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I just got back from a 6 weeks trip through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, so I can chime in on any questions people have and will write some thoughts later. One good tip though: If you put 2 days of Khao San Road at the end of your trip you won't be so sad you're leaving. That place is only good for buying souvenirs for your family and boring the poo poo out of you. Especially when it's a buddhist holiday, they are not selling any alcohol and you can't sleep from the noise. I probably walked around the general area for 6 hours that night, which actually turned out to be a lot more interesting than Khao San. Other than that I came out of the trip with a lot of love for Cambodia. Friendly people all around, easy travel and a lot of interesting sights and activities. Just saying, I went up and down Bokor Mountain on a scooter and it was the best thing I have done in recent years. Now I know what Breakbone fever must feel like. Frost fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Mar 2, 2010 |
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Mar 2, 2010 08:11
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:04 |
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The first 2 or 3 kilometres after the checkpoint are asphalt now and I paid 5 Dollar to get in. The rest pretty much looks like in your picture, just a little steeper and wider. Most of the time it is wide enough so two cars can pass each other without problem now, and there is "gravel" on some patches. If football-sized pieces of rock count as gravel! I'd say 3 hours up and 2.5 to get back down. I wanted to get a blind massage afterwards but instead I just fell asleep in the hammock with half my beer unfinished, it was an awesome day.
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Mar 2, 2010 13:06
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illionaire posted:I'm doing two weeks in Cambodia and 'Nam starting on the 13th. My current plan is to land in Siam Reap and head South to Phnom Penh before swinging across the border to Ho Chi Minh City, then hit up a bunch of cities on my way North toward Hanoi, where I fly back. Any generic advice? 2 weeks each I assume? If it's two weeks total, you should cut out Vietnam altogether and stay in Cambodia, you need that time to enjoy yourself and the country and not spend it on busses. Siem Reap: Find one or two persons to rent a tuk tuk for the day with and explore the temples. Or rent a bicycle for 2$, it's not that far from the town to the site (6 or so km but it's soul crushing to get up at 4.30 to make it there in time for the sunrise, without any breakfast either, argh!) and you will be climbing and hiking a lot, so maybe the tuktuk would have been the more relaxed idea. Also don't go to the "Temple Club" near the old market, don't dance to 10 year old techno music and don't make out with cute Khmer whores, you will feel bad afterwards for supporting the sad swamp of prostitution they have, even if you didn't end up doing the whole thing with them. Also don't say "good night man!" to a ladyboy who annoys you. On second thought, do it! Pnomh Penh: Go to the Olympic stadium around sunset and enjoy the atmosphere, the people doing sports and the view. Go to the Killing Fields or the S-21 Genocide museum, maybe you can even stomach both. I was quite done after the museum. Afterwards, if you want to relax from the big city a few days with swimming and all, you should go to Sihanoukville and get a Bungalow. If you want to relax in a quiet and really friendly town go to Kampot. No good beaches but you can swim in the river at some bars upstream and you should get a scooter to explore the surroundings (Bokor Mountain, Kep, Pepper farms etc). In both places you will most likely stay longer than originally planned. General advice, try to stay off the beaten tourist path for a bit and your experience will be even more amazing. I'm not saying to stray into the jungle and step on a landmine, I mean try not to take the easy option for whatever you are planning to do: Bokor Mountain on a scooter was a lot more fun than if I had went with a tour in a minivan, playing volleyball with the locals on some remote pepper farm I came by while just riding around on my scooter was fun, walking a bit through small back alleys to get to your destination instead of taking a moto taxi etc. Try to talk to the people, most Cambodians love to chat with you and putting in a little effort you will really be able to say you have learned something about a different culture afterwards. After a little chat you will be invited to the most random events that are going on in people's lives. I walked by a wedding and got invited for drinks, my friend spent a day in a school for deaf and mutilated kids, just making merry with them and the list goes on. That is a hundred times more rewarding than taking a boat cruise and getting drunk with other tourists. And no matter how many times you got asked if you needed a tuktuk or sunglasses today, always be polite and act as if people were offering you help instead of thinking "oh here's another one who wants my money" You will be a lot less stressed out by everything if you manage to get in the right mindset. Vietnam: My experience in Vietnam wasn't a 100% nice, a lot of grumpy people and they tend to be all about the money, but maybe I just ran into the wrong people. I'll give it another chance next time. When in Saigon, go to Ben Tranh market in District 1, and bargain all day for souvenirs and for fun. Rent a scooter and zip, crawl and stand in the most impressive traffic I have seen in my life. Even more insane than Bangkok. Don't go to Phu Quoc Island, it's just expensive with nothing to do because only old people with more money than you go there. Has some pretty beaches but the ones on the west side all have water lice and swimming gets annoying after 10 minutes of getting bitten. East coast is just 2 tourist beaches in the south and not much else. The Vietnamese are really good at giving you wrong directions and information because apparently it's impolite to just say "I can't help you" I ended up walking so far and finding out I was told bullshit so many times. I don't know, I only spent 10 days in Vietnam and didn't have that great a time, maybe someone else can give you better pointers on it. Didn't see anything of the north, maybe it's nicer there. Frost fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Mar 2, 2010 |
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Mar 2, 2010 15:31
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illionaire posted:Where did you stay in Siem Reap? I'm debating either Green Garden or Chen La guest houses, but those are both straight out of a Japanese tour book from eight years ago. Any recommendations? Make that a question for Phnom Penh as well, since I'll be going there too. I was in the Tropical Breeze Guesthouse in Siem Reap, I shared a room with a friend for 8$ (wifi and pool table) very nice, clean and quiet plus the owners are nice people. They also have a dorm for 2 or 3 bucks. It's on the east side of the river, across from the old market and down the road 3 minutes walk. But the Garden Village is as cheap as you can get if you don't mind hordes of backpackers. Outdoor dorm for 1$ if you want and the Sunset Bar on the roof is nice. But as I said, it's THE place for backpackers. Personally I get tired of being around too many of them after a bit. (Yes, I know I am a backpacker too) In Phnom Penh just go to the Guesthouse district next to the Olympic stadium and south of the O Russei market and start the room asking dance. Plenty of cheap and ok places. This is the only useful application for the Lonely Planet btw. Use it to find a starting point for guesthouse search, use the maps to get around. Everything else in there is bullshit. Especially the "warnings". Before I left I was making GBS threads bricks at the prospect of going to these wild and foreign countries and now I can only laugh about myself because everything turned out to be just easy if you use your brain a bit. Frost fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Mar 3, 2010 |
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Mar 3, 2010 18:08
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Man, I love those Minsks. In Battambang I met someone who had ridden from Laos through Vietnam and till BB on one, and the design is so close to the east German MZ I have here, the mechanics and all, next time I will try to ride on my own wheels as well. He also didn't have any license plates or papers for it and managed to not get in trouble so far, but I think he said something about needing plates for Thailand. I have nothing else to help you.
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Mar 4, 2010 12:50
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 23:04 |
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I used http://www.vietnam-visa.com/ to get mine, (1 month, single entry) it cost 20 bucks, maybe you can find a cheaper website to do it. On top of that you will have to pay a 25$ fee to immigration upon entering, there's no way around that.
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Mar 4, 2010 20:06
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