Royal Guesthouse & Cafe Bar Phnom Penh

I left my hotel in Battambang early in the morning on the back of a moto, hoping - based on my previous experiences of Cambodian public transport - for, at best, an uncomfortable but entertaining and reasonably straightforward journey. Haha. Yesterday I had bought a ticket for the 8.30am bus to Phnom Penh, having been given a choice between the 7.30, 8.30 or 9.30. I had left the hotel pretty early so that I'd have time to grab breakfast at the bus station. We arrived at about 8am, and after a...

A depressing day indeed. I arrived in Phnom Penh in the early hours of the morning with my Dutch gal pal Danielle, my traveling companion for this cultural and historical excursion to Cambodia. With only 6 days total in the country and inclusive of air and overland travel, our itinerary was packed. After settling into our hostel, we ventured out with our tuk tuk driver for the day, Mr.Hang. First stop: Choeng Ek Killing Fields. CAUTION: this blog entry is not for the faint of heart or squeami...

Well we made it to Cambodia…just! We had a couple of issues at the border which resulted in Erica and I being dragged in to a little room and questioned as to why we didn't have our passports stamped. As it turns out when we received our Laos visas at the boarder but they didn’t stamp our passports. Result - the guy try to bribe us $250 each to let us out of the country!! We managed to talk him down to $20 total, he stamped the passports and we were on our way with a story to tell...

After our fantastic time in Laos, we headed to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

It was just an 8 hour journey to get to our destination passing over a land border and for the first time we had to bribe border officials. To get an exit stamp was a dollar, to have a health check was a dollar, our $20 visa cost $23 (issued by three officials) and a dollar for an entry stamp. It was annoying to see blatant and accepted corruption however this was an unofficial border crossing, our only...

Day 1, Finally left HCMC at 8.30 after our bus didn't show up and two moto riders took us to three different companies to get on a bus. The border crossing was very smooth and the bus was good, probably did well not getting on the bus we booked. Arrived in Phnom Pehn and deciding it was too late for any culture we walked to the riverfront for 50cent beers. It is amazing how much poorer Cambodia is than Vietnam but how much more friendly the people are. Ended up in the Foreign Correspondents C...

Arrived here from Vietnam, making the journey from Chau Doc by two boats and one bus.We spent two days here, and the main difference we spotted immediately from Vietnam, was that so many people (including young children) were begging. It really seems you can't go 10 yards without someone else with the hand out. Its very hard to come to terms with. With that and the impact the Khmer Rouge made as we witnessed by going to S-21, an interrogation prison and the killing fields, were thousands of p...

I: Phnom Penh is something different. Just like most of Cambodia. The normal everyday city tour consists of Killing fields, torture prisons, and shooting ranges. And let's not forget about the garbage mountain! No other capitol could be like this. We started our day at the shooting range, where Palo ordered a AK-47 for breakfast (which he politely shared with me). With a gleam in his eyes and a Rambo-like shiny sweat coating he blasted away while we were holding our breaths and our ears. For ...

Our next stop in Cambodia was Battambang. Once again we were back to the bus system. Cambodia's bus system isn't bad, but as with Thailand - words like "air conditioned" and "express bus" are frequently used, and promises are made but not quite delivered. Our bus ride to Battambang involved some backtracking on the road from hell between Thailand and Siem Reap. Mentally prepared for the journey, we bounced our way down the road for the first three hours of the ride peppered along the way by a...

Hallo liebe Leute Am 9. April sind wir von Bangkok nach Phnom Penh in Cambodscha geflogen. Das erste was man bei der Ankunft machen muss, ist das Visum zu bezahlen. Viel komplizierter wirds nicht, es hat alles bestens funktioniert. Man zahlt 20 dollar, zeigt den pass und darf ins land. Vom Flughafen haben wir uns in ein Guesthouse im Zentrum der Stadt (uebrigens die Hauptstadt von Cambodscha) fahren lassen. Dort haben wir ein Zimmer fuer 9 dollar bekommen, sogar mit Aircodition! Die vom Guest...

A quick visit to the killing fields and the S-21 musuem, time is ticking.. jH More to follow.. Next step Sihanoukville.. Photos for the 'Phnom Penh' on Flickr..