Cambodia

[tastebud]

Please could those that know, tell me about Cambodia. I left Thailand after 2 weeks and am now in Laos (oh yes very nice indeed! :)), probably head back to Thai right at the end of my trip. But has anyone been to the full moon party in Cambodia? What's it like? I don't think the Thai one would be my bag.
I can't find info. about it.

Anything else... recommendations? I'm heading Cambodia way as we speak & hope to be there in around 5 days.

Thanks :)

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Please could those that know, tell me about Cambodia. I left Thailand after 2 weeks and am now in Laos (oh yes very nice indeed! :)), probably head back to Thai right at the end of my trip. But has anyone been to the full moon party in Cambodia? What's it like? I don't think the Thai one would be my bag.
I can't find info. about it.

Anything else... recommendations? I'm heading Cambodia way as we speak & hope to be there in around 5 days.

Thanks :)


They have full moon parties in Cambodia now as well? :eek: :rolleyes:

[tastebud]

apparently yeah. my guide book's well old though, just heard it from other travellers.

only in sihanoukville i think/assume.

they won't be anything like the thai ones though i think.

[Minnie_the_Minx]

apparently yeah. my guide book's well old though, just heard it from other travellers.

only in sihanoukville i think/assume.

they won't be anything like the thai ones though i think.


Good. What next - full moon parties on Everest

[fela fan]

Get the 'fast' boat up the tonle sap river from phnom phen to siem reap. And be launched into a time machine that takes you way back when. It's about four or five hours, a motorbike will collect you at the northern end and drive you into siem reap town.

From there you will be able to explor angkor wat and surrounding temple complexes. Make sure you are at angkok wat just before darkness converts to dawn and daylight. It will be unforgettable. Angkor wat is a miracle!

[cuban pete]

www.talesofasia.com covers it all really...

the Red Lodge guest house(free bikes,really nice chill out area,free baguettes and tea all day!) is a great place to stay in Siem Reap,i was there last year for the first time in 5 years and the place has changed immensely,the road out Angkor is fucking horrible,full of massive hotels ferrying buss loads of package tourists to and from sites,and not a penny finding its way back to the locals in town,i can safely say that 'i remember when all that wer' jungle'

PhnomPen is fun,watch your self after dark,I'm not sure if the Heart of Darkness(the night club) is still open,some one was shot there when i was there once.

Kampot on the coast is nice,the deserted Bokor Hill-station high above the town is awesome and quite spooky on a misty day.

Dont know anything about fullmoon parties in Cambodia,i think the Khmer's have suffered enough with out having to endure sleepless night of trance music.

[tastebud]

tbh i'm going off the whole full moon idea the more and more i encounter tourists in beautiful places. fela's gonna hate me but i really didn't like pai. granted it was gorgeous in the daytime... i loved it, beautiful walks & bike rides, but by night it totally did my head in. way too toursity! that's ehy i quickly gave up on thailand in favour of laos. but even here the tourists do my head in a bit sometimes.

we'll see.

cheers for recommendations - sounds wonderful!

[rachamim18]

I go to Cambodia quite often. What exactly would you like to know? Never heard of any Full Moon parties such as the ones in Phuket. The scene is much more low key. That kind of element hangs and lodges arounf the Lake, in PP.

Lodgings there are very inexpensive, as low as 2 US dollars.

Some general info, if you are crossinh on foot/vehichle, Poipet is a dive. Get in and out quick, full of hucksters. Shy away from the taxistas right outside the gate. go down as some advise to the traffic circle which you can actually see at the gate.Especially shy away from any Westerners trying to latch on at the border, alot of scamming junkies.

ALWAYS stay in the big cities unless you have a guide and eventhen stay on the road as mines are a huge problem still.


If you give me more specific info I can offer a lot of tips.

[psykoptic]

I stayed at this place when I was in Cambodia last year - Two Dragons (http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-twodragons.htm). It turns out the bloke that owns the guesthouse also runs the talesofasia.com website so he knows what he's talking about. The food was pretty good too.

Also he can arrange for you to be picked up and recused from Poipet if thats the way you enter Cambodia - Rachamim is right, Poipet is a fucking dive, it doesn't rhythm with toilet by coincidence.

You can see photos I took in Cambodia last year here (http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=cambodia&w=54539379%40N00), most have titles and comments.

Never heard about any parties when I was there - but I really liked Siem Reap, although aftter 3 days exploring temples and a total of 7 nights in Siem Reap I kinda felt there wasn't much else to do.

[fela fan]

tbh i'm going off the whole full moon idea the more and more i encounter tourists in beautiful places. fela's gonna hate me but i really didn't like pai. granted it was gorgeous in the daytime... i loved it, beautiful walks & bike rides, but by night it totally did my head in. way too toursity! that's ehy i quickly gave up on thailand in favour of laos. but even here the tourists do my head in a bit sometimes.

we'll see.

cheers for recommendations - sounds wonderful!

No, i won't hate you mate! But i will say that pai is not a place to go if one is after avid nightlife. What nightlife there is is an extra. When i started going there five years ago there was hardly any. Just one or two places.

In fact i'd say pai is a place to go to get away from nightlife.

[llantwit]

tbh i'm going off the whole full moon idea the more and more i encounter tourists in beautiful places. fela's gonna hate me but i really didn't like pai. granted it was gorgeous in the daytime... i loved it, beautiful walks & bike rides, but by night it totally did my head in. way too toursity! that's ehy i quickly gave up on thailand in favour of laos. but even here the tourists do my head in a bit sometimes.

we'll see.

cheers for recommendations - sounds wonderful!
Tousists can be annoying everywhere, but you should never forget you are one too.:p:D

[Sunray]

There is no part of SEA that has been un-discovered by tourists like yourself. My experience is that most are friendly, so get chatting to fellow travellers, find some you like, and tour with them.

Overall its a lot more fun. Cheaper if you share one of those (sensible given the time of year) towed rickshaw type of things to tour Angkor.

I did like the Angkor What? bar in Siem Riep. Some nice places to eat there as well. Watch out for the special pizzas....

On reflection, I think that Cambodia has the best collection of nice restaurants in that region. I had a lovely japanese oemlette in Phnom peng

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

Every where I ate was great.

[tastebud]

yeah i know i'm one too. but the drinking scene in pai was really full on. not my bag. i prefer quieter places i guess. there were people getting pissed all the time, watching football, being loud & obnoxious. i was attracted to pai because i thought it was a really chilled place. and by day, like i say, it was. it was great, really gorgeous.
i hardly met any hippies! :(

i'm in cambodia now! :) in siem reap. will check out angkor what later. what i ate just now was amazing! i feel like chilling now though, long hectic journey, shit night in a guest house, with no sleep save for the doze i had on the bus earlier.

oh i meet loads of great people, chat to many and tour with lots of different people, that's not a problem.

[fela fan]

yeah i know i'm one too. but the drinking scene in pai was really full on. not my bag. i prefer quieter places i guess. there were people getting pissed all the time, watching football, being loud & obnoxious. i was attracted to pai because i thought it was a really chilled place. and by day, like i say, it was. it was great, really gorgeous.
i hardly met any hippies! :(

i'm in cambodia now! :) in siem reap. will check out angkor what later. what i ate just now was amazing! i feel like chilling now though, long hectic journey, shit night in a guest house, with no sleep save for the doze i had on the bus earlier.

oh i meet loads of great people, chat to many and tour with lots of different people, that's not a problem.

For the first couple of years i went to pai you could not see a single football match, and dope was much the preferance to alcohol. Perhaps the crackdown on drugs usage has helped push alcohol consumption up...

You must have been staying somewhere in the town mate? I stay in places about a km or two away, and at night all i can hear is natural noises.

I'd be really interested in hearing about siem reap and angkor wat. I went in 1999 and thought it absolutely bloody amazing, but i keep reading rather negative slants on both the town and the temples to the tune that it has been completely overrun by tourists. I read so much shit about places in this part of the world it's nice to get firsthand accounts.

[llantwit]

yeah i know i'm one too. but the drinking scene in pai was really full on. not my bag. i prefer quieter places i guess. there were people getting pissed all the time, watching football, being loud & obnoxious. i was attracted to pai because i thought it was a really chilled place. and by day, like i say, it was. it was great, really gorgeous.
i hardly met any hippies! :(

i'm in cambodia now! :) in siem reap. will check out angkor what later. what i ate just now was amazing! i feel like chilling now though, long hectic journey, shit night in a guest house, with no sleep save for the doze i had on the bus earlier.

oh i meet loads of great people, chat to many and tour with lots of different people, that's not a problem.
Hiya Tastebud! If you wanna get away from t all in Cambodia I thoroughly recommend a trip up to Rattanakiri in the North East of the country. It'll take a bit of heartache to get there as the roads are well dodge, but once you get there, man is it gorgeous. Some great places to stay as well - I went to an eco-resort near Banlung (which is by the lake in the pic below), and it was just about as close to heaven as I've got in many ways... hardly any tourists either.;)
Can't remember the name of the place, now, but will look it up if yer interested.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cc/Yak_Loum.jpg/450px-Yak_Loum.jpg

[Sunray]

yeah i know i'm one too. but the drinking scene in pai was really full on. not my bag. i prefer quieter places i guess. there were people getting pissed all the time, watching football, being loud & obnoxious. i was attracted to pai because i thought it was a really chilled place. and by day, like i say, it was. it was great, really gorgeous.
i hardly met any hippies! :(

i'm in cambodia now! :) in siem reap. will check out angkor what later. what i ate just now was amazing! i feel like chilling now though, long hectic journey, shit night in a guest house, with no sleep save for the doze i had on the bus earlier.

oh i meet loads of great people, chat to many and tour with lots of different people, that's not a problem.

I stayed in the Dead Fish hotel, which I recommend having a look in because it quite unusual there. Its the only guest house I've ever stayed in that has a crocodile pit, you can feed them. The guy that runs it is a star. He organises stuff thats a little more expensive, but high quality and you'll not get ripped like I saw some people on the back of taxi's in touring the ruins. Wanted money for the return journey.

Don't bother doing the final ruins unless you are very very interested, its miles away and takes in excess of an hour to drive there.

Do look at Bayon as its my fav temple of all time.

Eta: This site is great for Cambodia

http://www.talesofasia.com/

[tastebud]

angkor ruled! i had the most fantastic day there last week! amazing.

and the angkor what? bar was cool too sunray, i got to write on the walls and the floor.

down in sihanoukville now - chilling by the sea. it's nice, though v high season right now. thinking i head back to thai soon, so i can't make those places. :(

[Sunray]

Is the sea calm?

[tastebud]

heh.it was quite calm yes. i loved cambodia! had the best.time.ever in sihanouville.
not in any cultural sense but made some awesome friends and drank way more than my bodyweight in booze.
and swimming after drinking for 14 hours is lots of fun!

and now i'm back in the land of thai - have been for a few weeks (or a week, or less? dunno) actually.
in kanchanaburi right now heading to Sangkhlaburi tomorrow.
did not enjoy the southern islands at all- okay i did a bit; found a gorgeous deserted beach on kpn, but left pretty pronto. not my cup of tea really - way prefer the north.

i only have a week of this trip left! bah.

[Iemanja]

Hey tastebud, just popping over to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Stay safe and keep on having a great time!

xx

[tastebud]

hey dude! :) merry xmas!
i'm back now. came back on xmas eve. i can't get no sleeeep! fell asleep on citydreams & columbiasfinest almost as soon as i got here, very bad show! and now they're asleep and i'm on thai time - wide awake! bah.

happy holidays everybody!

i'm so sad, i miss thailand so much right now - like an ex lover that i just can't get over! :( x 100,000.

ps. apologies, this post has nothing whatsover to do with cambodia!

[rachamim18]

I am on my way back there tomorrow in fact, so if anyone needs up to date info let me know (and Laos).

[Barking_Mad]

Spend lots of time at Angkor is my advice!

[Onket]

Bump!

I'm going out in Sept/Oct. :)

Anyone got any more info?

[zoltan]

Boo!

A travel thread that I can contribute nothing too


( books flight to Cambodia )

I hear its nice tho.

you can fire an RPG into a cow for $100 if thats your thing

um

[phildwyer]

you can fire an RPG into a cow for $100 if thats your thing

Water Buffalo actually.

[Riklet]

I was there in May, and it was hot and steamy, going fairly slowly but surely into the rainy season. One of my friends was working out there for a lil' charity NGO with orphans and doing other stuff, and we ended up travelling around together.

I found it a fascinating, beautiful and uplifting country, but some things certainly hit home. Going to S21 prison and the killing fields outside of Phnom Penn certainly did. Perhaps walking around the old "school complex" where only a handful of people survived, out of the thousands who were photographed, interrogated and tortured there was even more shocking than walking over the clothes and bones coming up through the surface at the fields. S21 was in such a normal neighbourhood.... everything about it was just disturbingly normal. Shit.

I really enjoyed Khmer food in the short time I was there - they're great cooks! The Angkor temples were fantastic, but I can imagine some might be bored after a day there.... it's kinda a shame you have to visit on consecutive days if you get a multi-day pass, but oh well. Worth it if you wana check out lotsa the less visited temples too, some of which are seriously spectacular; there's this pyramid style temple which wasn't finished because it was hit by lightening. You can climb right up and see the mountains towards Laos from there! :D

I guess there were a fair few tourists there, it was pretty busy, considering it was "low season" but generally most people are all right. You get some seedy old pedo types and just general scumball sketchos and poser hippies and annoying drunk Brits and bookish types and everyone in between. We didn't have any problems - in fact got some good practise in with my French, with some great French chicks. Personally I thought Sihnoukville was kinda seedy and bleh, and the beach unimpressive, but it was still kinda relaxing and chilled there, but that's defo where you get the people who've come from Thailand by bus (be careful with that, if you do it) for the beer and sand and whatever. I've never been to the Thai islands, so I can't comment how similar they are, but i'd imagine the Cambodian coast is defo much more low-key.

I really liked Kampot, if anyone else is travelling to the South Coast, it's worth getting the bus along (stop in Kep too), it's a very sleepy, relaxed small town (fun to bike around), with not so many tourists, good drinks and laid back guest houses, plus going up Bokor Hill is kinda eerie, but very beautiful and the views are magnificent. Just watch out for the "road", which is being redone. This in Cambodian terms means pulling all the boulders and stones out and levelling it into mud, so that any traffic which tries to go up ends up getting stuck, and I presume this will carry on happening until tarmac or gravel goes down, n then there'll be loaaaads of people going up, and redevelopment of the hotel. Either way, Bokor's worth a visit.

Phnom Penn is pretty crazy and busy. I wasn't there ages, but the bars are quite fun, and there's plenty of places to stay, the food's great, there's a fair few tourists and some fantastic markets (I bought Peep Show series 1-3 for $4.50 :cool: ), plus I think it's pretty essential to do the s21 stuff, in order to put into perspective the country you're visiting. I'll never forget talking to my tuk-tuk driver who took me out to the killing fields, and finally realising his entire extended family was wiped out in the 70s.

If you get off the beaten track there are a hell of a lot of pleasant provincial towns, unvisited floating lake villages and more rural areas where tourists don't go so much. I'm definitely planning on going back to explore when I have more time/money. Hope some of this rambling was vaguely helpful... :)

[rachamim18]

Hate to be a stick in the mud but Killing Fields is a crock. It is a Japanese owned concession that runs for profit and does not pay anything into the local economy above the pittance it pays its local labourers and the bribes paid to the govt. If one really wants learn or simply pay respects they might be better off at the Wat or any one of the many fields around PP and also near Poi Pet (among other places) that are free and not gouging the locals , profiting on their losses.

Funny, I was reading this thread and saw my post from 12/07 talking about leaving for Cambodia the next day and it toom me aback, thought I was delusional. Hahaha. I went, actually did not make it into Cambodia until 12/31/07, left 3/16/08. My 4th time there and allthough I lvoe the country and PP in general, it is changing too fast.

I cannot complain about those poor people gaining prosperity but it is quite sickening to be honest. 5 room fully furnished flats just off Monivong going for 75 US now are 3 room unfurnished flats next to Raffles for 2000 US a month!!! Now they want 100 US ofr a work permit in addition to the Bus. Visa! All the new cheap prefab construction all over the city...All the donated high-tek traffic signals! The Lake being filled in! A way of life is ending and seeing as how I spent a good chunk of my precious youth there (back when you could but 4 kilos of red haired bud for 10 US in Russian Market!) it saddens me.

KFC just opened while I was there across from Bayan and it sucks. Still a druggie haven on the Lake, until they tear down the neighbourhood around the Mosque...

I also have to ask what exactly you found so likable about the cuisine? I mean to each their own but it is nothing at all like Thia OR Nam. The food is very basic, very greasy, and aside form Kompot Pepper Crab it was incredibly boring. I DID like (as always) the 80 US cent meals of white rice, fired sliced pork chop fat (nice kosher eating!), sliced cuke, and vinegar and a can of ice cold Sprite for 2500 riel but the best eating, for me and wifey was the foreign joints arounf 93 St on the Lake. Indian all you can eat for 2 US...Decent tandoori, who would have thoguht? My fave was the salad at the Itlaian place (owned by Khmer) around the turn from Simon II, 3 US for a chef salad that lasts all day...

If anyone needs tips for PP or Poi let me know...

[Sunray]

I can say 100% certainty that is better than the Philippines.

You have discovered exactly what is great about Cambodian food, that breakfast thing they do and standard rice meals were fairly basic food are fine. Best is the foreign food at super cheap.

[llantwit]

Hate to be a stick in the mud but Killing Fields is a crock. It is a Japanese owned concession that runs for profit and does not pay anything into the local economy above the pittance it pays its local labourers and the bribes paid to the govt.
That rings true.
When I was around Angkor in 2005 our guide told us that the hefty ticket prices you pay to see the temples is also mainly for the benefit of the foreign-run company that owns the ticketing franchise.
Don't know if it's true as I never checked, but remember thinking that people might not be so happy to stump up if they knew that a big whack wasn't going into preservation of the ruins, but into a foreign multinational's bank coffers. Yet more sickening Cambodian political corruption.:mad:

[rachamim18]

Sunray: On the Philippines, you know my home is there and I agree with you 100 percent. A nation with a 20% Chinese minority, and up to 60% having Chinese blood and not a decent Chinese resturant in the entire nation! Even Manila!

I remember one day in Davao, Dad found a Pakistani place and came home and told me. I was amaed, and excited, and the enxt time into the city we hit it up. It was one of the worst places I have ever been to. Sad as it is, the best eating, for me, is the Space Burger join in Davao in the Victoria Mall, and the other one that is free standing down the road.

At least Cambodia has all manner of foreign food, and not too expensive either. The Central Market, the one near Russian and Monivong, has 2 kilos of Bing cherries for 15 US a kilo which when you think about it is comprable to a Western supermarket. Of course they are frozen as they ship them in but still, alot better than Philippines banans (which taste like sour apples), and importated Mandarins from Taiwan. That is another thing Cambodia has hands down, the Mandarins for 2500 riel a bag, 20 to 25 per bag. So sweet like honey. I guess I really should not complain.

When talking of cusine though, I am afraid I stick with the earlier condemnation.

Llanwit: It is true but there is a way to get more for the dollar. After 5 PM Angkor is free. They will not tell you that because then the smart folks will just wait. Sunset is spectacular and the best time of day. You will not get busloads of Koreans and gaggles of Euro -hippies elbow to elbow. It is almost empty, it is beautiful, and it is free.

There is preservation because it is basically the only tourist attraction in the entire nation so they are not THAT greedy as to kill their only cash cow. The problem as you said is the foreign concessionaires which are all Japanese and Korean.

A sign of things to come, in my mind, is the water park on Russian halfway out to the Airport. I had to go to Immigration a couple of times towards the end to pay my visa fine (I always have a buisness but my wife is ASEAN and they have different regs, she insists on using her Philippine passport for Asia and I always try to get her to use her Israeli). Passing by I got a nice peek and it is atrocious. Same crap they have in Brighton or in New Jersey in the States. Not too many places off the beaten track anymore.

I should have returned to Laos because that will be the enxt casualty in Western encroachment.