Jun 2007 : Silhanoukville

Travel Title: A Trip To Siem Reap – Wat Phnom – Phnom Penh – Silhanoukville, Cambodia

When: June 2007

About The Trip:

Purpose: To explore Siem Reap, Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh & Silhanoukville, Cambodia.

Days/Nights: 4 Days 3 Nights

Arrangements: ~~Travel Agent~~ / Self-guided Tour

Route: Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA – Siem Reap (1 night) – Wat Phnom – Phnom Penh (1 night) – Silhanoukville – Siem Reap (1 night) – Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA

Traveling Method & Time:

Kuala Lumpur – Siem Reap = aeroplane (≈ 2 hours)

Siem Reap – Wat Phnom = a hired taxi (≈ 2 hours)

Wat Phnom – Phnom Penh = a hired taxi (≈ 2 hours)

Phnom Penh – Silhanoukville = a hired taxi (≈ 2 hours and 30 minutes)

Silhanoukville – Siem Reap = a hired taxi (≈ 6 hours)

Siem Reap – Kuala Lumpur = aeroplane (≈ 2 hours)

Details:

The Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, is practically a country in the Southeast Asia with Phnom Penh being the capital city. The temple-packed kingdom has a population of almost 15 million comprising of several major ethnic groups, Khmer (95%), Cham, ethnic-Chinese, ethnic-Vietnamese and several hill tribes in the northeast. 95% of the population believe in Theravada Buddhism. Moslems only score 2% of the population. Needless to say, halal food is surely hard to find here in Khmer’s land.

Bring along with you a whole lot of cash. The Cambodian currency is the Riel but the US dollars are widely used in this country. In fact, the Cambodian love the US notes so much, almost everything is priced in US dollar. At the time of this visit US$1 = Riel 4100 = RM3.55. I also realized that they shared some of our Malay words like ketam (crab), kampong (village), sabu (soap) and semout (ant). Don’t be surprised, many of the Cambodian people can speak French and English pretty well.

Should you feel like visiting this kingdom and need a little help around, call Mr. Mich at 855-12-702121 or email him at lim_putheara@yahoo.com. He’ll be more than happy to show you around his homeland.

Silhanoukville – Mich drove us to Sihanoukville, a port and beach town situated approximately 150km from Phnom Penh city (2-hour ride). Nothing much to see here, just an empty beach, a couple of unoccupied chalets, a small city center and a port. Surprisingly, according to Mich, Sihanoukville or also known as Kampung Som, was the second largest city in Cambodia after Phnom Penh. He added that tourists came here mainly for scuba diving.

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