Cambodia

- By Lingling

May 2008 (travel notes updated in July 2012)

Since some friends asked about my Cambodia trip recently, I decided to take the challenge to refresh my memory from 4 years ago on my trip to Cambodia...

I was thinking about flying to Japan for a short break for May 1st, after came back to China from Europe for one month at the first national holiday break.

My friend Lan asked me if I would like to join her for a few days to Siem Reap... I had my luggage packed for Japan in the morning, thinking about Cambodia, was curious about that country actually... last minute decision, I flew to Cambodia with my luggage packed for Japan already in office, lunch break, I went back to re-pack my luggage for summer and ready to go after work directly.

Because the trip was such a short notice to myself, I had no USD cash with me at all, with only some Chinese Yuan notes and credit cards, I landed in Cambodia... I was in the waiting line and realized I had absolutely no cash to pay for the landing visa... luckily there was an ATM. At airport I met some Dutch friends, we went for a drink that evening together.

Logistics:

Flights
Shanghai - Phonom Penh (Cambodia): April 30th, 2008 at 20:00
Phonom Penh - Shanghai on May 3rd, 2008 red eye flight at 23:55

BUS: Phonom Penh - Siem Reap by bus: May 1st, 2008 12.30 noon, the bus trip takes around 5 hours, but it was not bad.

Travel tips

The travel books always recommend to go there between November to Jan. I think it was right, when I was there on May 1st, it was really hot during the day, up to 40 degrees, hiking the temples under such heat is quite a challenge, but still rewarding at least for the first few.

There are many very nice boutique hotels both in Phonom Penh and Siem Reap, I personally really love Siem Reap, it was very beautiful, though already quite touristic already back in 2008. There are tons of beautiful boutique hotels to choose from, make sure to choose one with a swimming pool, because most of the time, it was just far too hot, already at May 1st time. Especially if you plan to hike many temples at Angkor... there are just too many of them. You can easily hire one tuktuk to take you around from temple to temple for the whole day with 10 USD (in 2008), most of the temples are quite tough to hike up actually.

After a few temple hiking, I was totally tired out, it is also a good idea to hire one local guide to tell you all the legent of the temples, that will make your trip more interesting. I was tired of the temples after 5 or 6... My friend Lan was energetic and taking tons of pictures throughou the day.

I think 1 day temple visit was enough, however some temple lovers can spend one week there to admire the beautiful ancient temples.

We took a boat tour the 2nd day, it was a beautiful trip to see the floating villiage and the locals. The kids there speak good English and were very familar and used to tourists.

Phnom penh is just another Southeast Asia city, nothing special, but it does make you realize that you are on vacation, because everything around you starts to be chaotic! :-)

The temple tree...

the amazing tree

It takes some courage and effort to hike up... and coming down is even more challenging.. I wonder how many accidents are there every year.. since the staires never seem easy for me...

It was endless and all temples seem to be build very stiff...

It was 40 degrees! I had to buy a hat on the way, do bring a lot of water, sun cream and a hat with you for the temple hiking day!

The horse cart or the tuktuk can bring you from temple to temple...

This is the perfect place for sunset, at the end of the day, the tuktuk will bring you here and I can sit down with many others to enjoy the beautiful sunset...

some boat trip pictures - to be updated soon...

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