Pomh Pneh Cambodia? Anyone been

compboyo

compboyo

compboyo

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Phnom Penh Cambodia? Anyone been

Is this place safe TO GO ALONE? Wheres good to stay etc.

I may go there as side trip on my Asia plan,
 
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My parents went earlier in the year, yes it's safe. What sort of budget do you have for places to stay?

Make sure you go to Siem Reap as well as Phnom Penh for Angkor Wat.
 
Yeah, but nearly 10 years ago now (man, I feel old!).

I stayed on the lakside. A lot of hostels along there, and it's quite nicely off the main strip so feels safe.

When I went there were lots of warnings about not going out alone after dark, stories of tourists held up at gunpoint at night, etc.

We didn't see any trouble really, but we went out with an escort from our hostel the few times we were out at night as they were driving us around on their scooters anyway.

There was one rather unsettling incident after a "happy" pizza, though. I was a bit "befuzzled" shall we say, and when we walked outside to a line of scooters and local guys touting for taxi service back to hostels, in my state I almost went for the wrong scooter before the guy from our hostel called me over. The guy I initially headed towards went mental at this, screaming "I'll come for you. I'll take you for a ride, yeah. I'll come for you. I'll see you again" and making gunshot motions. Dunno how dangerous it really was, but it freaked me out.

Siam Reap is much more chilled. And Angkor Wat is amazing.
 
Angkor Wat is a huge site generally chock full of tourists, monks and locals selling things.

You will have more trouble finding a secluded area for some quiet contemplation than having to worry about being alone and isolated!

Also, you will find it easy to tag onto a group of ppl going there if you just roll up at any hostel in Siam Reap.
 
I did a week in Cambodia a couple of years back. Started at a beach resort whose name currently eludes me which was really nice and then on to Phnom Penh which I can only describe as a **** hole compared to other cities in the area, there wasn't much to do but we were only there for 2 days before we went on to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat which are absolutely amazing, there are plenty of westerners around and I wouldn't think twice about travelling there on my own.
 
sihanoukville is the beach resort, its pretty nice there. Best to spend a few days in PP and make sure you do the killing fields and museum. Both quite eye opening and important places to go on a visit to Cambodia.

Its worth spending a few days in Siem Reap as well, you're probably best off only buying a day pass for the temples. Make sure you go there at 5am for the sunrise at Angkor Wat, then take a look at Angkor Thom (which is where they filmed Tomb Raider) then any other temples that your Tuk Tuk driver recommends. Eat at the markets in Siem Reap in the evening as well, its less than $5 for a local bbq that they bring to your table which is pretty cool. Pub street is worth checking out as well.

Apart from those two places and the beach for fun, Battemberg may be worth checking out although I didn't get chance to go.
 
compboyo said:
probably shioukville was the beach I think its called that? what was that like?

So PP is a waste off time?
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SihanoukVille is the one. I was there in May 2009 and really enjoyed it, fantastic beach with lots of beach bars so you could spent the evening chasing happy hours. Food and drink was generally reasonably priced and we didn't get too harassed by kids whilst on the beach.

However, I had a recruitment guy that I use go there (on my recommendation) the following year and I think a lot of the beach bars had been damaged or wiped out in a storm but I'd imagine they'd have been rebuilt by now.


EDIT: I wouldn't say PP is a waste of time, but you can do the Killing Fields and Museum in a morning, a market in the afternoon and then you're back to the usual evening activities of drink/drugs/food/women/etc which personally I'd rather do somewhere nice rather than a city which often smelt like an open sewer.
 
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Del Lardo said:
However, I had a recruitment guy that I use go there (on my recommendation) the following year and I think a lot of the beach bars had been damaged or wiped out in a storm but I'd imagine they'd have been rebuilt by now.
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I was there in Oct 2010 and it was all ok so looks as though it has been rebuilt.
 
Yeah I've been. If your going to be doing a large trip eg thailand, cambodia, vietnam etc pnom penh is a logical and worthy stop on the way through... otherwise, I wouldn't personally go out of my way to visit. You can go shooting there (I shot and AK47 and an oldschool bolt ation rifle from the vietnam war), some good bars etc... Siem Reap is also pretty decent on the way, if your journey is heading on towards Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), which is well worth visiting...
 
Forgot to say, if you do go there make sure you visit S21prison and the Killing fields, it really gives you a sense of why the place was so ****ed up!
 
oulton said:
Yeah I've been. If your going to be doing a large trip eg thailand, cambodia, vietnam etc pnom penh is a logical and worthy stop on the way through... otherwise, I wouldn't personally go out of my way to visit. You can go shooting there (I shot and AK47 and an oldschool bolt ation rifle from the vietnam war), some good bars etc... Siem Reap is also pretty decent on the way, if your journey is heading on towards Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), which is well worth visiting...
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How was Veitnam.

Vietnam appeals more I think but safety/dsitance puts me off.

Id like to go to SHanghai/bejing but that would be expenisve from Thailand I think?

Also Japan
 
Vietnam is probably safer than Cambodia. Some risk of bag-snatching in Saigon, probably, but it's not an especially dangerous country to travel around, I don't think (excepting trying to cross the road in Saigon!).

Food's good, too.

And Japan is my favourite by far of the countries I've ever visited. Now trying to get the money/time to get over there (expensive with a family of four!).
 
Vietnam is lovely - perfectly safe and not very from from Thailand really, definitely go if you're in SE Asia. Don't spend more than a couple of days in Saigon though, there aren't an awful lot of tourist attractions in the city, but it's good to use as a base for going on tours. While you're in Saigon - make sure you visit a certain type of hair salon, you'll know when you see one ;)
 
compboyo said:
How was Veitnam.

Vietnam appeals more I think but safety/dsitance puts me off.

Id like to go to SHanghai/bejing but that would be expenisve from Thailand I think?

Also Japan
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I started off in Vietnam and really enjoyed it. Did a day trip to the tunnels north of Ho Chi Minh City which was really interesting and there was enough in the city to keep you amused, felt A LOT safer than Phnom Penh (though that's not to say I felt unsafe in Phnom Penh) and one of my favorite evenings was spent with locals drinking beers on a street bar (sitting in kiddies plastic chairs).

My friend had already been in Vietnam for 2 weeks and had travelled down from Hanoi (which he liked) and had also spent a few days at a beach resort in the north which was 'fantastic'.
 
In my opnion goto Phnom Penh, do the killing fields, the Gun Range, and S21, the head down the sihanoukville via Kampot, kampot is a must.

did it a few years ago, basically did , angkor Wat -> Phnom Pen -> Kampot -> sihanoukville then up to to thailand via Koh chang
 
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