EXPERIMENTAL DISH : ON THE WAY TO CAMBODIA

Thursday 20 September 2012

ON THE WAY TO CAMBODIA

Our last day travelling will be spent in Cambodia, we only had 1 day left and where else would we spend it, none other than the world famous Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

But before we get to Siem Reap, this is what my view of Cambodia.

We left Saigon around 8 am by bus (Phnom Penh Soria Transport, costs 12USD) to Cambodia. By noon we arrived in Cambodia, and the moment that my eyes saw Cambodia, I thought that it was so different from Vietnam.

The people, the vibe and even the smell is different. The people were darker, almost Filipino-Indian-like, some bulky, and they have big eyes while the Vietnam people where fair skinned, they have slanted eyes (singkit), and almost all of them have slender figures. Even how they treat foreigners are different, Vietnamese people are more guarded (I have a theory about that), while the Cambodians are very easy to get along with and very accommodating, they are just like the Filipinos.

How I saw Cambodia. (this is only an my personal observation)
Cambodia is like the Philippines, the province version of the Philippines.

1. While travelling, every kilometers or so, we saw the faces of their public officials smiling at us on the road.
2. They have large mosques, I mean very large, very expensive looking, and on the side of the mosques are small houses of the Cambodians.
3. Just like in the Philippines, there are ads everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE! Tarpaulins here and there, I remembered seeing mobile services ads, and angkor beer tarpaulins in stores (just like San Miguel beer here in the Philippines).
4. At night, there are no street lights on the road, but they have these fluorescent light bulbs on the side of the road every kilometer or so, which is wrapped in blue paper.
5. There are no water supply in bus stops (So better take a wee on the bus toilet, yes the bus has toilets)
6. You can both use USD or the Cambodian Currency (but in tourist spots, they prefer USD)
7. If you arrive late at night in Siem Reap, brace yourselves to people trying to get into their tuk-tuks. Just stay calm and do some serious bargaining.
8. The Cambodians are very friendly.

It took us about 15 hours to get to Siem Reap from Saigon, and yes we arrived late at night. And we almost got our reservation at the hotel revoked because we arrived late but thank goodness, there were still rooms available. We stayed at the Golden Temple Villa ( we'll get to that later).

SO that's it.