Heading to Cambodia-Any advice ?

dutch1

H guys. Im heading to SE Asia for a few months with the girlfriend, hitting Thailand, then Cambodia, then onto Vietnam.

I am totally in the dark on Cambodia but I will give it a shot, thinking of Siem reap then onto Phnom penh. Has anyone any experiencee in these two places ? Dont know much of them. I know Ankhor wat is close to Siem Reap so we will be visiting there.

What are the peoplle like/hotels/travel/how long to stay etc etc !!! Any advice appreciated

dutch1

Anybody ??

Gilldog

Hi Dutch1, reading your post made me seriously jealous!! I went to SE Asia (Thailand, Laos and Cambodia) for four months with some friends a few years ago and it was brilliant!!
Just a few places that I can remember were really great;

In Thailand – You’re probably gonna land in Bangkok but I’d say try and get out of there as soon as you can, after a few days the noise and smells and general hassle starts to get annoying…its still a great place but by the end of your trip you’ll probably have come through Bangkok a few times and seen enough of it…

the first place we went was an island called Koh Chang, its off the mainland area of Trat and to be honest we picked it because its supposed to be a little less crowded than say Koh Phangan or Phuket. Anyway, when we got there we hadn’t booked anywhere to stay and just happened to meet a guy who worked in a guesthouse called Jungle Way – so glad we did! It’s a really nice, relaxing little oasis in the middle of the jungle with a few little huts and friendly people. Its run by a family and we had a great time there just chilling out. While we were on Koh Chang we saw a lot of building going on so I reckon it’s a bit more built up now than it was, but still a great place to go.

If you have time on your side I would recommend going to Laos for a bit…we hadn’t planned it before we left but you can just buy a month’s visitor visa on the border. It’s a lot quieter than Thailand, and a little cheaper. We went tubing in Vang Vieng which is kind of a touristy place but was great fun for a few days, drinking and partying. Luang Probang is a slightly more expensive place but had nice food and some nice colonial buildings. I would say though that the food in Laos was just not up to scratch compared to Thailand…some of the local dishes were nice but overall the food was a bit crap. Before we headed to Cambodia we headed to the south of Laos to the Four Thousand Island, and stayed on Don Det and Don Khong

Don Det is a small island with limited electricity…they used electric generators and only had lights/ electricity from 6pm to 10pm every evening…they also brought ice over in boats every day from the mainland so it was quite basic, but again we had an amazing time, nice food, really chilled out place

Don Khong was a bigger island with electricity…not much to do as I remember, but if you do go there I’d recommend staying with a lovely Canadian/ Laos woman named Mali who runs the Mali Guesthouse – she was so lovely to us. The place itself is a little expensive compared to the rest of Laos but we ended up being there on Paddy’s Day and she made a fuss of us and generally just made us feel so welcome and lovely food.
http://maliguesthouse.com/html/home.html


As for Cambodia, my favourite places there were Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville and the island Koh Tao.

In Phnom Penh we stayed at the Drunken Frog Guesthouse and they again were lovely and had nice food (this becomes very important after a few weeks!!) The people who run this place are lovely, they took us on some outings to see S21 and the killing field memorials and stuff (pretty grisly but really fascinating).

I didn't go to Siam Reap myself as I had to catch a flight back in Bangkok, but my two friends went and said it was really cool, and they took lots of photo's...i'd say its wortht the bus trip!

Sihanoukville is a beachy place down south to hang out and basically have a laugh, again its a little touristy but there’s good accommodation to be found and lots of scuba/ snorkelling/ boat trips to be done. We stayed in the Monkey Republic bungalows which were nice, you could probably get cheaper around but they were recommended to us as being clean and safe and having good food (do you notice a trend here??!)

Last but definitely not least we stayed in an island off the coast of Sihanoukville called Koh Ru or Bamboo Island.
You basically book the boat trip from a booking agent in Sihanoukville. There are plenty of islands to choose from, this one is pretty laid back and only has a few huts on it and they are right on the beach, and what a beach!! The pictures I took, when I showed them to people back home they thought they were fake postcard pictures, that’s how beautiful it was. While there’s not all that much to do, we spent a week or so just chilling out, reading, playing cards, eating good food and thinking we had found paradise. It was seriously the most chilled out, relaxed I’ve ever been.

dutch1

Thanks for the reply Gilldog I will defo keep them plces in mind. I see what your saying about nice food Id say its a massive change in Asia ! How safe is the likes of Cambodia & Laos. I know you have the usual pickpocket but is there anything else that Id have to mind myself on ?

Also did you travel by sleeper train in Thailand ?

Gilldog

We travelled mostly by bus...usually overnight trips. Oh man I still have nightmares about some of those buses :eek:. If you can manage to get your hands on some valium or something in a pharmacy over there i'd say thats the only time I got sleep on them..

As far as safety goes, to be honest as long as you keep your wits about you its not bad. I was travelling with a couple, but even some times I would head out to eat or whatever by myself and maybe got a little more hassled than usual but not much...I wouldn't have gone anywhere on my own at night or anything..

For the most part the people are really lovely, same with other travellers...but just the usual precautions, always carry your valuables with you, i'd advise either a bumbag of some sort or something more discrete than a backpack for going around day to day - so easy to be pickpocked if your wearing something on your back...

My biggest negative of the whole trip was being hassled to buy things etc...thats the worst bit about Bangkok, you will be seen as a dollar sign and not much more by the street vendors and tuktuk operators...so things like not being afraid to haggle the price, remember when you're buying stuff you find the same things everywhere, clothes, trinkets, they're everywhere you can always get cheaper if you keep looking, but on the koh san road they will try and get the best price they can...same with tuktuks, always agree on a price before you get it..coz otherwise they will take the piss, bringing you the really long way and then try to get more money off you...and also, they might say 'oh, i will give you good price if you go in to such and such shop'...do not fall for this..they have agreements with suit shop owners to bring tourists in, and you will be hassled to buy more - not worth the so called 'cheaper' trip.

I remember a friend who went to Thailand a few times and the first time she arrived at the airport she was charged 1000 baht (about 25 euro) for the taxi ride which was a really short distance to where she was going...total rip off but she thought it was a good deal coz it's cheaper than a taxi here...lesson learned! I know it doesnt sound like alot when compared to here but seriously, the same bus journey might have cost like 50 baht or something so just try and negotiate as much as you can...its not being stingy, coz they wont underprice themselves...

Just remebering we went on the public bus in Bangkok a few times and i think it was about 8 or 9 baht each for the journey, remembering that 1 euro is about 45 baht...so the place is dirt cheap if you look around and stuff.

Even though we didnt go to Vietnam, an ex boyfriend of mine did and told me that although it was a beautiful place there seems to be a much higher occurance of scams and things there when it comes to tourists..also i general they said the people were not so friendly to tourists and stuff...

Just things like some swedish guys they met had chartered a small boat with some guys to drive the boat etc. for the day, and when one guy went down to get something from his bag one of the 'workers' who they had hired was rummaging through his stuff... so I guess the main thing is keep your money, passport, camera etc. with you at all times.

When we were in Cambodia we did hear some stories aswell...like there is more begging there than in other parts...for example in Bangkok they will usually try and sell you stuff but in some parts of Laos and Cambodia they will come into a cafe or something when you're eating and stand there with their hand out for you to give them money...so uncomfortable, and the shop owner or whatever does'nt care...coz you are 'falang' (thai term for westerner) so that means you are obviously filthy rich :rolleyes:...

Like to be honest its not that bad you just need to ignore stuff...some of it was hard to take with kids begging and stuff but if you cave in and give one some (like we did in the beginning) you will soon find yourself followed by literally 5 more kids wanting money...

Listen, im not trying to put you off or anything, I had an amazing time - I hope to go again someday, but just for the both of you to keep vigilant as much as you can. We saw some crazy stuff but that's good coz then we had great stories when we came back .

Have fun, be safe, and take lots of pictures - you'll have an amazing time!!

dutch1

Thanks a mil for the info. I kinda knew Id be expecting the usual crap off street vendors & beggars & the usual deal with keeping your stuff safe. I will keep all in mind.
Thanks again for your advice ! I wil defo keep everything you said i mind !!

La La

As someone who lives in Phnom Penh, the best advice I can give you about Sinville is to avoid Serendipity Beach completely. Go to Otres Beach and stay at Mushroom Point. Seriously, do this.
Do go to Siem Reap and see the temples. Also consider heading to Kampot and staying in Bodhi Villa. Get the ribs at the Rusty Keyhole.
Enjoy the Kingdom, it's a wonderful place.

dutch1

Thanks for the advice La La. Have you heard of a place called skoun or 'Tarantula village' ?