Okay Guesthouse

I checked out a few places before arriving at the okay guesthouse and as soon as I walked in I new it was worth the hunt. Greated instantly by one of the happy staff who didn't mess around with trying to sell me an expensive room but listed the cheepest they had. He made a point of learning my name and amazed me 10 days later when I returned from my travels by still remembering it.

The social area/restaraunt as you enter the guesthouse was great for meeting fellow travellers and because it always seems to be fairly busy it's easy to socialize.

The rooms were all good for the money although the super cheep dorms are in a hall leading to three other rooms but few people seemed to sleep there on my visits.

No Internet or wifi but there's a Internet shop opposite and cheeper one around the corner.

Food was reasonably priced and the menu had plenty of options.

We met some travelers in Vietnam who had just come from Phnom Penh, and they advised us that Okay Guesthouse was the place to be for Phnom Penh. They were right.

This hostel felt more like a 4 star hotel, with a warm shower, clean sheets, and friendly staff. The entrance was also a restaurant with a beer fridge, which was a great place to meet and talk to fellow travelers.

Even though the entrance was always full of people drinking and having fun, the layout of the place meant that you had no problems falling asleep. From my bedroom I couldn't hear a thing.

The hostel was within walking distance from a lot of the major sights, or you could use a cheap tuk tuk to get to where you need to go.

Avoid any offers from the hostel staff for bus tickets and tours (etc), as you can usually find them cheaper elsewhere.

When we arrived at this guesthouse, we got the impression that we arrived in some sort of sect. All kinds of "hippie type" backpackers were sitting on long tables discussing there ways of travelling. It creeped me out at first, but later on I came back from my conclusions.
The room we toke was on the 4th floor on the righthand side of the 2 buildings. There are 3 buildings in total, so there doing some good business there.

The room was clean, towels available in the room and even toilet paper. The airco worked nicely and the beds were clean and made up. Only minus, were the curtains. If you opened them and you looked through your window, you saw the brick wall of the building next to ours. So we left those curtains closed.

Downstairs is the main restaurant, hang out, were you can grab your own drinks from the fridge and you can order some delicious food. It's a mixture of vietnamese, thai and frence food. What you order to eat or take to drink, you write it in your own notebook with the nr. of your room on it. They will mostly check it by giving there signature behind your order.
By the time your checking out, you'll give the notebook to the owner behind the maindesk, and he will make up your bill.

If you like movies and don't want to hang round at night in the city, you can watch the latest movies. They have a dvd player availible and a cabinet filled with movies. Also they have bookselves filled with books, laying there to be read. Also internet service is availible, oversea call services and laundry service.

The crew who is working there are willing to give you tours to all the main attractions around Phnom Penh and they even arrange bus/flight tickets to Vietnam, Siem Reap, and Bangkok.

Although I spend only 2 nights in this guesthouse, I will go back for sure.

Very busy hostel, probably wise to book ahead. Despite being busy I managed to negotiate a single room with fan, cold shower, cable TV on the 5th floor for $6/night. It was comfortable, secure, the staff were helpful and the restaurant downstairs was always buzzing so it’s a great place to meet people. Also they run the drinks and food on a ‘trust’ system, where you write down in your room book everything you eat and take from the fridge and settle up at the end, which is great for a late night drinking session or for taking drinks to your room if there’s no staff around to serve you. The only downside was the thousands and thousands of little flying things (possibly mosquitoes) that flew around the hall lights at night. You walk up the stairs into a cloud of them so you have to get in your room and close the door as fast as you can! In the morning they are all dead on the floor when you step out. I did get a few extra bites but nothing too dramatic. I would stay here again.

This Guesthouse was definitely one of my favorite parts of my 2 month trip to Asia. It's incredibly clean, ridiculously cheap, and you don't even want to leave the guesthouse because it's a great place to meet people and relax. Dorms (with a shared bathroom) are $1 a night. I was a bit worried about my belongings the first night but they were safe. The only bad part about staying in the dorm is that there are 2 doubles across from the beds and sometimes the people staying in those rooms can be really loud and disrespectful. Single with hot water/bath is $4 a night.

The guesthouse has a restaurant in it and every night they play movies that you can pick out. Your entire stay is kept on a tab, too, so you pay for everything (room, food, beer) when you leave. There is also travel services (tours, visas) available, along with really friendly tuk tuk drivers or motorbikes (request Mao- he became our good friend and driver while being there!!)

I ended up staying a week in Phnom Penh because I made so many friends at the guesthouse. They all speak really good english and are really friendly. We even went out to get food and to a club with some of the guys. All in all, this is the best place you can stay in Phnom Penh, especially if you're traveling by yourself, which I was.

I highly recommend it and if you're planning on staying there soon, let me know! I will have you relay messages to the friends I met there :)