Cambodia Welcome - Raffles Grande

As many of you know, we have a thing for Cambodia. I am pretty sure it's the smiling, friendly people. When we planned the honeymoon, we couldn't resist returning to this magical country to see it's two greatest treasures - its people and its temples.

When we planned the honeymoon I think we were ambitious. In our defense, we didn't know we would be living in Singapore when we planned it. This made our Southeast Asia plans very convenient for our "return flight," but it meant that maybe we didn't have to pack in 5 locations in 15 days. We learned our lesson in Japan (kinda) when we decided to nix Kyoto and dig in in Tokyo for a variety of reasons. Well, this time we were supposed to stay just two nights in Cambodia then travel northward to it's poorer neighbor, Lao. We had been to Lao once before, but just to Vientiane, the dusty sleepy capital. This time we were bound for Luang Prabang for waterfall-gazing, temple-viewing, cultural immersion.

Well, the night we landed in Cambodia, our final honeymoon stop, the thought of Lao was exhausting. We promptly cancelled our hotel and flights, extended our stay at the Raffles, and booked a return from Siem Reap. This decision coincided with uncovering Siem Reap's actually bustling gay nightlife and finding a bar we really liked with drag shows every night. More on that later, obviously. Barcode is a new gay bar we discovered and was the site of the Lao no-go decision. I think it was somewhere around this spot:


You can't see it in this picture but there is a small stage to the left where the nightly drag show occurs. This drag show was pretty weak technically, but scored high marks in the entertainment category. The place was not too busy but we liked it - it was trying in earnest.

Seeing as it was our honeymoon, we decided at just about every turn to dial up the luxury. The initial Siem Reap thinking was to do a rustic, rural homestay. That fell apart a few weeks before because we decided to just go for the full on pampering and booked at the Raffles. Upon arrival we dropped the "honeymoon line" (this line makes me very uncomfortable, but you only get to use it once so I eventually got into it). Now, up until this point, the honeymoon line had gotten us a whole lotta "cannots" instead of any perks. Sure, we got the obligatory congratulations and a few extra decorations on desserts that we had ordered anyway, but it literally didn't get us anything free or any extra perks. Until now.

Determined, I approached the check in concierge about our nuptials and borderline demanded something. I mean, this was the RAFFLES. I'm SURE they get this kind of thing all the time and have a policy on it. Well, whether it was policy or not, it worked and we got a heavily (and I mean heavily) discounted rate on their most luxurious suite! The place had two rooms, two bathrooms, a canopy bed, two porches, and direct pool access. Observe:



I know what you're thinking - WHERE ARE THE TOWEL SWANS?! The porter apologized profusely for the error and insisted it wasn't an oversight, they just didn't have time since we switched rooms last minute. We forgave him.

My favorite part of this room is the elephant statue: 

The bathrooms were lovely. 

They DID have time to retrieve the champagne - YAY! 

As we were settling in, one of the porters knocked on the door asking if we would like some Chiclets. We didn't quite believe he actually meant to bring us little gums, but after several attempts at clarifying, we were certain that's what we would get. Then these arrived. Their accent is so cute.

The Raffles is old-world luxury, and the prices remind you of that. It was our honeymoon so we bit the bullet, but under no normal circumstances would we have indulged so much. The luxury here is really in the service. The staff is tremendous and attentive and smiley. We had coffee every morning a la butler service.

Sometimes we would enjoy the coffee on our balcony(ies). 

The grounds are very lush and the pool is downright amazing and the largest pool I have ever seen.

Some of the grounds. 

And me by the pool. 

And food by the pool. The food was GOOD even though it was western. We must have ordered the ($26) burger three times.



Calling the Raffles home for 5 nights was a perfect ending to our honeymoon. We did several major activities (helicopter ride!! - more on that later) in Siem Reap, but it was made all the more special by the time we spent doing absolutely nothing poolside at the Raffles Grande. Hotels rarely get their own blog post. Then again, they rarely convince you to cancel other parts of your vacation. The Raffles Grande was that good!