Before I ventured into travel blogging, I was a fashion and lifestyle blogger. I mostly did it for myself, but because I live in a small town, my blog gained traction and I later found myself being invited to events.

Because I believed that I had "made it" and that this was the "glamorous blogging life" everyone was talking about (it was the boom of the blogging era back then), I said yes to all (okay, most, cause I had "standards") opportunities and invites, even though they weren't fit for my niche, if only to have content to post and freebies (or money) out of it.

I realized that later, I didn't have the heart to write about things that I didn't care about or believed in. I used to believe that just because a company invited me to an event, I had to post their publicity material or what in exchange kasi nakakahiya, because it was what was "expected" of me, because I felt like I had to or at least I owed them this much.

When I stopped doing this, the invites stopped coming, and I realized that I was a tool--a marketing tool--and that these companies didn't care about me. My readers, who could feel the inauthenticity, didn't care about the things (pubmats and forced content I was paid to do) I was posting as well, which made my posts ineffective.

So I vowed to myself to keep it real. And since then, I've been careful about doing reviews on my blog. When my friends and I would try new places, they'd ask: "Are you gonna blog about this?" and I tell them that "only if I really loved my experience".

This is why I'm blogging about La Residence Blanc D' Angkor, where we stayed in Siem Reap.

We weren't initially supposed to stay here, but since we were trying to minimize our spending, we changed our hotel at the last minute, and we didn't regret it one bit!


Disclaimer: This post is from my own experience. I was not given anything in exchange for it. However, it contains affiliate links that allow me to earn a small commission every time you patronize the services I advertise, at no additional cost to you. I can assure you that all products and services I recommend on this blog are those I use and truly believe in.

Why La Residence Blanc D' Angkor?

Hotels and Resorts at Siem Reap are generally cheap (even for me, a Filipino! What more for Americans or Europeans?) but very luxurious. There are several of them that you could just keep coming back to Cambodia just to experience all of them. It doesn't help that Cambodians are also very hospitable and accommodating.

In an area that attracts so many tourists as Siem Reap does, and knowing the hotels and comfort are very affordable, you can literally just pluck any resort out of the Booking.com site based on your price range and still have a good stay.

So why should you pick La Residence Blanc D' Angkor?


It's small, it's not the top-rated hotel and resort in Siem Reap, it's not as luxurious compared to the others, but you should book it because of its service.

The Hotel

We booked Family Room for four, which was a large suite complete with two extra large king sized beds. When you book a room at LRBA, they automatically offer you complimentary roundtrip airport transfers, as many other hotels do.



When Leendolph and I arrived, we were greeted by Mr. Macara, the manager. I had indicated on my reservation that we were to arrive early, and that we booked a room for four. Unfortunately, he told me that it wasn't ready yet, and that the room was for 2 adults and 2 children. I showed him the booking we made that the website said it was for 4 adults and he said, he'll try to work something out and we were free to wait in the lobby.

Leendolph with our tuktuk driver

While waiting, the staff gave us complimentary drinks and cold towels to cool off. That was cool. I don't see hotels like Marco Polo (that's one of the best hotels in Davao) do that. The only place I experienced that in Davao was Pearl Farm.



I thought we would have to wait until 1pm for check-in, but about an hour later (maybe even 30 minutes), we were ushered into our room. Our room was similar to the one pictured above, but they added another bed (at no extra charge!!) because we were 4 adults and the other bed was only meant for children. I would've been fine with that set-up above cause their beds were already spacious and comfortable enough.

The beds also had my name formed in grass to welcome me. They didn't need to, but it was cute, appreciated and more importantly, made me feel welcome nonetheless. :)

Leendolph and I appreciated the huge beds and got dibs on the first two. I think we deserved it after sleeping in the Kuala Lumpur airport!! (#tipidpamore #earlyflightpamore) We also had a balcony, but didn't get to use it much.

My only issue was that the bathroom doors were made of glass, so when we showered or used the toilet, we could be seen! The bathroom area was separated by a huge wall though so unless you went there, you'd be seen. We took turns freshening up before heading to lunch.

Since it was raining and we were too lazy, we had lunch at their restaurant.

Lunch at the Restaurant

Their restaurant serves both Cambodian and Western dishes. I wanted to get Western food (after several days of Asian food!) but Leendolph was like, "We didn't come to Cambodia to eat spaghetti or burgers", so I got their recommended Beef Lok Lak, which is a traditional Khmer peppered beef dish, while Leendolph got Fish Amok, which is like a fish curry.

I guess I had apprehensions about Khmer cuisine because I had read about people not liking Cambodian cuisine because it was a bit bland for their taste.

When our food arrived, OHMYGOD. The servings were HUGE! Could it be possible that they cut up like, a 500g piece of beef for me?! It probably doesn't look like it, but it sure did feel like it!

my beef lok lak

Since we didn't have breakfast, round 2 kami sa kanin! (We had another serving of rice)

We were about to order rice when they said they can give us extra rice for free. (What. Di ako na-aware Mang Inasal levels pala to. But seriously, side note: the restaurants we went to at Cambodia always gave us extra rice for free when we asked. I don't know if it's a Cambodian thing though)

Despite my hunger, I still ended up not finishing my food. And it's not because the food wasn't great--it was! In fact, I was shocked when I tried my lok lak because it was flavorful and I liked it.

Guests get a 15% discount on food and drinks at the restaurant, by the way.

We bummed around for the day and while waiting for Mark and Emman to arrive, we watched the season finale of Game of Thrones.

We had dinner at Pub Street, which is quite close to the hotel but not too close that you'll hear the racket. A tuktuk ride for the 4 of us cost $3.

After dinner at Pub Street, we went back to the hotel for a night swim. We had to be up early the next day for our Angkor tour. The pool has a poolside bar too, by the way. if you want to get drinks.

The Kindness of Cambodians

The very next morning, we were given packed breakfast because we wouldn't be able to avail of the complimentary breakfast included in our room. We also told the staff that we'll be back at around 1pm for late check-out.

I think that was just fine cause at around 1pm, we decided we had seen enough temples for a day (plus it was already so hot!) that we decided to go back to the hotel.

When we arrived, Mr. Macara, the manager, was on duty. We told him, "Can we take a shower before we check out and leave our stuff here? We'll be leaving tonight for Phnom Penh via sleeper bus"

He asked, "What time is your bus leaving?". We said, "10pm"

AND DID YOU KNOW WHAT HE TOLD US NEXT???

"Oh okay. You can stay here until 9:59pm"

I thought I misunderstood him so I asked to make sure, "Oh we can't pay another day. We'll just get our stuff and go"

AND THEN HE SAID: "No, you can stay at no extra charge"

WHAT.

Other hotels would charge you an extra day if you left after checkout time, but here he was, basically giving us another free day. I wanted to cry at his kindness.

As if that wasn't enough, he also offered us a free tuktuk ride to the bus station.

Even though I felt like we were abusing too much of their kindness by staying, we still did. We were so tired and thanks to Mr. Macara, my friends and I were able to rest for a bit before leaving. I told them that we should give the staff a huge tip so we could at least repay them a little for their kindness.

We got out of the room earlier and waited for about 9pm to roll around before leaving for the station. Mr. Macara was still on duty.

"Mr. Macara, do you sleep here? Why are you still working?", I asked.

He told us that he does in fact, live at the hotel, and that he has tons of work to do. Like he trains the staff himself (the staff are local high school and college students, and are the best part of the place! So friendly and accommodating), attends meetings, etc.

It was nice that he got to chat with us a bit and tell us about the hotel and its owners, which was a Cambodian couple that also owned a few other hotels. They didn't have to put up this hotel, but they did because they wanted to give their fellow Cambodians jobs.

Also, he said, compared to the other hotels, this was their "budget" option. Funny because it felt anything but.


Immediately upon arriving, I posted about this on my Facebook page and my favorite Math seatmate from college Ayiene said she's stayed at the place and loved it! She would also be going to Cambodia the week after I was there and staying at the same place.

I made me so happy. I think that they deserve all the business they can get.

The next time you're planning to come to Siem Reap, I hope you keep La Residence Blanc D' Angkor in mind!



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