{"id":8776,"date":"2025-05-23T13:23:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T13:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/?p=8776"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:06:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T16:06:50","slug":"sea-phnom-pehn-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/index.php\/2025\/05\/23\/sea-phnom-pehn-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Phnom Pehn, Cambodia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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25.5. \u2013 28.5.2023<\/p>

On Thursday, we took the Giant Ibis bus from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. The bus journey took almost seven hours, but of course some of the time was taken up with border formalities and lunch. The road was in pretty good condition throughout the journey, but in both cities and their suburbs the traffic was so congested that we made very slow progress.<\/p>

The first stop on the journey was at the Vietnam border. This stop was practically pointless, though, as the official at the border just glanced at one of our family\u2019s passports and handed the whole bundle back. For the Cambodian border formalities, we each had to fill in the same entry form twice. One was taken by the authorities and the other was stapled to the passport on the same page as the entry stamp. The visa on arrival procedure was very conveniently handled by a representative of the bus company while we were having lunch at a restaurant at the border. After lunch, we went to show our faces and passports to the Cambodian border authorities, after which we had successfully crossed yet another border.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our family filled eight of these forms.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Waiting for lunch at the border station<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The duty-free shop at the border sold mint liqueur straight from the Finnish Himalayas.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the Giant Ibis bus, everyone got a huge croissant and a bottle of water for the journey.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Before arriving in Phnom Penh, we stopped for a toilet break at a 'five gold star mart'. Ronja didn't give the toilets a single star.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Immediately on the other side of the border, you noticed a few differences from Vietnam. Here, there were cows walking freely everywhere. But these animals were probably not sacred to the locals, considering how our driver was honking at them if they strayed onto the road. There are also many scooters in Cambodia, but there are also plenty of motorcycle taxis (tuk tuk), which Ronja does not like because they are so noisy. The buildings look also different. Apparently, poverty is also significantly higher in the cities in this country, as we saw several children in the traffic selling various trinkets. We had not come across anything like this in Vietnam. But the main difference is that here people actually stop on a red light. That didn\u2019t happen in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

From the bus terminal we caught a taxi, which took us to our hotel right outside the city centre. We were again accommodated in two separate hotel rooms, which were surprisingly very large. In fact, we thought we could have easily fit the whole family in the children\u2019s room, as their \u201csingle\u201d beds were the size of a narrow double bed. In the evening, we went swimming in the hotel pool and a little later had dinner at the pool restaurant.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The hotel rooms were very spacious.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Views from the rooftop swimming pool<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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If the Vietnamese dong exchange rate was wild (1\u20ac = 25 000VND), the Cambodian riel is not much better. Here, one euro buys 4400KHR. In Vietnam, it was all banknotes, and that is presumably the case in Cambodia also. Although some of the notes are really worthless. Marko calculated when he returned from the shop that the 100KHR he had received as change was worth about three pieces of toilet paper. However, we try to use real toilet paper, and only use 100 riel notes in an emergency, to avoid being accused of sacrilege.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A hundred riel bill is worth about two cents.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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On Friday, we had planned to visit the Royal Palace at around eleven. When we were about to leave, we were told that the guards were on lunch break. The place would open at 2PM again. So we changed our plans, and took a tuk tuk to Wat Phnom temple. The kids immediately started screaming \u201cDaddy promised we wouldn\u2019t go to any temple today!\u201d. When we go there, they were pleasantly surprised, because there was a playground in front of the temple. The playground wasn\u2019t very modern, and it was already very hot, but nevertheless the children played there for a good while. While the kids played in the park, we adults took turns visiting the temple.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The playground also had a library, which was closed at the time of our visit.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Fortunately, some of the climbing frames were in the shade.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Naga, a multi-headed cobra, guards the steps of Wat Phnom temple.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The entrance to the temple is guarded by monkey statues.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Inside Wat Phnom<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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There are small altars everywhere.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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People sometimes offer large sums of money to Buddha.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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From the temple, we continued by tuk tuk to the local mall. It was several floors high, but inside it was very empty. On one of the upper floors we found a small indoor playground where both children went to play for a while. You could also buy tokens for some kind of electric animal scooters. At first, the kids were driving together around the mall, but then Risto picked up a local little boy, and Ronja followed them on foot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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