Yes, there are flights from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap but they are too expensive for our budget. The buses are airconditioned so they're fairly comfortable.Reza wrote:Is there a quicker way to get to the Angkor Wat ruins from Phnom Phen? The six hour bus ride sounds like a real back breaker. Hope the bus wasn't like the transport used by Douglas and Turner in Romance?
My Trip to Cambodia and Vietnam
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anonymous1980
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There's an airport in Siem Riep. So it's possible to fly in. There's also a ferry route over the Tonle Sap lake, that takes less time than the land transportation and less money than planes.
Your trip to Vietnam sounds fascinating and fun, Irvin! I'll have to take your suggestions under consideration if I ever return to the region (I skipped Vietnam last time around).
Your trip to Vietnam sounds fascinating and fun, Irvin! I'll have to take your suggestions under consideration if I ever return to the region (I skipped Vietnam last time around).
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anonymous1980
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"Magical" is a good word to describe it. Even though Cambodia is not that far from my country and our basic cultures are not that dissimilar, there's still something quite exotic about it. Anyway, onto part 2...
Part 2: Vietnam
The first thing you'll notice when going to Vietnam is that the most popular mode of transportation are motorcycles, scooters and Vespas. Practically 80% to 90% of the roads are filled with them (And it's also not uncommon to have two or three people on them and even small children and babies). There are very few privately owned cars. There are also a lot of motorcycles in Cambodia but not as common and prevalent as in Vietnam.
After Phnom Pehn, we took another six-hour bus ride back to Ho Chih Minh. Vietnam has come a long way in the past decade (at least according to my mom and dad who first saw Vietnam in the mid-to-late 90's). It's quite urbanized and a little more Westernized (in Cambodia, we've had to speak slowly and point because not a lot of people speak English whereas in Vietnam, more people speak English). My dad checked us into a rather dingy little hotel where we had to walk THREE flights of stairs to get to our room.
After checking in, we had to book our tour for the next day. It turns out, I had to choose between the Cu Chi Tunnel tour package and the city tour. I can't do both the same day. So I decided I wanted to see the Cu Chi Tunnels more so that's what I picked.
Before proceeding to the Cu Chi Tunnels, we dropped by a factory where most of the workers who manufacture decorative boxes, jars, souvenirs and memorabilias are handicapped as a result of Agent Orange. We were invited to buy stuff but I opted not to. Then it was onto the Cu Chi Tunnels.
For those of you, the Cu Chi Tunnels is a museum/park of sorts. It's part of the area where the Viet Cong did their military operations and they started building it way back starting with the French colonizers. They dug pits, fox holes, tunnels and booby traps. There's a shooting range where you can practice target shooting with live ammo for free souvenirs.
My most favorite and least favorite part of the tour is probably when we were invited to crawl under a 50-meter tunnel. The tunnel was widened up a bit for larger tourists and was made more stabilized for safety, otherwise, it's pretty authentic and gave us a taste of what it was like for the Viet Cong. It is definitely NOT for people who are claustrophobic or the morbidly obese. The tunnels are dark and quite stifling and they get narrower at one point. I was down there for only about 2 minutes but I was already starting to feel claustrophobic a bit. When I got out, I was out of breath but I'm glad I did it.
After the Cu Chi Tunnels, we went to Ho Chih Minh where the tour bus dropped us off near the War Remnants Museum which is the Vietnamese museum which presents the Vietnam War mostly from the Vietnamese point of view. The first floor will probably make Sean Hannity's head explode. It's dedicated to pretty much graphically showing the atrocities committed by U.S. troops during the war, killing innocent civilians including women and children. The U.S., however, gets a more humane treatment in the other levels where they showed off photographs taken by war photographers who died in Vietnam including that of Americans. The upper floors also detailed what happened during the war and also had art works. Oddly enough, neither Jane Fonda nor John McCain were mentioned or featured in any of them.
I wanted to go to a Water Puppet Show but my dad said it's way too far so we walked around a bit. There's minimal public transportation in Vietnam and Dad didn't want to spend too much money on a taxi so walking was the only option. We dropped by an old church and browsed in the malls before going back to the hotel. Coincidentally, there was some sort of special show happening at the park across the street from our hotel so we watched a bit of that (obviously amateurish but still interesting to watch). Then we had dinner and I had to sleep early because my flight leaves the following morning.
And that's pretty much it. I'd love to come back someday. Maybe I'll spring for a better hotel. LOL.
Part 2: Vietnam
The first thing you'll notice when going to Vietnam is that the most popular mode of transportation are motorcycles, scooters and Vespas. Practically 80% to 90% of the roads are filled with them (And it's also not uncommon to have two or three people on them and even small children and babies). There are very few privately owned cars. There are also a lot of motorcycles in Cambodia but not as common and prevalent as in Vietnam.
After Phnom Pehn, we took another six-hour bus ride back to Ho Chih Minh. Vietnam has come a long way in the past decade (at least according to my mom and dad who first saw Vietnam in the mid-to-late 90's). It's quite urbanized and a little more Westernized (in Cambodia, we've had to speak slowly and point because not a lot of people speak English whereas in Vietnam, more people speak English). My dad checked us into a rather dingy little hotel where we had to walk THREE flights of stairs to get to our room.
After checking in, we had to book our tour for the next day. It turns out, I had to choose between the Cu Chi Tunnel tour package and the city tour. I can't do both the same day. So I decided I wanted to see the Cu Chi Tunnels more so that's what I picked.
Before proceeding to the Cu Chi Tunnels, we dropped by a factory where most of the workers who manufacture decorative boxes, jars, souvenirs and memorabilias are handicapped as a result of Agent Orange. We were invited to buy stuff but I opted not to. Then it was onto the Cu Chi Tunnels.
For those of you, the Cu Chi Tunnels is a museum/park of sorts. It's part of the area where the Viet Cong did their military operations and they started building it way back starting with the French colonizers. They dug pits, fox holes, tunnels and booby traps. There's a shooting range where you can practice target shooting with live ammo for free souvenirs.
My most favorite and least favorite part of the tour is probably when we were invited to crawl under a 50-meter tunnel. The tunnel was widened up a bit for larger tourists and was made more stabilized for safety, otherwise, it's pretty authentic and gave us a taste of what it was like for the Viet Cong. It is definitely NOT for people who are claustrophobic or the morbidly obese. The tunnels are dark and quite stifling and they get narrower at one point. I was down there for only about 2 minutes but I was already starting to feel claustrophobic a bit. When I got out, I was out of breath but I'm glad I did it.
After the Cu Chi Tunnels, we went to Ho Chih Minh where the tour bus dropped us off near the War Remnants Museum which is the Vietnamese museum which presents the Vietnam War mostly from the Vietnamese point of view. The first floor will probably make Sean Hannity's head explode. It's dedicated to pretty much graphically showing the atrocities committed by U.S. troops during the war, killing innocent civilians including women and children. The U.S., however, gets a more humane treatment in the other levels where they showed off photographs taken by war photographers who died in Vietnam including that of Americans. The upper floors also detailed what happened during the war and also had art works. Oddly enough, neither Jane Fonda nor John McCain were mentioned or featured in any of them.
I wanted to go to a Water Puppet Show but my dad said it's way too far so we walked around a bit. There's minimal public transportation in Vietnam and Dad didn't want to spend too much money on a taxi so walking was the only option. We dropped by an old church and browsed in the malls before going back to the hotel. Coincidentally, there was some sort of special show happening at the park across the street from our hotel so we watched a bit of that (obviously amateurish but still interesting to watch). Then we had dinner and I had to sleep early because my flight leaves the following morning.
And that's pretty much it. I'd love to come back someday. Maybe I'll spring for a better hotel. LOL.
Glad to hear the prices to enter Angkor Wat haven't increased in the ten years since I visited! It really is a magical place isn't it?
The Angkor National Museum (which is acutally owned by a Thai outfit) wasn't open yet when I visited in 2000 (the same year In The Mood For Love came out, quite coincidentally). So I enjoyed the National Museum in Phnom Penh quite a bit. The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng are unforgettably distressing of course. In addition to the Joffe film, I'd recommend Rithy Panh's S21 as a fascinating documentary revolving around the latter location, formerly a school, then a prison, now a momument to a national insanity. Actually any of Panh's films, if you can track them down, are worth viewing for more context on Cambodia's reconciliation with its tragic past.
The Angkor National Museum (which is acutally owned by a Thai outfit) wasn't open yet when I visited in 2000 (the same year In The Mood For Love came out, quite coincidentally). So I enjoyed the National Museum in Phnom Penh quite a bit. The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng are unforgettably distressing of course. In addition to the Joffe film, I'd recommend Rithy Panh's S21 as a fascinating documentary revolving around the latter location, formerly a school, then a prison, now a momument to a national insanity. Actually any of Panh's films, if you can track them down, are worth viewing for more context on Cambodia's reconciliation with its tragic past.
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Big Magilla
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anonymous1980
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Since Big Magilla posted about his travels, I think I should do the same. I too have travelled abroad this week. I just got back home today. I went to two countries, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was a really enjoyable extraordinary vacation which I heartily recommend to anyone who's open to exotic cultures and history.
Part 1: Cambodia.
I landed in Ho Chih Minh 2nd day of October, last Saturday. The airline our family uses, Philippine Airlines, doesn't have direct flights/flyer miles flights to Phnom Pehn. Since my father currently is working in Phnom Pehn, the plan was to get a tourist bus that will take us there as soon as I landed. It is a six-hour bus ride but I came prepared because of course I brought my iPoD and a copy of the book I'm currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (which my dad pretty much grabbed from my hands after I let him read the first couple of chapters).
My dad stays in a tiny apartment just above a bank. The city of Phnom Pehn, though it's quite busy and bustling, it's not very urbanized. There aren't a lot of tall buildings or large malls and they have minimal Western influence (KFC is the only recognizable American corporate restaurant presence in the country). The city is like a large small town if that makes any sense.
I spent one night there and then it's off to the province Siem Reap, a major tourist destination because that's where the world-famous Angkor Wat temple ruins are located. It's ANOTHER six-hour bus ride. This one's extended by one hour due to a traffic jam on the way out of the city.
We checked into our hotel and we looked around the local shops for the rest of the afternoon. Then the next day, it's a trip to Angkor Wat. We hired a toktok that will take us around during the day (you can hire one for one day for US$15). We went to Angkor Wat first and we had to pay $20 US each to enter. I'm like, "What?". As it turns out, that park where the temple ruins are located is HUUUGE. There are tons of temple ruins around and some of them are located a few miles from each other. There was a certain magical experience trekking through the 2000+ year old temple ruins that's a site that is/was sacred to both Buddhism and Hinduism throughout the centuries. There's a section of the temple that's frequented by monkeys (macaques to be exact) which in itself made the $20 totally worth it. LOL. At one point, it rained a bit but I didn't mind. I took it as part of the experience. They were offering elephant rides too but I regret to say I wasn't able to get to do it. Maybe next time.
After lunch, it was off to the Angkor Museum which is a completely modern museum that pretty much details the history of Angkor Wat. Then out of the blue, we took to the suggestion of our driver, to go to a floating village which sounded interesting. We took a boat ride but after about 15 minutes, there was a downpour of rain. We were supposed to stop at a shop/restaurant in the floating village but we decided to skip that and just go straight for the exit.
The next day, it's back to Phnom Pehn so that's another six hour bus ride. The following day, it's a tour of Phnom Pehn and the first stop was the Killing Fields memorial. I only had a general knowledge of the atrocities of Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge so the museum was a real eye-opener (NOTE: I have yet to see The Killing Fields, which is one of the DVD's sold in the souvenir shop). There was a tall monument where they housed the skulls of the victims and they have marked where the mass graves were found. Then it was off to the Tour Sleng Genocide Museum which is the actual prison where the Khmer Rouge kept their prisoners. It was a really fascinating experience. I'm guessing this would be kind of like going to Auschwitz.
After that, it was the National Museum. Personally, I do not recommend going here if you've already been to the Angkor Museum in Siem Reap. It pretty much covers more of the same but the area where it's located near the Royal Palace is a beautiful place and there's a park on it too where you can view some beautiful monuments and architecture.
Then it's off to Wat Phnom which is this beautiful park with a Buddhist temple in the middle of it. There's a museum too but I do not recommend it either. It also pretty much covers much of what the previous aforementioned museums have presented and it's pretty shabby. There are monkeys around it too. There was supposed to be elephant rides but they weren't there that day. There was also some sort of feast day that happened recently and there were these statues of big cats with slabs of raw pork on their mouths as offerings.
The rest of the day was just window shopping. Then it's off the Vietnam. To be continued....
Edited By anonymous on 1286642440
Part 1: Cambodia.
I landed in Ho Chih Minh 2nd day of October, last Saturday. The airline our family uses, Philippine Airlines, doesn't have direct flights/flyer miles flights to Phnom Pehn. Since my father currently is working in Phnom Pehn, the plan was to get a tourist bus that will take us there as soon as I landed. It is a six-hour bus ride but I came prepared because of course I brought my iPoD and a copy of the book I'm currently reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (which my dad pretty much grabbed from my hands after I let him read the first couple of chapters).
My dad stays in a tiny apartment just above a bank. The city of Phnom Pehn, though it's quite busy and bustling, it's not very urbanized. There aren't a lot of tall buildings or large malls and they have minimal Western influence (KFC is the only recognizable American corporate restaurant presence in the country). The city is like a large small town if that makes any sense.
I spent one night there and then it's off to the province Siem Reap, a major tourist destination because that's where the world-famous Angkor Wat temple ruins are located. It's ANOTHER six-hour bus ride. This one's extended by one hour due to a traffic jam on the way out of the city.
We checked into our hotel and we looked around the local shops for the rest of the afternoon. Then the next day, it's a trip to Angkor Wat. We hired a toktok that will take us around during the day (you can hire one for one day for US$15). We went to Angkor Wat first and we had to pay $20 US each to enter. I'm like, "What?". As it turns out, that park where the temple ruins are located is HUUUGE. There are tons of temple ruins around and some of them are located a few miles from each other. There was a certain magical experience trekking through the 2000+ year old temple ruins that's a site that is/was sacred to both Buddhism and Hinduism throughout the centuries. There's a section of the temple that's frequented by monkeys (macaques to be exact) which in itself made the $20 totally worth it. LOL. At one point, it rained a bit but I didn't mind. I took it as part of the experience. They were offering elephant rides too but I regret to say I wasn't able to get to do it. Maybe next time.
After lunch, it was off to the Angkor Museum which is a completely modern museum that pretty much details the history of Angkor Wat. Then out of the blue, we took to the suggestion of our driver, to go to a floating village which sounded interesting. We took a boat ride but after about 15 minutes, there was a downpour of rain. We were supposed to stop at a shop/restaurant in the floating village but we decided to skip that and just go straight for the exit.
The next day, it's back to Phnom Pehn so that's another six hour bus ride. The following day, it's a tour of Phnom Pehn and the first stop was the Killing Fields memorial. I only had a general knowledge of the atrocities of Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge so the museum was a real eye-opener (NOTE: I have yet to see The Killing Fields, which is one of the DVD's sold in the souvenir shop). There was a tall monument where they housed the skulls of the victims and they have marked where the mass graves were found. Then it was off to the Tour Sleng Genocide Museum which is the actual prison where the Khmer Rouge kept their prisoners. It was a really fascinating experience. I'm guessing this would be kind of like going to Auschwitz.
After that, it was the National Museum. Personally, I do not recommend going here if you've already been to the Angkor Museum in Siem Reap. It pretty much covers more of the same but the area where it's located near the Royal Palace is a beautiful place and there's a park on it too where you can view some beautiful monuments and architecture.
Then it's off to Wat Phnom which is this beautiful park with a Buddhist temple in the middle of it. There's a museum too but I do not recommend it either. It also pretty much covers much of what the previous aforementioned museums have presented and it's pretty shabby. There are monkeys around it too. There was supposed to be elephant rides but they weren't there that day. There was also some sort of feast day that happened recently and there were these statues of big cats with slabs of raw pork on their mouths as offerings.
The rest of the day was just window shopping. Then it's off the Vietnam. To be continued....
Edited By anonymous on 1286642440