But be prepared to step outside of comfort zone
Sunday, October 21, 2007
By By Alan Weant
Special to The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)
With overseas travel to Southeast Asia on the rise, Phnom Penh is the perfect day-trip getaway from Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia.
If your idea of travel is to stay in the Four Seasons hotel in every city you visit and eat at the new east-meets-west fusion restaurant, you will need to break out of that comfort zone before your plane touches down on one of the only stretches of pavement the city has to offer.
Phnom Penh is easy to fly into. It should cost you just $30-$45 for a one-way ticket from any of the previously mentioned countries.
Air Asia is your best bet. It is a lot like Southwest Airlines, only selling inexpensive one-way tickets in the Indo-China area. There is no need to book way in advance.
When you get off the plane and head through customs, you are required to pay $25 for a 30-day visa. Don't worry about those communists with machine guns checking your bags and passports, they have a great sense of humor hiding beneath their deep frowns.
As you exit the airport, your trip will hinge on which cab driver you receive, and this relies solely on chance. If your driver can speak even a little English, you will want to rely on this man for the duration of the trip.
One must realize, Phnom Penh's population is about 2 million people. They all ride motorbikes or bicycles in this city with only a few traffic lights and barely any paved roads. You will undoubtedly see six people on one moped.
There are no, and I mean no, traffic laws here. When your driver pulls into oncoming traffic, just shut your eyes and remember that you are not in America anymore and he does this for a living.
My suggestion would be to offer this man $20-$30 for the day to drive you around and wait on you while you experience everything the city has to offer. It may not seem like a lot, but this is a communist country. There is no capitalist economic boom taking place. Virtually no one in this city has a job. Twenty dollars goes a long, long way.
There are a few high-end hotels, but for the full experience stay in one of the many boutique hotels (all western owned) that line the Sap River on Sisowath Quay.
This is where all of the action is, so you might as well stay there. The only problem is these rooms are hard to find on a travel Web site. This street is full of open-air bars and restaurants that look out onto the Sap and its hordes of fishermen. Also, from my memory, this is the only area with lights.
The only downside is this is where the beggars are. Chances are you have never seen this many truly poor people in your life. My rule was to give money only to children under 10 and to amputees.
The only must-see's are the Killing Fields, and S-21 prison. If you have an extra minute and want to see the The Royal Palace, ride an elephant, visit a brothel or shoot AK-47's, do it. Phnom Penh is your oyster. You can literally do anything you want, except bad-mouth the government, which brings a fine.
The drive out to the Killing Fields takes about 30 minutes. You get to see a large part of the city that has zero commercialization and western influence.
Then make your way to the outskirts of the capital and get a glimpse into the lives of rural farming families. I was slightly let down by the Killing Fields. I am not sure what I expected. It is a giant field with about 90 large holes indicating where the mass graves were found.
I did get choked up at the monument that serves as a dedication to the people killed. The monument at the Fields looks like a Buddhist shrine (roughly 50 feet tall) filled top to bottom with the skulls of the deceased found there. I know it sounds morbid, but look closely at the skulls. The Khmer Rouge rarely killed with guns and many of the skulls have been caved in with blunt instruments.
I could talk about S-21 all day. Everyone will have an emotional reaction, even at first glance. It is an elementary school turned torture prison.
The Khmer Rouge took in-depth records on every person killed there, how they killed them and why. The rooms are filled with chalk boards full of mugshots taken before the executions.
The amazing thing is, none of the people have fear in their eyes. Blank, numb faces stare at you and haunt as you imagine what was going through their minds while they were there. Children, women, the elderly were all prime targets.
The Khmer Rouge killed 40 percent of its own population between 1975-1979 before Pol Pot was overthrown. This prison is the equivalent of a concentration camp in eastern Europe. Even poster-size pictures of mutilated bodies are hung on the walls above the torture devices.
But mainly, just look at the poverty while you are there. Look what war and the remnants of war can do to a country.
Look at the 7-year-old children carrying babies around and begging for money. Look at all the people sleeping in cardboard boxes on the sides of the streets. Look at the countless land mine victims that litter the city. Watch the women bathe and do laundry in the Mekong, a river that makes the Mississippi look like your bath water.
But most importantly, go to the central market and the surrounding streets and watch all of these people with virtually nothing share everything they have. Watch the community pull together.
This city will smell like nothing you have ever experienced before (you might even have to fight off vomit at times), the people will be dirtier then anyone you have seen before, but they are the nicest people you will meet as you travel through Asia.
This country isn't for everyone, but if you are a true traveler it is a must. Travel is all about immersing yourself into a culture and learning, and you will get your money's worth here.
At worst, you will learn how good you have it, compared to half of the world that lives on less then a dollar a day.
Alan Weant is a professional golfer and lives in Germantown.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
By By Alan Weant
Special to The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee, USA)
With overseas travel to Southeast Asia on the rise, Phnom Penh is the perfect day-trip getaway from Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia.
If your idea of travel is to stay in the Four Seasons hotel in every city you visit and eat at the new east-meets-west fusion restaurant, you will need to break out of that comfort zone before your plane touches down on one of the only stretches of pavement the city has to offer.
Phnom Penh is easy to fly into. It should cost you just $30-$45 for a one-way ticket from any of the previously mentioned countries.
Air Asia is your best bet. It is a lot like Southwest Airlines, only selling inexpensive one-way tickets in the Indo-China area. There is no need to book way in advance.
When you get off the plane and head through customs, you are required to pay $25 for a 30-day visa. Don't worry about those communists with machine guns checking your bags and passports, they have a great sense of humor hiding beneath their deep frowns.
As you exit the airport, your trip will hinge on which cab driver you receive, and this relies solely on chance. If your driver can speak even a little English, you will want to rely on this man for the duration of the trip.
One must realize, Phnom Penh's population is about 2 million people. They all ride motorbikes or bicycles in this city with only a few traffic lights and barely any paved roads. You will undoubtedly see six people on one moped.
There are no, and I mean no, traffic laws here. When your driver pulls into oncoming traffic, just shut your eyes and remember that you are not in America anymore and he does this for a living.
My suggestion would be to offer this man $20-$30 for the day to drive you around and wait on you while you experience everything the city has to offer. It may not seem like a lot, but this is a communist country. There is no capitalist economic boom taking place. Virtually no one in this city has a job. Twenty dollars goes a long, long way.
There are a few high-end hotels, but for the full experience stay in one of the many boutique hotels (all western owned) that line the Sap River on Sisowath Quay.
This is where all of the action is, so you might as well stay there. The only problem is these rooms are hard to find on a travel Web site. This street is full of open-air bars and restaurants that look out onto the Sap and its hordes of fishermen. Also, from my memory, this is the only area with lights.
The only downside is this is where the beggars are. Chances are you have never seen this many truly poor people in your life. My rule was to give money only to children under 10 and to amputees.
The only must-see's are the Killing Fields, and S-21 prison. If you have an extra minute and want to see the The Royal Palace, ride an elephant, visit a brothel or shoot AK-47's, do it. Phnom Penh is your oyster. You can literally do anything you want, except bad-mouth the government, which brings a fine.
The drive out to the Killing Fields takes about 30 minutes. You get to see a large part of the city that has zero commercialization and western influence.
Then make your way to the outskirts of the capital and get a glimpse into the lives of rural farming families. I was slightly let down by the Killing Fields. I am not sure what I expected. It is a giant field with about 90 large holes indicating where the mass graves were found.
I did get choked up at the monument that serves as a dedication to the people killed. The monument at the Fields looks like a Buddhist shrine (roughly 50 feet tall) filled top to bottom with the skulls of the deceased found there. I know it sounds morbid, but look closely at the skulls. The Khmer Rouge rarely killed with guns and many of the skulls have been caved in with blunt instruments.
I could talk about S-21 all day. Everyone will have an emotional reaction, even at first glance. It is an elementary school turned torture prison.
The Khmer Rouge took in-depth records on every person killed there, how they killed them and why. The rooms are filled with chalk boards full of mugshots taken before the executions.
The amazing thing is, none of the people have fear in their eyes. Blank, numb faces stare at you and haunt as you imagine what was going through their minds while they were there. Children, women, the elderly were all prime targets.
The Khmer Rouge killed 40 percent of its own population between 1975-1979 before Pol Pot was overthrown. This prison is the equivalent of a concentration camp in eastern Europe. Even poster-size pictures of mutilated bodies are hung on the walls above the torture devices.
But mainly, just look at the poverty while you are there. Look what war and the remnants of war can do to a country.
Look at the 7-year-old children carrying babies around and begging for money. Look at all the people sleeping in cardboard boxes on the sides of the streets. Look at the countless land mine victims that litter the city. Watch the women bathe and do laundry in the Mekong, a river that makes the Mississippi look like your bath water.
But most importantly, go to the central market and the surrounding streets and watch all of these people with virtually nothing share everything they have. Watch the community pull together.
This city will smell like nothing you have ever experienced before (you might even have to fight off vomit at times), the people will be dirtier then anyone you have seen before, but they are the nicest people you will meet as you travel through Asia.
This country isn't for everyone, but if you are a true traveler it is a must. Travel is all about immersing yourself into a culture and learning, and you will get your money's worth here.
At worst, you will learn how good you have it, compared to half of the world that lives on less then a dollar a day.
Alan Weant is a professional golfer and lives in Germantown.
4 comments:
It's probably possible to fly from KL on a no-frill AirAsia flight with that low-price ticker.
But it's not likely - may be impossible to find that price for a Vietnam Airlines flight from HCMC or elsewhere in that country.
Moreover, there's yet no such a low-cost ticket as low as US$35-US$45 from Bangkok. It's over TB4,400 (US$114) for a single trip from Suvarnabhum Airport to Cambodia's Pochentong by Thai International Airways. It will be more expensive to fly a direct flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap available only by Bangkok Airways which monopolises the route.
I doubt if the writer of this article had ever flown in from the Thailand's capital city- or had he ever paid for the tickets himself. PLS correct.
-- with correction --
It's probably possible to fly from KL on a no-frill AirAsia flight with those low-price tickets. It depends on when you do the booking.
But it's not likely or impossible to find those prices on a Vietnam Airlines flight from HCMC or elsewhere in that country.
Moreover, there's yet no such low-cost ticket as low as US$35 or US$45 available from Bangkok. It's over TB4,400 (US$114) for a single trip from Suvarnabhum Airport to Cambodia's Pochentong by Thai International Airways. It will be more expensive to fly a direct flight from Bangkok to Siem Reap-Angkor only by Bangkok Airways which monopolises the route.
I doubt if the writer of this article had ever flown in from Thailand - or had he ever paid for the tickets himself.
However, I agree that visiting cambodia is a must but a one-day 'escape' will be extremely short of enough and totally not a good idea. One should have at least 2 full days for quick-looking at places in P Penh alone.
Wow,...that's cool to describe PP but sth is not very acceptable. There are so many place to visit beside those historical thing...
Althoght, the traffic seem a bit crazy in there, but they drive pretty slow, less accident; not like in BK or KL...imagine to cross the road...while you guy need to find the bridge...
Btw, it's going to change since the Gov pay more attention on traffic....
Hope you have good day in PP or orther place.
Welcome to Phnom Penh!
Sousdey
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