Cambodia

PaddyCar

looking into spending 3 weeks in cambodia so wondering what way people normally travel there. flights from dublin to cambodia seem expensive. is there a cheaper alternative or whats the norm?

wallpaper12

fly to bangkok/ kuala lumpur and get a seperate air asia flight from there. Or fly to Saigon/bangkok and go overland from there

Benny_Cake

PaddyCar wrote: »

looking into spending 3 weeks in cambodia so wondering what way people normally travel there. flights from dublin to cambodia seem expensive. is there a cheaper alternative or whats the norm?

You'll probably find that Bangkok will be the cheapest nearby airport to fly into by a good margin. If you are heading for Phnom Penh you should be able to pick up a reasonably priced ticket from there, if you're starting in Siem Reap it will probably be cheaper to go by road, particularly since the road on the Cambodia side of the border has now been paved.

lcurran1

I am also thinking of doing something like this. How much travelling around cambodia would you get to do in three weeks?

Badgermonkey

I flew from Singapore to Phnom Penh with Jetstar, bought visa on arrival, stayed in PP 2 nights, then took a modern comfy coach up to Siem Reap.

After Angkor, took another bus to the Thai border (where the crossing was hassle free) and a 7 hour train from there to Bangkok, which cost less than €3.

Cambodia still has an undeveloped 'wild west' feel but it's quite an exhilarating spot. Three weeks sounds a little long unless you've some special interest such as diving, trekking etc.

Chickus

It sounds very long alright.. I spent a week between siem reap and phnom penh..unless you want to go remote..the beach resort down south sihanoukville is meant to be ok..I recommend you cross into Vietnam..its class

wallpaper12

I dont know why people are saying 3 weeks is too long there is LOADS to do in Cambodia. It seems about 90% of people who go to Cambodia stick with phnom penh and siem riep totally ignoring the rest. Go down to the coast to sihanoukville, head off to the (for now) almost deserted islands and stay in a beach hut for 2 dollars, go to battambang the second biggest city or to kratie to try and spot the irrawaddy dolphins, go to some of the wonderful national parks. Your spoilt for choice for things to do in Cambodia and its so cheap. You will run out of time well before you run out of things to do.

latenia

wallpaper12 wrote: »

I dont know why people are saying 3 weeks is too long there is LOADS to do in Cambodia. It seems about 90% of people who go to Cambodia stick with phnom penh and siem riep totally ignoring the rest. Go down to the coast to sihanoukville, head off to the (for now) almost deserted islands and stay in a beach hut for 2 dollars, go to battambang the second biggest city or to kratie to try and spot the irrawaddy dolphins, go to some of the wonderful national parks. Your spoilt for choice for things to do in Cambodia and its so cheap. You will run out of time well before you run out of things to do.

Totally agree; I stayed a month and never even went to Siem Reap. Head to Sihanoukville; get a pound of the export-quality weed they have down there and a motorbike. Every single day is an adventure.

Phnom Penh <> Singapore is a cheap flight.. I spent a month in Cambodia before which was too long.. But at least you can hop into Vietnam, Laos or Thailand for a week if you get bored.

Wallpaper12 has a point and some people find so much to do but for me, I don't care if a dolphin is endangered.. The Irrawaddy dolphin and Kratie have zero draw for me. I spent a few days in Battambang and enjoyed it somewhat. Definitely near the bottom of the list of places worth visiting in South East Asia though. Sihanoukville on the coast is a messy, fun and crazy but really, it's just a shlthole full of underage prostitution and drugs and it got a bit much. I love my drugs and I had a blast there for New Years but felt like I had to get the fuk out of the place to save my soul.
Siem Reap is just a westernised town in the middle of Cambodia.. I was sick for 5 days there unfortunately. Angkor is pretty cool but chock a block with tourists everyday.. I got 5 good hours out of it and it was enough. I'm a "seen one temple, seen them all" traveler. The capital, Phnom Penh is my favourite place in the country and I'd recommend it.

So that's my impression of Cambodia.. It didn't help that I had just come out of two months travelling in Vietnam and missed it massively. Actually, I miss the other countries I went to in SEA except Cambodge. And the only reason I spent a month in Cambodia was that I was waiting to meet a friend in Singapore.. I regret not going to Burma instead with perfect heinsight.