Cambodia Thread 2

[plum_girl]

Who's taking the siam reap cebu pac flight later? Im on it. Kitakits, mga sis! Salamat sa lahat ng tips sa GT

[barefoot_taka]

^^yup malayo hanoi kaya di na kami nagpunta dun. if i remember correctly train namin yata ang ok na mode of transpo dun. or if budget permits airplane para mabilis 

[melodymedley]

Our itinerary for our Cambodia leg:

Focusing on PP muna:
Day 1 - travel by Mekong Express bus from HCMC  to PP. Left HCMC at 8:30am and arrived PP around 3pm. Left our luggage in Fancy Guesthouse (I haggled the twin room from $25 to $15 a night, tee hee!). We toured the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum via tuktuk.

Entrance for Killing Fields - $5 - which includes the audioguide tour. This is a really sad place. Ang sad ng sinapit ng Cambodia during the 70's (while we were under Martial Law). We toured the place for around 1.5 hours.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - entrance fee is really $2. Pero closed na yung museum nung nakarating kami dun because we also started touring a bit late. Siningil kami ng $3 dahil late na daw. Feeling namin "illegal" yun, yung tipong walang resibo na charge. But we wanted to go inside so we paid na rin. We stayed around 30 minutes lang siguro dahil nakaktakot na yung place sa gabi. This is a school which was turned to prison during their civil war.

Our guesthouse arranged a tuktuk driver for us. We were quoted $20 for the tour and pick up from bus station pero natawaran to $15. hehe.

We had dinner at the "Friends" restaurant, na Unicef-sponsored resto. Food was relatively pricey ($4-5 per head) but it was for charity and okay naman yung food. Medyo may scary factor maglakad sa gabi kasi hindi masyadong mailaw yung streets and hindi rin matao (we came from HCMC kasi).

For breakfast, the guesthouse did not offer any but they recommended us a noodle shop nearby. Walang ka-ingles ingles ang mga tao. We pointed at the soup, then we held up two fingers. Silent language ba. We watched how the locals ate their food. May huge cup/bowl with hot water na nilagay sa harap namin na akala ko naman ay tea. Hindi pala, you have to put your utensils there para ma-sterilize. It just cost $1.5 and I have no idea what were the ingredients of the soup bowl pero ang sarap at ang saya! May bread and tea rin din na kasama.

You can actually skip PP but I was glad we stayed there even for just a few hours. I felt Cambodia's history there.

Day 2 - bus ride to SR
Day 3 - Angkor W@t, small circuit
Day 4 - Angkor W@t, big circuit
Day 5 - bus to BKK

[matetreyes]

sis! kelan ka nagcambodia? what can you say about the trip from SR to BKK? toxic ba masyado?

[melodymedley]

@sis matetreyes: It was relatively more toxic compared to our HCMC-PP bus trip. Pero carry lang.
Yung HCMC and PP kasi via Mekong Express, they will get your passports and have it stamped while the bus crosses to the Cambodia. Hassle free.

For the SR-BKK trip, we had to get down from the bus, queue in line at immigration of the two countries while hauling our luggages. We waited for around 30 minutes after crossing Thailand's immigration to be transferred to a minivan. It was manageable naman but hassle. Add the heat and humidity to that encounter.

We had a total of 5 stopovers. 1 for immigration, 3 for meals and break, 1 for gas. Yung sa isang stopover, wala nang bumaba kasi naman kaka stopover lang. Kainesh. I was kinda annoyed during the whole trip.

We were picked up from our SR by the bus company at around 8:am. We arrived Khao San road in BKK around 5:30pm. We reached our hostel in BKK around 7pm na. I was asking the driver (in English)  kung dadaan ba sya sa MRT/BTS but he doesn't understand nor speak English. Ang sabi nya lang sa lahat ng tanong ko: Khao San Road. So we had to take a cab from [textspeak!] going to the nearest station. We were so tired and hungry when we reached our hostel.

[matetreyes]

yikes, almost 12 hours nga ang byahe from SR to BKK. SR na lang talaga ang kukunin ko. sa susunod na yang vietnam at thailand na yan. natotoxic ako isipin pa lang yung pasalin-salin ng bus and immigration, hehe

[vuzhia]

sisses nag check kase ako ng mga package tours sa Siem Reap, then dun sa mga packages lagi may "Excluding: Visa fee of USD 20.00 per person"

applicable ba sa ating mga pinoy ito? may need ba tayong bayarang Visa Fee? thanks! 

[CebuGem]

^^exempted ata ang Filipino to pay for visa fee. free-entry tayo sa halos lahat ng Southeast Asian countries.

[vuzhia]

^yun nga rin alam ko sis, baka para sa ibang nationalities yun... thanks!

[Crissy]

Yap, Visa is free for those who are holding a Filipino Passport ;-)

[vuzhia]

hindi na ako nakapag antay ng mas murang fare ng Manila-Cambodia, grab ko na yung 1,088 ng Cebupac for January 2013, need kase mag file ng leave ng sister ko inabot ng 6,547.25 per pax.

Bale 3 whole days kami sa Siem Reap, mukhang hindi namin pwede isama sa itinerary ang Phnom Penh, 5 hours din kase papunta dun & another 5 hours pabalik.

Naku wish ko lang wag masyado mahirapan father ko, nirarayuma na kase yun...pwede naman siguro namin syang iwan pag pagod na sya...haiz! =)

[london]

^ then i suggest get a tour guide para at least di na kayo mahirapan sa palob and labas ng mga temples. at least pag may guide na kasama, alam na alam na niya pasikot sikot so iwas pagod din sa lakad hehe

[vuzhia]

^yup sis, package na talaga kunin namin, nag start na nga ako pa quote... kinokondisyon na rin namin father ko sabi namin diet and exercise sya, thanks

[Crissy]

^For me , medyo d sya advisable for senior citizens,  medyo tiring talaga ang tour going around the temples.  Super lakad & climbing plus Super mainit pa... Buts it's all worth it naman, I found the place amazing talaga.

[vuzhia]

^Vietnam & Cambodia na lang kase ang hindi napupuntahan ng parents ko sa SE Asia na non Visa, whole family kami eh ako pinapili ng sister ko kung Cambodia or Vietnam, Cambodia ng pinili ko kase gusto ko talaga makita Angkor, hihi! okay lang naman sa Daddy ko maiwan sa isang area, after nun mag pa pix naupo na lang talaga yun...

[talyn1123]

Just booked manila-siem reap via cebupac on their seatsale.. first time to travel solo! goodluck naman to me!

[mitch2526]

Ok lang ba mag cambodia na siem reap lang ang pupuntahan?
Kasi kung mukhang typical lang ang phnom penh ok lang naman siguro mamiss?

[yby2476]

oo naman sis...ok lang na mag-siem reap...:-) kami rin, siem reap lang, pero galing kami ng vietnam pa...but phnom penh is also beautiful, nadaanan namin kasi if you are coming from vietnam...i have a student na nag-pp lang sila, nakakatakot daw...kasi maraming "multo"...diba marami kasing namatay nun dun...pansin ko lang din, nung nag-overstop kami dun, parang "gloomy" ang place...at parang mabigat ang feeling...pero magaganda rin ang mga temples and architecture...:-)

[london]

^^ okay lang but if you have time, i suggest drop by pp. kahit yung killing fields and s21 lang puntahan mo.

[foruiz]

PP has its own charm. Besides there is more to Cambodia than the Angkor [textspeak!].