Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville

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Jackie and I have been in Cambodia for nearly two weeks now and we’re having a good time. However, I did make a mistake in my planning…Cambodia is not as cheap as I was expecting, at least not for food. We’ve been able to find plenty of cheap lodging, not paying more than $6 a night anywhere we’ve been, which is much cheaper than we ever found in Vietnam, which averaged $10 per night. However, food in Cambodia, which always seems to be priced in U.S. dollars, as is everything, is much more expensive than Vietnam. Even at the roadside stands, food is more expensive. We have yet to eat a meal for less than $2 in Cambodia, where we could have Pho and beers for less than that many places in Vietnam.

So, my $15 per day budget, each, has been blown away as we’ve gotten to Siem Reap and Angkor. I think $20 per day is a more reasonable budget, but only if you take the intercity buses and not the boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.

Anyway, we arrived in Phnom Penh from our Mekong Delta tour around 6 pm, tired and a little frustrated. I think I mentioned in the last blog that we had a bit of trouble with our Cambodian driver when he wanted to pick up more passengers. We were eventually delivered to the backpacker’s ghetto, which really isn’t very close to anything, but after looking at a number of different guest houses, we finally settled on one on the lake.

Over the next few days, we walked around the city and got used to Cambodia. The tuk-tuk drivers thought we were strange to be walking anywhere, as did some expats we met one night at dinner. Evidently, no one walks in the city or anywhere else in the country if they can help it. We walk, mainly because we are very cheap, but also because we like to walk, but Phnom Penh tested our strength, because the heat was oppressive.

I think our favorite place in the city was the central market. I bought some sunglasses, a new pair of sport sandals, and we also bought a few souvenirs. We walked and walked, which was about all we did, besides relaxing in the guest house after walking. We didn’t see many sights or take many pictures and in the end we decided not to go to the Killing Fields or the S21 museum. Those were things we decided that we just didn’t want to see.

After a few days, we headed down to the beach resort of Sihanoukville. We loved it down there and spent several more days there than we originally intended. Our guest house was right across a road from Ochheuteal Beach, less than 50 meters and we really enjoyed doing absolutely nothing most days. We had found a nice bookstore in Phnom Penh called Bohrs (near the river) which had a good trade in policy and a good selection, so we had plenty to read, so we just took it easy. We rented a motorbike one day and the highlight was Jackie learning to ride it. She got pretty good and had no problem shifting gears or stopping us. She’s now talking about getting something to ride in Seoul when we get back.

The weather wasn’t great, mostly cloudy and it rained most days, so after five nights, we headed back to Phnom Penh, stayed a night, then caught a bus the next day to Siem Reap and what has become the highlight of our trip so far, which may even include my three months in China, Angkor.

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