Cambodia



Spent ~RM1800 for whole trip. Rating: 9 out of 10. 

Itenery:
5th April 2011 ( Day 1 )
1. Transfer to Mum's Guesthouse. ( guest house arranged FOC transfer )
2. Breakfast - simply goes to one recommended by driver
3. Angkor National Museum - 12USD per person, you could skip this as you will go to all museums stupa display in the next 2 days till vomit.
4. Get your Angkor Wat pass here as all temples need this pass. ( ask your driver )You could ask for the pretty assisting lady for photo if you like. ( FOC, they will just ask to view the photo )
- 40USD for 3 days visit, 20USD for a day visit, 60USD for a week.
5. Went to "Jong Near" ( sounds like this ) for Tonle Sap ( fresh water lake ) tour. ( Refer Misc 1 ) 15USD
6. Artisan D'Angkor - crafting, painting etc.
7. Old market, place for doing souvenir.
8. Dinner at Temple restaurant at Pub Street. ( got Khmer dance )
9. Angkor night market, similar to old market. ( foot massage )

6th April 2011 ( Day 2 )
1. Sunrise at Angkor Wat ( sometimes might be cloudy, arrange it to the earliest day you could, so if miss, could still go next day morning )
2. Angkor Thom ( Bayon - "cracking face", Baphuan temple ) - very big, tired walking, be prepare but worth it.
3. Lunch @ Blue Pumpkin, Pub street
4. Angkor Wat visit ( morning for sunrise photo, now to walk in the temple )
5. Sunset at Phnom Bakheng ( crazy load of people with all types of cameras to HP )
6. Short nap ( too tired, nice plan from Mr. Choo, this rest helps a lot )
7. Dinner @ FCC Angkor restaurant ( nice food, cheap wine but a bit pricey if compare to others )

    

7th April 2011 ( Day 3 )
1. Ta prohm - tree root grow into temple forcing the stone to move ( stone was stacked without screw long time ago )
2. Prasat Banteay Srei - breakfast here ( linga temple, for fertility - guy will know )
3. Prasat Ta Som - go all the way in and look back, you will see the entrance with tree root that always find on travel book front cover
4. Preah Khan - huge big temple
- Feel tired and lose interest seeing temple here.
5. Cafe puka-puka, known as good recharge place for fruit juice online ( i feel okay but good place to rest ) and Madam Sachiko angkor cookies ( expensive but taste good, by Japanese ) next to it.
6. Dinner behind Pub Street, large area like "pasar malam" ( food market, night market behind this ) Tried khmer BBQ, very full .. taste good but not noodle soup.
7. Have a drink in red piano
8. Went to Zone one disco to have a look. - loud music and can't talk at all, after a while, left.

8th April 2011 ( Day 4 )
1. Get your breakfast from guest house, french toast ( hard one with jam )
2. Head to Phnom Penh ( 5 hour )
3. Check in Blue Lime.
4. Lunch at Boddhi Tree Umma, same street as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
5. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - A school turned to torturing camp 1975 - 1979. 2USD per person.
6. Independent Monument - take a photo is enough, nothing there, a monument in the middle of round about
7. Central Market - time for some local stuff and souvenir
8. Dinner at titanic - had mekong lobster here, not as expected lobster but great taste and great view at mekong river.

9th April 2011 ( Day 5 )
1. Breakfast in Blue Lime
2. Killing field - 15km south of Phnom Penh, after tortured in Tuol Sleng, transport here to kill.
3. Russion market - last place for shopping, has lunch in "Melting Pot", recommend lunch place.
4. Wat Phrom, a garden in Phnom Penh city, can't see city view, street view yes. Just to visit and spend sometime here. 1USD for foreigner.
5. Bodia Spa - relaxation package 3 hour
6. Dinner @Sarawan, "Mekong river street" ( that street )
7. Sneak out with Mr. Dixon to have a drink in one of the pub near Blue Lime ( 1.62 USD, RM5, haha, draft 1 jug !! ) Notice how waterfish were we for last 5 days in tourist area

10th April 2011
1. Breakfast in Blue Lime
2. Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda ( Refer Misc 2 ) 6.25USD
3. National Musem, just to spend time here 3USD
4. Oh! my buddha, the laughing FAT man. Simply walk-in for lunch.
5. Collect luggage at Blue Lime and depart to airport.

Transport:
- FOC airport transfer to Mum's guest house.
- Arrange transport to Phnom Penh could be done over Mum's guest house front desk 11USD for bus/ van. Recommend bus as we tried van, quite bumpy and narrow seating.
- Tuk tuk driver ( Siem Reap ) fees per day 20USD. I think could negotiate lower. Try 15USD or lower. 2USD tip end of day will get them extremely happy as we fully utilized him till 11pm from 6am. My family did this for 11/12 USD.
- Tuk tuk driver ( Phnom Penh ) 3USD to transfer to Blue Lime from bus drop off. ( could go with 1/2 USD. Rest of place of day 4 13USD. Day 5 15USD for killing field visit and 8USD for the rest. You could get lower price for both places, recommend 20USD or lesser.
- Transfer to Phnom Penh airport 7USD by Tuk tuk or 10USD for taxi.

Accommodation:
Mum's guest house ( Siem Reap )
- Approx. 10USD per person. Clean environment and friendly owner. Nice swimming pool, if you are eager for it, bring your swimming suit rather than our friend, Mr. Choo hunting for one but couldn't get what is wished. Do not get the beer at the pool side as it tasted a bit "expired". They switch off the cooler at night, you can imagine the taste. Upon reservation, mention to him that recommended by me so you could get 10% discount and void deposit pay ahead. Oh, airport transfer is arranged FOC. Breakfast is prepared but french toast .. ( hard to bite )

Blue Lime ( Phnom Penh )
- Approx. 20USD per person. Clean and nice environment, well english spoken and very friendly staffs. They will talk to you whenever they free while you sitting at the lobby doing nothing. Looking at the website and you will find out the guest house is quite romantic and 4 types of tasty breakfast to choose from. Please, dont choose french toast one, i think Malaysian will not like it. Come with a swimming pool, no hotel transfer is arranged, and no discount could get.

Misc:
1. Tonle Sap ( fresh water lake ) A lake long 150km and 60km wide, floating village with more than 80 families, with restaurant, school, boat repair shop and etc. It could go as deep as 6-7 meters and as shallow as 1-2 meter. When we were there, kids were swimming and stand in the middle of the lake where boat travel pass them. ( For the fact of tonle sap, was typing with memories, sorry if a bit out ) And, all these are just part of the lake villages, they are more somewhere in the lake. Kids jump on boat or drive near your boat to sell drink, show you snake for photo. But, nothing comes free, at least 1USD for a drink or a photo.

2. Royal palace & Silver pagoda, name explain all. Occasionally, it will close for some events. Opening time 7.30 - 11am, 2 - 5pm. PLEASE walk to the door to check out if it open/ close. As the tuk-tuk driver will stop you on the way and CON you it is closed and re-open at 2pm later, let's go killing field. DO NOT trust them, arrange this item at the earliest too so if really closed, you could still re-adjust your itenery, a must visit place in phnom penh.

3. Massage, found cheapest 4USD per hour foot massage in night market. This is good because you will do lot of walking in Siem Reap for temple visit. Recommend Bodia spa for last day in Phnom Penh, because after the spa, you will feel lazy to walk, too comfortable. Package we took was relaxation ( 62 USD ). You can view other packages on their website.

4. Tipping, always prepare small change ( 1USD is the best ) for tipping. 1/2 USD is always good enough. Before going there, try your best to exchange small change from money changer if possible. Don't simply talk to small kids in tourist area as they might ask for tipping, especially in temple. Once they start explaining, hah .. And, when people asked you to present flower or "cholok", it is not compulsary, you can skip if you would like to.

5. Bargain, try your best. If couldn't get your favourable price, turn around and walk away, they will call you or just visit next store with more reasonable price. haha .. Of course, accommodation, restaurant food ( tourist area ) and agreed price after bargain, please don't bargain.

6. Food, around 3-4 USD for food, 1-2 USD for drink normally ( Tourist area ). It might get expensive if you visit better restaurant.