• Cambodia Tours
  • Package Tours
  • Excursions
  • Customized Tours
  • Trip Styles
• Country Facts
  • History
  • Art
  • Culture
  • Nature
  • Photo Gallery
• Cambodia Hotels
  • Siem Reap
  • Phnom Penh
  • Sihanoukville
  • Battambang
  • Other Places
• Travel Info
  • Trip Notes
  • Responsible Travel
  • Travel Advices
  • Booking Conditions
  • How To Book
• Travel Services
  • Transportation
  • Visa

GREEN ELEPHANT TRAVEL
GREEN ELEPHANT TRIP NOTES

• Travel Insurance is essential. You have to be covered, in minimum, for medical expenses including emergency repatriation. Please bring a copy of your travel insurance policy as well as the insurance company’s 24 hour emergency contact number to give to your tour leader in case of illness. If you join the holiday without adequate insurance, you may not be allowed to travel with us, with no right of refund. Please make sure you are able to present the appropriate documents during the group meeting of the first day of your trip. Note that Green Elephant Travel is unable to accept insurance provided by a credit card issuer.
• You are also strongly advised to be covered for personal liability, cancellation, curtailment and loss of luggage and personal effects. Green Elephant Travel shall not be liable for all this kind of occurrence.
• For Cambodia, a visa is required for all nationalities except Laos, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. It is your responsibility to obtain this visa. You can usually obtain it very easily when arriving in Cambodia by plane. Tourist visas (30 days, single entry) are issued on arrival at Phnom Penh or Siem Reap for US$20 and a passport photo. If you do not have a passport photo with you, you will have to pay a supplement. At land border, the tourist visa costs between US$20 and US$30. If you need a contact address in the destination for the visa application form, please give either the name and address of your meeting point hotel or the address of our company in Siem Reap. As regulations change frequently you are advised to obtain your visa in advance, or at least to contact your Cambodian Embassy or Consulate for up to date information shortly before you travel. Green Elephant Travel cannot accept responsibility for anyone who is refused entry to Cambodia because they lack the correct documentation.
• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months beyond the intended length of stay with at least two blank pages. You are strongly advised to bring with you good photocopies of all your documents and keep them in a separate place to wherever you keep your passport.
• You will receive, by email, two vouchers – a transfer voucher and a travel voucher – after you have fully paid the booking price. You have to print these vouchers and bring them with you. You are requested to give the transfer voucher to the driver waiting for you at the airport on arrival on day one of your trip. You will be asked to show the travel voucher on arrival at the hotel and you have to give it to your tour leader at the first meeting.

• The official unit of currency in Cambodia is the Khmer Riel (KHR), however US$ are used everywhere in the country. If you bring cash, be careful to bring new and clean banknotes, or you risk that they are not accepted. It is very useful to bring some notes of smaller denomination. The exchange rate is usually roughly KHR4000 for US$1, so if you give US$2 for something which costs KHR6000, you will usually receive back KHR2000. For exact currency conversion, you can consult the following website : www.xe.com.
• We advise you to bring US$ currency and traveller’s cheques as they are easiest to exchange. Credit Card advances are possible at banks but can be expensive. ATM’s have been recently installed almost everywhere, making it easy to withdraw cash. If there is no ATM at one of your future destinations, your tour leader will keep you informed of this in advance to give you the opportunity of withdrawing money before departing.
• On Day One, a local payment of US$100 will be collected by your tour leader. It is to be paid in cash, with new clean notes preferably in denominations of US$50 or US$100. The local payment is the final part of your overall tour cost and you won’t be allowed to join the tour until the completion of the tour payment. Please note that the local payment is not refundable. This local payment enables us to keep very low prices elsewhere.
• In case of unexpected events, such as (but not limited to) natural disaster, human conflict or adverse weather conditions, which would necessitate a change to our itinerary, please make sure you have access to an additional US$300. This is very rare but we must be prepared for every possibility.

• Arrival transfers are included if you arrive in Siem Reap on the morning of Day One providing that you inform our office in Siem Reap of your flight details by email at least one week before your arrival (in this case, be sure that you received a confirmation of reception before your departure) or by phone at least two hours before your arrival in Siem Reap (during transit). Your driver will be waiting for you as you leave the customs hall, holding a Green Elephant Travel sign with your name. If you decide to use a public taxi, you should pay about US$5 to the hotel (the prices can fluctuate with the petrol rate). Even though you should not need our assistance, you will be able to call our emergency phone number that you will receive after confirmation of your booking. We will be pleased to help you.

• You can arrive anytime during the morning before the group meeting at Noon. When arriving at the hotel, you will need to show your GET voucher at the reception desk to get your room and pick up a note from your tour leader confirming the time and location of the meeting. The group meeting will be followed by a welcome lunch.
• To the meeting, please bring your passport and a good photocopy of it, your travel insurance policy and emergency phone number, your travel voucher, US$100 in new clean notes for the local payment and a passport photo for the Angkor pass. Your tour leader will check that you have the adequate documents, collect the local payment and give you some information about your trip.

• If for any reason you are unable to arrive at Noon on Day One of the trip, please contact your joining point hotel and ask to speak with your tour leader or leave him a message. Your are allowed to join the tour you booked on the way, however the additional cost needed to meet up with your group is at your own expense. Note also that no refund is available on missed transfers or sections of your trip owing to a different or delayed flight arrival and so, you will have to pay the local payment in full.

• MODERATE : This trip can be enjoyed by almost anyone in good health. A basic level of fitness is required to carry personal luggage on and off transportation and up hotels steps. Your itinerary includes easy to moderate walking and sightseeing. Please note that some stairs in the temple are steep, can become quite strenuous and can be a little daunting for people suffering of vertigo. However it is always possible to avoid them so everybody shall be able to enjoy the visit to Angkor.

• All GET travellers need to be in good health in order to participate fully in the trip. If you have any medical condition or disability which may affect your holiday, you must advise us in writing at the time of booking giving full details. If we feel unable to properly accommodate your particular needs, we reserve the right to decline or cancel your booking. We reserve the right to exclude someone from all or part of the itinerary without refund if in the opinion of our tour leader the completion of the itinerary puts him/her or the rest of the group in danger. It is important that you read carefully the itinerary to be sure you are able to complete it, and please consult this with your doctor if you have any doubts.
• If you have any personal medication, be sure that you have enough for the entire duration of the trip, some medicines can be difficult to find in Cambodia. Medicines in frequent use must be carried in your hand-luggage.
• If you suffer of allergy, such as with iodine or penicillin, please keep your tour leader informed of this in case of an accident.

• Recommendations about vaccinations and anti-malarial requirements can change a little bit from country to country. For this reason, we advise you to consult your doctor about the prophylaxis s/he recommends.
• There is no yellow fever in Asia but if you come from an infected area, and in case of an epidemic in this area, even if you are only in this area for transit, this vaccination will be compulsory.
• It is important to protect yourself against mosquito bites even if you take anti-malarial treatment. Note that different forms of the parasite exist; furthermore, resistances against some pharmaceuticals appeared in some regions, especially in south-east Asia. For these reasons it is important that you do not use medicine you still have from previous journeys without consulting your doctor about their real efficiency in your destination.
• We recommend that you carry a basic medical kit with you that you should prepare with your doctor. Please understand that for legal reasons our tour leader cannot administrate any type of drugs. Even drugs as common as aspirin are not tolerated by some people.

• Please be aware that GET reserves the right to modify the itinerary in short notice if the conditions may require so, to ensure the safety of our passengers.
• If water levels are low the journey from Siem Reap to Battambang will be overland. The Tonle Sap Lake presents its lowest level at the end of the dry season, in March and April.
• The restaurants indicated in the itinerary are subject to modification for various reasons (availability, annual or definitive closing, late arrival).

• All the activities mentioned in the itinerary are included. Note that they are not refundable if you decide not to participate. All other activities you decide to do are at your own expense.

• Accommodation is provided in the form of 3-4 stars hotels in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. In others cities, the range of hotels is more limited and accommodation can be more basic.
• Single travellers are paired in twin share rooms with someone of the same gender. Single accommodation is available on request and implies the payment of a single supplement.
• People who desire to share the same room are kindly requested to inform us of their wish at the moment of booking, as well as their preference for twin rooms or double rooms (we will take this into account whenever possible as some guesthouses offer only twin rooms).

• When meals are included in the trip price, your group leader will accompany the group on booked restaurants (apart from the very expensive places) where most of the time a set menu will be served. All restaurants are carefully selected to give you the best of Khmer food and atmosphere. There is of course no obligation to follow the group if you prefer to try another place. However, note that the cost of the meals included will not be refunded if you decide to eat somewhere else.
• People with a specific diet or food allergy are kindly requested to inform us of this at the time of booking. Vegetarian meals are almost always available apart from at some of the more basic places. Nevertheless, steamed rice is served everywhere. A soft vegan-diet is normally not too difficult to follow as dairy products are not used in Khmer cooking and eggs easily avoidable.

• Illegal drug use, use of prostitutes and racial behaviour toward people in the group or local people is not tolerated. The local leader has the right to exclude someone of the trip without refund if s/he is found in possession of drugs, uses prostitutes or displays inappropriate behaviour.
• Please ensure that you have read through our Booking Conditions carefully and make sure you have understood them before completing and submitting your signed booking form.

• Tourism can have both a positive and a negative impact on local people and the environment. We aim to reduce the negative impacts of tourism and increase the positive.
• As Air Travel is one of the fastest growing causes of Global Warming and as the worst emissions are during take off and landing, all our itineraries were designed in a way to avoid flying inside Indochina. This way, we hope to minimise carbon emissions.
• By travelling with us, you will see the best places in Indochina, learn about its history and culture, eat the best Khmer food, have as much fun as possible, but our aim as well as being your guide, is to advise you to help us minimise the negative impact on the environment during your stay. We hope you will respect our local traditions and we will help you settle comfortably into the life in Indochina.
• Travelling with us means supporting the local people and communities. We aim to introduce travellers to the local cuisine and encourage them to use local products and services, in order to support the local restaurants and hotels, thus supporting the local economy. As we expand as a company, we create more and more jobs for local people, and especially for women. The way things stand at present there are not enough jobs for graduates and other educated professionals.
• Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam all have a tragic recent past of war, political troubles and poverty, the impacts of which are unfortunately still sorely present. We are strongly concerned about improving the quality of life for our peers and in this aim, a US$5 donation per travel bag is included in your trip price for every NGO visited (please see the list up).
• Choosing to travel with GET help us to raise funds for our charitable organization Kid’s Hope. The financial support we provide will ensure homeless and parentless children an education and better way of life as well as developing an infrastructure to a land so desperately in need.