...After my six days stay I left Siem Reap and made my way to Phnom Penh, the capitol city of Cambodia. I asked the reception at my hostel
to book me a bus ticket to get there. The ticket cost me 7 USD and I did
not have to pay anything extra as the booking was a free service from
the hostel. I was picked up early in the morning by a mini bus and
thought that this would be the bus I would be riding on till Phnom Penh,
as I had only payed 7 USD. The mini bus dropped us at a place where our
couch to Phnom Penh was already waiting. If you pay a bit more you can
get onto a luxury coach, where every seat has it's own screen and a
collection of music and movies. These buses also have on board WiFi. A
ticket for those buses costs about 14 USD. Mine wasn't as luxury but it
was great for the price as it had air con. To those who want to go from
Siem Reap to Bangkok, there are ticket prices starting at only 10 USD.
The journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh takes in total 6 hours. There
are few stops on the way. The streets are in good shape. I would
recommend everyone to take a bus, not only because it's the cheapest
way. On your trip you will see more of Cambodia. I'm afraid there are
not many forests left, at least on this route you won't see much. There
are many fields and barren land. Along the road you will see small
villages with rural Khmer houses. Interestingly there were many of those houses having modern
stairs. Some of the stairs looked like the entrance to a luxury villa or
a casino, while the houses looked the same from the ouside.
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You can also get to Phnom Penh by boat crossing the Tonle Sap lake. But that is considered as one of the biggest rip-offs in Cambodia. It costs a lot more than the bus, takes much longer and I heard from people that it's really an awful ride. As the lake is so huge, you won't see any shore. Only the dirty brown water of the lake. Thus, I recommend not to consider it.
The Mekong runs straight through Phnom Penh, a huge city with, lets be
honest, not much to see. At the bus station there will be lot's of
Tuk-Tuk drivers waiting for customers. Very annoying here. One oft them
caught my bag, when I asked him about the price and went straight to his
Tuk-Tuk with it. Well, I was tired after the long journey so I accepted,
he wanted to charge me 8 USD to get to the hostel. But I only paid 4
USD, which was already a big rip-off. You could also get there for 2
USD, and even cheaper if you share a Tuk-Tuk.
Here in Phnom Penh they drive faster than in Siem Reap, but they also
have more traffic lights. Here they really stop when it turns red.
I have seen my most beautiful Cambodian sunset here in Phnom Penh. Guess
it's thanks to all the dust and smog in town that it looks so much
stronger red.
I have spent only one night in Phnom Penh. As I said, there is really not
much to see here. It's just a big city. I can recommend a walk along
the Mekong and a visit to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum.
The next day was my last one in Cambodia. I had booked my flight to my
next destination from the Airport in Phnom Penh, since there was a
better connection. The airport lies a bit outside town, so the Tuk-Tuk
drivers try to charge even more having an excuse. I managed to get one
down to 6 USD but then I decided to take a motor bike. That cost me 4
USD. Driving through the town you see more of Phnom Penh. It's really not a beautiful city. It took about 40 min to get to the airport.
The weather in Cambodia was great, hot but bearable as the humidity
wasn't very high. The only regrettable thing was that most of the time
the sky was grey white and not blue.
In Conclusion, I had a great time in Cambodia, I met nice people and made
new friends. I have experienced Cambodians to be a really nice folk. Will definitely visit again.
Next stop Singapore
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