Phnom Penh informaiton please
 

Hello, I want to know if it is difficult to manouver around this city.
My guide book indicates that it is dangerous. We want to go to Angkok
Wat for a few days and then down to Phmom Penh for a couple of days
then maybe to the beach. Has anyone any tips? We figure we have about
7-10 days. Thank you for any help. Also any hotel tips in any of the
3 locations. Moderate to Higher Budget would be good. We are middle
ageds (ouch, it hurts to admit it!) Del

Del wrote:

Hello, I want to know if it is difficult to manouver around this city.
My guide book indicates that it is dangerous. We want to go to Angkok
Wat for a few days and then down to Phmom Penh for a couple of days
then maybe to the beach. Has anyone any tips? We figure we have about
7-10 days. Thank you for any help. Also any hotel tips in any of the
3 locations. Moderate to Higher Budget would be good. We are middle
ageds (ouch, it hurts to admit it!) Del

You must have an oldish guidebook. PP, and Cambodia for that matter,
aren't particularly dangerous these days. Probably your biggest risk is
a traffic accident....the driving over there is slow though chaotic.

7 days will be plenty for PP and Angkor. Might need a couple of days
more for the beach.

In PP, I reckon you'd be hard pressed finding a nicer spot to stay than
the FCC (http://www.fcccambodia.com), which is something of an
institution in its own right. Right down on the river, which is maybe
the prettiest spot in town. I didn't stay there, but dined and had a few
drinks there, and it was pretty sweet. Looking at about 50US a nite for
a room.

I also understand they've got a place up at Angkor now. Based on the
place PP my guess is it'd be pretty nice.

My main bit of advice would be to make sure to see all the far flung
temples up at Angkor as well as the well known ones. Hire a car and
driver and go hard.

Cheers
Greg

"Del" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello, I want to know if it is difficult to manouver around this city.
My guide book indicates that it is dangerous. We want to go to Angkok
Wat for a few days and then down to Phmom Penh for a couple of days
then maybe to the beach. Has anyone any tips? We figure we have about
7-10 days. Thank you for any help. Also any hotel tips in any of the
3 locations. Moderate to Higher Budget would be good. We are middle
ageds (ouch, it hurts to admit it!) Del
******************************************
I just got back to my home in Bangkok this morning from 3 nights in Phnom
Penh.
Phnom Penh is very easy to get around these days, you have the choice of
motorbike
taxis (every motor bike in P.P.seems to be a taxi) or cyclors which are
pushbike type rickshaws, good fun and cheap, the guy driving it may be old
enough to be your father! there are now also motorbike type 3 wheeler taxis,
not unlike the tuk tuks in Bangkok, they have two rows of seats and a canopy
over the top.All fares are bargainable. All of the hotels in P.P have a few
cars parked out front, usually early model Toyotas which are available for
hire with driver by any passer by. Traffic does not move very fast as it is
congested a lot of the time.
I walk a lot there, it is an easy city to walk around but crossing the
streets needs patience. There are dozens of hotels in central P.P from $5 to
$95 and then you have the upmarket places. P.P has hotels at rates of up to
$2000 a night!!
Lunch on the balcony at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Cambodia,
overlooking the
confluence of the Tonle Sap, Bassac and Mekhong rivers is a must. Their
collection of photographs is worth the visit.
Visit the Central Market and the Russian market as well, If you need an AK47
or a box of hand grenades, no problem, you can order them here.
Good hotels for you would be the Pacific or the New York hotel at around $35
a
night, both in Monivong Boulevarde and right in the centre of the city.
Overlooking the river is the Bougainvillier Hotel built by a retired
Parisian Carrefour executive. Something different, he showed me around it a
year or so ago, It's beautifully and tastefully furnished! Rates from $45 to
$70
Hire a car one evening and go over the Japan-Cambodian friendship bridge to
one
of the huge restaurants on the other side, food here is very good and very
cheap.
but try and get a table overlooking the river and away from the stage
(loud!) On the menus you have the choice of small, medium or large servings.
A visit out to the Killing Fields around 18 km's out of town is usually on
the tourist list of things to do, but go in a car as the road is rough. The
Toul Sleng prison (near the Russian market) is also a must if only to see
the barbarity of the Pol Pot years.

Sandy
Huay Khwaang
Bangkok

"Del" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello, I want to know if it is difficult to manouver around this city.
My guide book indicates that it is dangerous. We want to go to Angkok
Wat for a few days and then down to Phmom Penh for a couple of days
then maybe to the beach. Has anyone any tips? We figure we have about
7-10 days. Thank you for any help. Also any hotel tips in any of the
3 locations. Moderate to Higher Budget would be good. We are middle
ageds (ouch, it hurts to admit it!) Del
******************************************
I just got back to my home in Bangkok this morning from 3 nights in Phnom
Penh.
Phnom Penh is very easy to get around these days, you have the choice of
motorbike
taxis (every motor bike in P.P.seems to be a taxi) or cyclors which are
pushbike type rickshaws, good fun and cheap, the guy driving it may be old
enough to be your father! there are now also motorbike type 3 wheeler taxis,
not unlike the tuk tuks in Bangkok, they have two rows of seats and a canopy
over the top.All fares are bargainable. All of the hotels in P.P have a few
cars parked out front, usually early model Toyotas which are available for
hire with driver by any passer by. Traffic does not move very fast as it is
congested a lot of the time.
I walk a lot there, it is an easy city to walk around but crossing the
streets needs patience. There are dozens of hotels in central P.P from $5 to
$95 and then you have the upmarket places. P.P has hotels at rates of up to
$2000 a night!!
Lunch on the balcony at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Cambodia,
overlooking the
confluence of the Tonle Sap, Bassac and Mekhong rivers is a must. Their
collection of photographs is worth the visit.
Visit the Central Market and the Russian market as well, If you need an AK47
or a box of hand grenades, no problem, you can order them here.
Good hotels for you would be the Pacific or the New York hotel at around $35
a
night, both in Monivong Boulevarde and right in the centre of the city.
Overlooking the river is the Bougainvillier Hotel built by a retired
Parisian Carrefour executive. Something different, he showed me around it a
year or so ago, It's beautifully and tastefully furnished! Rates from $45 to
$70
Hire a car one evening and go over the Japan-Cambodian friendship bridge to
one
of the huge restaurants on the other side, food here is very good and very
cheap.
but try and get a table overlooking the river and away from the stage
(loud!) On the menus you have the choice of small, medium or large servings.
A visit out to the Killing Fields around 18 km's out of town is usually on
the tourist list of things to do, but go in a car as the road is rough. The
Toul Sleng prison (near the Russian market) is also a must if only to see
the barbarity of the Pol Pot years.

Sandy
Huay Khwaang
Bangkok

Thanks for all this good advise. I am looking forward to our trip. Is
it easy to figure out how to get from Siem Reap to PP? Thanks again.
Del

Thanks for all this good advise. I am looking forward to our trip. Is
it easy to figure out how to get from Siem Reap to PP? Thanks again.
Del

"Del" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks for all this good advise. I am looking forward to our trip. Is
it easy to figure out how to get from Siem Reap to PP? Thanks again.
Del
****************************************
There are several different ways Del. By air is the the way to go if you
are in a hurry. President Airlines, Seam Reap Airlines (best) or Royal Khmer
Airlines. If you're more adventurous, air conditioned ferries go the 250
km's across Tonle Sap to P.P. daily leaving at around 7 in the morning, the
fare is around $25 it takes around 5 hours. There is one ferry service which
is safer and better than the others it's called Mekong Express Tour Boat
they have a website www.mekongexpresstourboat.com This company runs buses
down to P.P as well. 7or 8 hours.
There is also a typical well appointed Khmer river boat with cabins which
does the trip in leisurely fashion. but I don't think it goes every day.

Sandy

Hey Sandy, thanks for the link on

http://www.mekongexpresstourboat.com/

Agreed that it is very easy to find the boat dock for the ride to Siem
Reap. A map is on this page.

More Phnom Penh links are on
http://rectravel.com/pnh

Enjoy your visit.