Cambodia

Get a 3 day pass to the Temples of Angkor and explore history! Take a break in between.

very interresting city

I took the local bus from Bangkok to Siem Riep and it was great. If you like dust and being cramped and doing things the local way with no aircon then you'll enjoy your sweaty bum being stuck to these seats. You can exchange money at the border and this is fine. Just make sure you do so on the Cambodian side as the rate is better. When u get off the bus in Siem Riep you will be approched by locals trying to get you to go to their hostels. This is fine, but I found it best to have a place in mind so check the travel guides. Someone on a motorcycle can take you and your backpack there without a problem. I am a woman and travelled alone without any problems. I ran out of money infact and a kind american helped me out. Thank-you! There are many VERY poor families in Siem Riep and they will ask you for money and the usual stuff. My suggestion: take milk when you walk the streets. There are always small thin children carrying even smaller thin children and they will be grateful for the calcium. This can be bought at many shops in the city. I was strapped for cash so spent my time at the local markets. There are some fancy restaurants that have popped up for the tourists but nothing beats a meal prepared right in front of you for next to nothing. It helps the man on the street and gives us tourists more of a human face. With regards to the awsome Angkor City, the best tip I have for you is go as early in the moring as possible! This way you will avoid the crowds and see the sunrise. Two days spent here is enough. The best transport for me to the city was on the back of a motorcycle, the best way to see the area.

If you choose to travel between Siem Reap and Battambang by boat it1s important to buy many litres of water  :o) because it's very hot, and just in the middle of the day you can buy anything in a shop on the river. 

Be careful of the kids when you're going through this checkpoint!! DO NOT GIVE OUT FOOD OR MONEY of any kind!!! They will mob you. The kids in this area are trained to look as cute as possible, but if you watch them, they run and give the money to someone else (usually an adult) who is sitting off to the side and out of site. And a lot of times, the smaller kids get mugged by the bigger ones. Just don't fall for it. I know they're all so cute and you'll want to keep one or two (or all), but just don't do it.

If you're in Cambodia, than at one point you will hear of the Khmer Rouge movement that happened not so long ago. Visit the S-21 Genocide Museum where many skulls, pictures and images scream of the history that occurred. The museum is a high school that was once used during the Khmer Rouge to place the prisoners waiting for torture or death.

Close to the vietnamese border, under the hottest summer sun, one main red dusty street, used at the same time as national road to legal and less licit traffic with Vietnam. Old people in rags looking at me dangerously, kids screaming and runnings between the trucks and clouds of dust, chickens in the middle of all that. A very nice pagoda built in a mountain circus is one of the main atraction of the city, warm monsk and many small monkeys.

The capital of Cambodia. One the few city's with an atm machine so don't forget to reload;) There is a lot of volunteer work to do here, just a day or a couple of months... You can find it easy in bars and leave lets on the street.

Kampot is one of the most dull places in Cambodia... I booked a trip to Kampot in Siem Reep, when i arrived in my hotel called the seaside view hotel i found out that the sea is 15 km away:) It was very dirty, compare to the rest of the country!

In the dry season you have to get there by road, not boat, which you can the rest of the year.