My OperaCambodia backpack trips
Thursday, May 7, 2009 10:15:00 AM
First of all, about transportation, there are several travel agencies that provide transportation service to Cambodia. Mostly they're located around Pham Ngu Lao street, and it's so easy to buy a ticket. However, there's some remarkable things. Because you will go by bus, so it's better to have a soft seat with air con in a pretty and clean bus. From my opinion, Sapaco and Mai Linh Express are 2 good provider for this kind of service. Their buses are new, have WC inside and so enough clean for enjoying the long journey.Furthermore, visitors usually go to SiemRiep (Angkor) first and Phom Phenh second, so Sapaco has an advantages, they has a nonstop bus to Siem Riep and you don't have to transit in Phom Penh like other agencies. So it will take you less time to go, even though Sapaco bus took me 12h to go to SiemRiep. What a long day!!!
Second, about living, Cambodia is an interesting place for backpacker, so it's very easy to find a guest house, hotel that provides many kind of room (with aircon/ fan/TV cable) with reasonable price. To reduce cost, you should go with groups and share room. We, my team, only spent 2$/day for each person, what a surprised price
. Even though, at this time, Cambodia's so hot, luckily it's not so hot at night because of afternoon rain. It was our luck, I think. So we can sleep in a fan room easily. If you go in the hot climate, it's better to book an aircon room. Something about security, if you live in a cheap guest house like us, it's better to know what's going on outside near your guest house. In my case, at Siem Riep, around my guest house are several whore houses, so ... Another thing is about room, PP's house is not as good as Siem Riep one, with 2$, I got a room with no window, a little bit dark and wet smell because of poor services. However, with our prices, it's also reasonable and nothing has to be complain much
Third, about traveling, if you were a fresh backpacker, you should have some knowledge about your visiting city. You should ask for a city map and guest house visting card to make sure that you cannot get lost in a strange city. Since you have no tour guide followed with, you should read somethings about your visiting places, history, architecture, functionality, religious .... before going. If not, your trip would become a point and shoot journey, taking photos anywhere without knowing about the history of this place or what make this place extraordinaire. To me, it's a little bit boring if my trip's in this kind. Another thing is, because you go freely yourself, so it would be preferred to have visiting plan for each day so that you don't have to waste time in some stupid thing or just wandering around the city without any purpose. Furthermore, I had some interesting experience about communicating with local. In SiemRiep, you would rather speake English, most of people here can understand, especially tuk tuk driver. In the other hand, in Phom penh, you should speak Vietnamese, lolz, you can easily find a Vietnamese speaking guy in Phom Penh even in a market, a walk side shop, that's truth. English is not a "well known" language there. This is my funny story about this issue. When I went outside PP's central market to stay away shopping storm of the female members, I found 2 "hot" girls in a crowed place. They were local, I think, because they swore only regular suite (sleeping suite, I think). I tried to make a conversation with them to ask about direction to river bank. I began with "Can you speak English", their answer was "Hok biết nói tiếng Anh đâu, chỉ biết tiếng Việt à" --> po hand, it's a real story, not a joke
.
About food, somehow, it's the same price as Vietnam or a little bit higher, I think, especially for some strangers like us. You don't have to bring instant noodle because the Cambodian taste is the same as South West Vietnam food, some time a little bit sweater. So don't hesitate to try a different food. You could find some interesting things and stories. In PP, most of the restaurants we tried, we can find a Vietnamese speaking guys easily, so don't worry and eat as much as you can. However, don't forget to bring "Smecta" just in case
About shopping, like Vietnam, these tourist cities like SiemRiep and PP also had market selling souvernir, statue, shirt, bag, etc ... It's so trivial that you should bargain before buying anything. Usually, the first price is as third or twice as origin price. Be careful. In PP, they have a mall that sell branded products, and typically the prices are not as high as Vietnam. So if you want, buy some. One more thing, Cambodia uses both USD and Ria, so you should have some small changes in USD or Ria to pay occasionally. However it's so easy to find an exachange store in Cambodia
That's all, Cambodia is an interesting place to visit, try it if you had time. However you should bring sun cream and hat if you don't want to become the "Men/Women in Black"
