Cambodia - Phnom Penh & Sihanoukville March 2012

The princess has recently been given her first Philippines passport and this was her first trip abroad. She was real excited and although this was to be my 24th trip into Cambodia I was just as excited to show her around. 2 other couples joined us on this trip and that made it a really good time. We were to see Cambodia and Thailand over the course of 3 week.

Flew Cebu Pacific from Dumaguete to Manila and then onto Bangkok. Price of flight was 5844Pesos ($136 US) for the both of us on the 3 hours flight into Bangkok. From Bangkok we took Air Asia for the short 1 hour hop to Phnom Penh which cost $200. Spent 2 nights in Phnom Penh which gave the girls time to go shopping at the local Khmer markets and I also picked up some DVDs there as well. Walked all over the city one day doing some photography and sightseeing. Princess and I had a lunch at the FCC (foreign correspondents club) and that was quite nice. A very nice French Colonial on the riverfront. :-) Here's some photos from Phnom Penh

 

Upon arrive in PP, immigration is $25 for a thirty-day visa on arrival for foreigners and Filipinos are free with visa waived as part of the ASEAN agreement. A one-year visa is $285 and no questions asked. A tuk-tuk for the 25 minute ride to the hotel in town is $7. ATM at the airport dispenses up to $800 US at a time with $2.00 for the foreign ATM card fee. It's all very civil, straight forward and relaxed.

All too soon we left PP and headed 3 1/2 hours south to Sihanoukville on the beach. With a group of 7 and luggage I arranged 2 Toyota Camry's @ $40 each. Both are very very good condition and the trip was flawless down the two lane highway 4. Traffic seemed very calm compared to my prior trips and that was a welcome relief. Maybe it's because I'm not comparing it to driving conditions here in Philippines now? :-)

Checked into The Beach Club hotel. When in Sihanoukville I won't stay anywhere else now. The owner, Luna, is a great hostess and REALLY puts on the customer service. She was excellent and the ambiance around the pool with the tea lights and low background music at night is just great. We had a fantastic time there and will be back. Luna was kind enough one day to take us on a motorbike tour south along the coastal roads and we saw some great beaches and local scenery. Here's a few pics along the way

 

We had a great tour compliments of Luna and she then announced she knew of a great bar on the beach to get some reasonable sized drinks at. You be the judge of this rum and coke:



And then came the kicker....13 grilled squid for $1


And the beach bar area where we sat polluting ourselves with buckets of cocktails and trays of grilled squid






Gin & Tonic


Things began to get a bit hazy for me :-) But, I do recall a fantastic sunset to end a great day

 

The following day we booked onto the Sun Tours boat that Robert owns. $25 per person includes the boat 9a-5P, average buffet lunch and coffee, tea and water. Robert runs a great bar on the 2nd deck and that really gets going pretty strong on the return. Good day out and some spectacular islands, hiking and scenery. Awesome beaches with sugar/flour sort of sand. I'll let the pics do the talking

 

Sun Tours Boat - Owned by Robert


In hindsight, we could have done with 1-2 more nights in Sihanoukville. 3 Nights just wasn't enough. But, it gives us all a place to go back to soon.

Next we went onto Siem Reap to explore Anchor Wat. That's worth a report all on it's own so I'll end now and do that as part 2.

Be happy to help with any questions if anyone is planning a trip.

Cheers,
Mark

 

Very cool! Awesome pics!

 

Thanks guys! always nice to know the reports are enjoyed.... :-)

 

Thank's OMW, Great pic's and report, Keep em coming
Ron

 

Check out the boulevard. Nobody peeing against the palms, litter free, dog free, pot-hole free, beautiful. If the city council can get a look at this picture maybe they could use it as a blue-print.

 

I think the lady on the beach needs resucitation....