grub or even check out Pub Street. We just cleaned up and went straight to bed.




Tanei Boutique Villa is one of the finest boutique hotel in Siem Reap. Located on a quiet lane, yet very close to points of interests in Siem Reap like Phsa Chas (Old Market), Pub Street and Angkor Night Market and reasonable distance from the airport and the Angkor Wat complex.

We were greeted by an English speaking staff; he and Sarath carried our luggage and ushered us to our room at the second floor. Our room was huge with a huge veranda overlooking the pool and the garden at the ground floor. Plus free wi-fi, yey!




Our Deluxe Family room came airport transfer (both ways), welcome drink (bottled waters), early/express/late check-in and breakfast for 4 persons which was packed for us and that we ate after touring Angor Wat. If we didn’t take the Angkor Wat Sunrise tour, we would have availed their breakfast buffet instead.

The room was huge with two comfortable big beds with clean linens. In our room, we also found a phone, cable TV, mini-bar, fan, coffee making facility, slippers, large open closet, menu book and other info cards. The air-conditioning ran well too. The comfort room had ready toiletries, towels and hot/cold shower. As for the cleanliness of the comfort room, it wasn’t immaculately clean like that of high-range hotels but you won’t feel icky about it; yet could improve in this aspect. The hotel has its own restaurant, laundry and pressing services, jacuzzi and pool. Unfortunately we didn’t had the time to swim or chill at the pool as we leave for Bangkok on our second day. 




I like to commend our tuk-tuk driver and tour guide, Sarath. He’s very nice, respectful and helpful. He just let us take our time to roam around the temples and in the city. I've also come to know his life story during this trip and I believe he's a good hardworking man. If you happen to find yourself in Siem Reap, please tip your tuktuk drivers reasonably, even if it's little and don't go haggling too much, just make sure they follow standard tour prices. They're just people also trying to make a living.

Oh by the way, I recently checked their website and Facebook page and learned that they made a couple of renovations around the compound. The front desk is now near the gate and the former front desk area is now a patio with lounge areas near the pool. I lifted some photos from their website so you can check it out. If ever I’ll go back to Siem Reap, there’s high probability that I’ll stay at Tanei Boutique Villa again.



TANEI BOUTIQUE VILLAS
#017, Steng Thmey, Svaydongkhum,
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Contact No: +855 12 757 867
Email: info@taneiguesthouse.com   
Website: www.taneiguesthouse.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Tanei-Boutique-villa-Siem-Reap-Angkor-Wat



Read more of my Siem Reap 2017 trip:
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Tanei Boutique Villas
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Prasat Bayon: Temple of the Mysterious Stone Face Towers 
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Prasat Ta Phrom
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Banana Tree Restaurant and Bar
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Old Market
Siem Reap 2017 Travel Diary: Temple Bar at Pub Street



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1 comment:

  1. Hello
    Wow!
    Wonderful place!
    Thanks for sharing!
    Beautifulphotos too!
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