Cambodia Journey

Cambodia Journey travel Angkor Wat Day Trips and Beaches.

Fascinating day tours and journeys to ancient temples beaches including Angkor Wat and Thom with and  other temples around plus the famous tonle sap lake plus online shopping.

Cambodia Day Trips

It should be kept in mind that Cambodia and Laos were heavy bombed during the Vietnam war and even today dud shots explode throughout the country plus a couple of waterfronts around in Koh Kong province are still off limit because of that. The US military virtually bombed Cambodia and Vietnam back into the "stone-age" and never helped the country afterwards to get out of the mess the US caused. After the Chinese took over and financed the "Khmer Rough" who even produced an even larger  

All travel is quite easy and uncomplicated accommodation is plenty over the whole range. Local food is quite good with low costs and overwhelming diversity which finally results in an exotic tropical pleasure.  

Several border crossing from Thailand plus Laos and Vietnam facilitates trips into the former Khmer State. Three airports and a deep sea port in Sihanoukville are the gateway to the country from Vietnam Laos and Thailand. In general Cambodia holiday can be cheap and good holiday no matter where you go.

One tip about "low-cost hotels try guesthouses, the reason is they pay lower taxes than regular classified hotels. That mean lower prices so many keep the designation but offer just the same as a normal hotel.

Cambodia Journey

The main Cambodian international flight destination is Phnom Penh Airport and on a minor level in the north it's Siem Reap since most popular tourist destination is Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. 

The destination is also served by some other airlines such as Silk Air and Bangkok Airways but just forget them they are relatively very expensive. An example Air Asia charges for the Bangkok-Phnom Penh flight Baht 1500,- Bangkok Airways pulls Baht 4500,- etc. got the message? The Siem Reap flights mean travel to Angkor and how to do travel to Cambodia with reqirements and a list what to do on short time tourist travel to long time retirement in Cambodia is comoiled and explained here:

Phnom Penh Airport is a small one which receives aircraft mainly from the countries around. They work quite fast although not having the image of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

The road trip via Bangkok and Trat (Koh Chang) in Thailand

Start is at Mo Chit bus station from where you have 3 possibilities for travel to the Cambodian border at 

Bus counter for Cambodia at Mo Chit terminal in Bangkok

Via Aranyapradet first takes the direct bus to Siem Reap (means one vehicle all way through). If you are traveling between Cambodia and Thailand check a train link they say in 2018 a train become operable between Phnom Penh and the Thai border at Poipet it needs to check first because they say plenty of stuff.

Bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap

The alternative is to change at the border and proceed on or move south to Trat (also starts at Mo Chit but at a different counter) / Koh Chang and after to Koh Kong. 

From Bangkok to Trat is about 6 hours drive and from there to the boundary 1.30 hours. The Minibus from Trat station leaves every 30 minutes. 

Phnom Penh to Bangkok  -  Koh Kong to Phnom Penh  -  PP to Bangkok  - PP to Siem Reap

For Phnom Penh it needs to change the bus at the border anyway total travel time its about 12 to 14 hours.

Even if you want to travel directly to let's say the capital it's worth to make this little detour described above through the south, why? 

The roads to Siem Reap and PP have again increased to a disaster level (2015), about a third of the distance on both ways are only dirt roads. Now when using a bus to Trat and after to Koh Kong a good road is available throughout. 

The Khmer people at the border offer to process your passport, let them do it, give them hundred Baht sit down and relax. After a while they will come and ask you to pay the visa, now the cheating starts. The immigration guy will ask you either $ 30,- or around one thousand Baht but the regular fee is $ 20,- they will argue you didn't give them two photos if you didn't you have lost. If you want to pay with Baht it's ok either but then it's 1000,- anyway. For this you get a one month tourist visa / single entry.  

Also at this crossing are much less people, after you are through take a motorbike taxi for around Bahr 100,- and move on. You can stay overnight in Koh Kong City ( they have enough good hotels) and the next morning take the bus to Phnom Penh talk to the hotel people about the ticket they have it available at the reception. Since the price is written on it there is not much cheating possible. The border opens at 7 am and closes at 8 pm.

Roads in the cities are not  bad

They are a bit chaotic but elsewhere in the countryside they are not good at all, most are on a dirt road level (middle of 2017) although the country is developing quick there are plenty of negative sides. Even traveling from the Thai border to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap is a real disaster by road, actually a government who is such negligent on even the most basics infrastructure is definitely not worth to be called a government.

The Currency is the Riel

The country has a rather strange currency which is fixed to the US Dollar at a rate of 4 Riel to one $. It is absolutely common to pay in $, but it needs some small money for little things in the countryside and you are expected to take small bills back as change when paying in dollars. Finally, that means no need to change money just take small $ bills with you, Riel banknotes you will get automatically and everyone expects the "green buck" from you anyway.

To have the Riel fixed to the US currency makes sense since it keeps inflation under control. In general, Cambodia is still a rather cheap country and ideal when you want pleasant tropical holidays on a lower budget.

A Tropical Climate

Cambodia is a tropical travel country where the temperature moves very rarely below 20-degree centigrade and it follows the monsoon pattern. That means rain from May to October and dry the other time. It is really such simple only sometimes clouds come in over the South China Sea and offload their wet freight over the hill ranges such as the Cardamon Mountains, more about the weather.

Cambodian culture is "Khmer Culture"

The recent times has no much to do with culture, rather with horror and you better leave the people alone instead of to warm up the horror stories. They already had enough and most people don't want to be reminded to the dread of the recent past. It needs to understand that all this could not have happened without the active involvement of the Chinese Government of that time ( Mad Mao tried is before in China) and as it looks this person are not as stupidly driven by lunatic ideology as it was before.

Actually, it does not look that anything like that will happen again since the country was pulled out of the Chinese grip although they still do a lot of damage in the nature environment issue, more about Khmer Culture.

Travel around by bus

Start is at Mo Chit Bus Terminal in Bangkok

From there you have 2 possibilities for travel to the Cambodian border at Aranyapradet.

• First, take the direct bus to Siem Reap (means one vehicle all way through they will guide you through at the border). The alternative routing is one bus to the border walk through immigration and takes a Cambodian bus or taxi to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh.

From Phnom Penh to Bangkok

• For the overland route via Bangkok and Trat in Thailand take the bus south to Trat / Koh Chang and after to Koh Kong. From Bangkok to Trat is about 6 hours drive and from there to the boundary 1.30 hours. The Minibus from "Trat terminal" leaves every 30 minutes for the border last border run is around 6 pm.

Bangkok to Siem Reap

Bus travel with cheap tickets in Cambodia 

Koh Kong to Phnom Penh  

Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Cambodia Photos

A typical travel route (90% of the visitors are tourists) could be from Singapore or Bangkok, do some advance booking via the internet and land on the Capital, Angkor or the beaches in the south around Sihanoukville.

Even if you want to travel directly to let's say to the capital it's worth to make this little detour via Trat and Koh Kong in the south, why? The roads to Siem Reap > and PP has again degraded to a disaster level (2017), about a third of the distance on both ways are only dirt roads. Now when using a bus to Trat and after to Koh Kong a good road is available throughout.

Khmer people > at the border offer to process your passport, let them do it, give them hundred Baht sit down and relax. After a while they will come and ask you to pay the visa, now the cheating starts. The immigration guy will ask you either $ 30,- or around one thousand Baht but the regular fee is $ 20,- they will argue you didn't give them two photos if you didn't you have lost. If you want to pay with Baht it's ok either but then it's 1000,- anyway. For this, you get a one-month tourist visa / single entry.

Also at this crossing are much fewer people after you through take a motorbike taxi for around Bahr 100,- and move on. You can stay overnight in Koh Kong City ( they have enough good hotels) and the next morning take the bus to Phnom Penh >, talk to the hotel people about the ticket they have it available at the reception. Since the price is written on it there is not much cheating possible. The border opens at 7 am and closes at 8 pm.

When taking the coach the real problem is the roads outside the big cities, they are real bad, not all but most. Although this is cheap travel it could be better, they are not good at all, most are on a dirt road level (beginning of 2015) although the country is developing quick there are plenty of negative sides.

From the Thai border to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

It is a real disaster by road, actually, a government who is such negligent on even the most basics infrastructure is definitely not worth to be called a government. On the other hand, donor countries are helping with millions of dollars and the UN and NGO people are around always with the biggest and most luxurious SUV the simple question is, is there money misused?

Cambodia rivers

Most Cambodia interior is flat and plenty of rivers and streams supply an abundance of water which sometimes runs almost dry.

Here are Angkor Wat tours >


Welcome to a Angkor Wat tour the guide is waiting
Welcome to Siem Reap by the apsaras
Baray at Angkor Wat

To counter that the old Khmer built canals and storage systems, the most prominent are the Barays of Angkor > from where the old Khmer received most water during the dry season.
crossing the Mekong over rapids

The Mekong river > is the main water source moves in from the north-west, traverses the flat plains and empty into the sea via a large delta in Vietnam. On the picture above people cross the turbulent water over a home made rope bridge.

Sre Ambel in Cardamon Mountains


Sre Ambel in the Cardamon Mountains >

 Sokha Beach at Sihanoukville and some activities

Sokha Beach at Sihanoukville >

Ochheuteal Beach Fun

Ochheuteal Beach >

Cambodia is a great destination in South East Asia where cheap holidays are still available for different purpose which are culture oriented, with beautiful beaches or maybe just get lost in the wilderness of the south west and north east.