Landing in Phnom Penh
April 3, 2007
We landed in
For the first night we stayed at the Bophatep(sp?) Hotel. It only cost about
$10 USD a night but the accommodations were very minimal.
Not much else to say... 26 hours of travel will wear you out pretty fast!
You'll see a lot of these in South-East Asia but people never really know what they are called (at least not the several people I asked).
General Info: Basically the lotus flower grows in the water. After it blooms, the petals fall off and the "bud"(sorry I don't know the technical terms) with all the seeds starts to grow.
To Eat: Break it open and take out the little pods. There is a soft shell covering the little seeds so you'll need to peel that too. Oh, and don't bother with the small ones. There isn't anything in there!
These things taste very similar to fresh peas, although they have a much milder taste. We usually paid 1000 riel (~$0.25USD) for a stick of 4 "buds".
Also if you happen to be venturing off to Wat Phnom (in Phnom Penh) you can feed these to the monkeys! They love it!
General Info: Basically the lotus flower grows in the water. After it blooms, the petals fall off and the "bud"(sorry I don't know the technical terms) with all the seeds starts to grow.
To Eat: Break it open and take out the little pods. There is a soft shell covering the little seeds so you'll need to peel that too. Oh, and don't bother with the small ones. There isn't anything in there!
These things taste very similar to fresh peas, although they have a much milder taste. We usually paid 1000 riel (~$0.25USD) for a stick of 4 "buds".
Also if you happen to be venturing off to Wat Phnom (in Phnom Penh) you can feed these to the monkeys! They love it!
Lotus seed "bud"
Lotus seed pod
Yummy! So tasty!
Driving:
I was told by many people (both tourists and locals) that we should not rent our own car in Cambodia.
There are two main reasons for this:
First, they drive differently here then they do in countries that actually have traffic/road laws. I’m sure they have rules in Cambodia, but nobody ever follows them and they are rarely enforced. To actually drive here, you need to have nerves of steel. I could hardly stand being a passenger sometimes.
Secondly, the are some serious liability issues. Do not hit someone or something there. Aside from the fact that I’m sure you do not want hit any people (at least I hope not), you’ll be shelling out a lot of money if you do. I don’t know how much, but I’m sure it’ll do some major damage to your pocketbook.
My suggestion: Hire a driver! It shouldn’t cost much more then a rental and you are not responsible if something happens to either the driver’s car, the other person’s car, any repairs, etc. Try to negotiate what you think is a fair price and the more people you have in the car the cheaper it is for the individual person. *Don’t be afraid to chat with other tourists to see where they are going. We did this a couple times and saved quite a bit of money.*
Bus:
We took the “Mekong Express Limousine Bus” to go to several places in Cambodia, as well as a direct bus to Ho Chi Minh(Saigon), Vietnam from Phnom Penh. We always had great service, the buses were air conditioned and they served snacks and water. From Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh, it cost $13USD. Going from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, it cost $10USD and from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh it cost $6. Each trip took a approx. 4-6 hours (the reason to be explained in the next section).
Roads:
The roads in Cambodia are pretty bad. Even if they look good (brand new and paved) don't expect to get anywhere as fast as you would in your own country. There are so many bikes and overloaded trucks that it is next to impossible to go over 60 km/h. No joke! It may only take us 20-25 minutes to do 50 km/h here in Canada but in Cambodia it'll take you well over an hour. They are trying to fix quite a few of the roads, so that may cause some delays as well.
If you are going to be traveling around Cambodia, factor in travel time. We allowed one full day for travel, so we wouldn’t be rushing to get to places on time. Just try to be patient and enjoy the scenery.
I was told by many people (both tourists and locals) that we should not rent our own car in Cambodia.
There are two main reasons for this:
First, they drive differently here then they do in countries that actually have traffic/road laws. I’m sure they have rules in Cambodia, but nobody ever follows them and they are rarely enforced. To actually drive here, you need to have nerves of steel. I could hardly stand being a passenger sometimes.
Secondly, the are some serious liability issues. Do not hit someone or something there. Aside from the fact that I’m sure you do not want hit any people (at least I hope not), you’ll be shelling out a lot of money if you do. I don’t know how much, but I’m sure it’ll do some major damage to your pocketbook.
My suggestion: Hire a driver! It shouldn’t cost much more then a rental and you are not responsible if something happens to either the driver’s car, the other person’s car, any repairs, etc. Try to negotiate what you think is a fair price and the more people you have in the car the cheaper it is for the individual person. *Don’t be afraid to chat with other tourists to see where they are going. We did this a couple times and saved quite a bit of money.*
Bus:
We took the “Mekong Express Limousine Bus” to go to several places in Cambodia, as well as a direct bus to Ho Chi Minh(Saigon), Vietnam from Phnom Penh. We always had great service, the buses were air conditioned and they served snacks and water. From Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh, it cost $13USD. Going from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, it cost $10USD and from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh it cost $6. Each trip took a approx. 4-6 hours (the reason to be explained in the next section).
Roads:
The roads in Cambodia are pretty bad. Even if they look good (brand new and paved) don't expect to get anywhere as fast as you would in your own country. There are so many bikes and overloaded trucks that it is next to impossible to go over 60 km/h. No joke! It may only take us 20-25 minutes to do 50 km/h here in Canada but in Cambodia it'll take you well over an hour. They are trying to fix quite a few of the roads, so that may cause some delays as well.
If you are going to be traveling around Cambodia, factor in travel time. We allowed one full day for travel, so we wouldn’t be rushing to get to places on time. Just try to be patient and enjoy the scenery.
Cambodian public transportation....
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