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Phnom Penh
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Overveiw: |
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 Once known as the “Pearl of Asia”, it was considered one of the loveliest of French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, are significant global and domestic tourist destinations for Cambodia. Founded in 1434, the city is noted for its beautiful and historical architecture and attractions. There are a number of surviving French colonial buildings, such as the Royal Palace, Phsar Thmei, and other French style buildings along the grand boulevards.Situated on the banks of the Tonlé Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers, Phnom Penh is home to more than 2 million of Cambodia’s population ofover 14 million. It is the wealthiest and most populous city in Cambodia and is home to the country’s political hub.
I haven’t been in Cambodia/Phnom Penh for over 10 years and coming back now it is truly amazing how far they have come in that relatively short amount of time. The last time I was there, cars were rare, not a single traffic light, no ATMs and 90% of the streets were still dirt, this in the capitol city with over a million people. Now, and some wouldn’t call it progress, there are massive traffic jams all over the city during all times of the day. But lets keep in mind where these people are coming from. Lets remember that the Cambodians have had it pretty rough for the last 100 years or more. Wars, political unrest, foreign occupation, genocide, its insane what Cambodia has endured. So it is nice to see the country and the people getting back on their feet a bit and if the cost is some traffic who am I to complain. |
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| By Air | |||||||||
| Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) is the largest airport in Cambodia and is located 7km west of the city. The new terminal is really nice and modern, it has a post office, bank, ATM, restaurants, duty-free shop, news stand, tourist help desk, and business center.
Upon arrival you have three options to get to your hotel or other destination,
These Airlines fly into PNH;
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| By Road; | |||||||||
Phnom Penh Sorya Transport Capitol Tours, and GST Express operate bus service to/from the “station” at the southwest corner of the Central Market. Direct buses go to;
Book in advance, this can be done by your travel agent or hotel staff. Prices will run between 3 to 10$ depending on the type of Bus and the number of seats. |
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| By Boat; | |||||||||
| Boats connect Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and usually take 4-5 hours; tickets for foreigners cost US$25. Many, but not all, of these ferries offer the option of sitting on the roof, which makes for a much more of an adventure. Be prepared, these boats can break down so bring enough water, food and sun block to last you several hours, just in case.
Fast boats leave every morning around 8:00AM from Chau Doc in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and take 5 hours to reach Phnom Penh. The boats make the return journey the same day and leave Phnom Penh around 1:00PM arriving in Chau Doc in the early evening.
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| Getting Around Phnom Penh | |||||||||
Seriously just rent a full time car and driver for the time your here, its not that expensive and will save you a bunch of grief. Just ask your hotel staff or travel agent and they will make the arrangements. If having a car and driver is not your style (which I fully understand) or beyond your means, here are some other ways to get around town. |
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| Motorbikes; are available for rent, however Phnom Penh traffic is chaotic and dangerous even by Asian standards, definitely playing with your life driving your own motorbike around town, no exaggeration! | |||||||||
| Motorbike-taxis are everywhere and will take you anywhere for a small fare. A trip from Sisowath Quay to Central Market costs about 2,000 riel (50 US cents). | |||||||||
| Taxis Most taxis do not have meters, and fares must be agreed in advance. Fares vary, due to fluctuating fuel prices. Best bet is to ask hotel/guesthouse staff for assistance. There are a few metered-taxi companies emerging in Phnom Penh. They are very reasonably priced and in high demand. Be prepared to wait for their service. | |||||||||
| Tuk-tuks are a vehicle consisting of a motorcycle with a cabin for the passengers hitched to the back. They are cheaper than taxis and offer a cool way to experience the city. Their clientele is almost exclusively tourists, and most drivers in tourist areas speak some English. |  |
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Cambodian Tuk Tuk’s look a bit different then their Thai cousins |
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Cyclos bicycle-rickshaws is what these really are. They are becoming less and less common in the city, but are still popular with locals and foreigners alike. |
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| Important Information; | |||||||||
| Useful Numbers | |||||||||
| Fire (24hr)
• Call from Stationary Telephone……………………………………….. 118 • Toul Sleng Fire Department………………………………… 023 723 555 Police (24hr) • Call from Stationary Telephones……………………………………… 117 • S.O.S Police …………………………….. 023366 841 or 023 720 235 • Traffic Police…………………………………………………..023 722 067 Ambulance & Hospitals (24hr) • Ambulance (S.A.M.U)………………………………………………….119 • Call from Stationary Telephones………………………… 023 724 891 • Blood Transfusion Center…………………………………. 023 215 949 • Airport Rescue coordination center……………………. 023 890 192 Auto Breakdown & Towing (24hr) • Emerald Garage………………………………………………..012 977 011 • Mittapheap Garage…………………………………………. 012865 559 • SETI Garage……………………………………………………012 877 011 • Swift Towing………………………………………………….012 859 686 Medical (24hr) • Bangkok Hospital ……………………….. 012 764848 / 011 864 546 • International SOS Medical………………………………… 023 216 911 • Ly Srey Vyna MD…………………………………………… 012 990 988 • Naga Clinic…………………………………………………….011 811 175 • Naga Pharmacy Center……………………………………. 023 212 324 • Pharmacie De La Gar…………………………………….. 012 805 908 • Raffles Medical Center…………………………………….. 023 218 393 • Tropical & Travellers Medical Clinic…………………… 012 898 981 Visas / Extension • Passport office for foreigners (24hr)……………………. 012 854 874 • Immigration office (24hr)………………………………….. 012 826 025 Embassies in Phnom Penh Click here for a full list of Embassies and contact information. |
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| Hospitals | |||||||||
Make damn sure that any doctor you deal with has a Western medical degree. If not, get out of there: local training is poor, and treatment is sometimes fatal. The medical standard of the local hospitals can be very basic as well. This also applies to Calmette Hospital – the number one hospital in Phnom Penh. If you need to see a doctor it is recommended you go to one of the international clinics. They can also arrange transfer to a hospital in Thailand if necessary.
IMHO: Health care here is no joke, spend the extra money! |
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| Stay Safe; | |||||||||
| When I first came here in ’99 I was definitely concerned about my safety, but after a few hours I figured out that there were no problems here. I never felt threatened or intimidated or in danger in away, it was a great place to be, exciting and fun, exotic and mysterious, awesome, one of the best travel experience of my life. But this time was different, I had two very scary run ins with locals, one was at a club and some well dressed (not well dressed more like a bad 80′s Miami pimp) Cambodians and the other was walking around the Russian market where a group of young men tried to pick a fight with me right there on the main road. I later found out that they were Vietnamese. Those were the only two, direct, in my face confrontations that I had but there were many other “uncomfortable” moments as well. I also found that many of the Cambodian males were just out right rude, arrogant little shits. All this really came as a shock due to the fact that the 1st time I went there everyone and I mean everyone was so nice and mellow and helpful. It really got me down even to the point of I don’t know if I would ever go back to Cambodia.Some reports are saying that you should be safer now then back in ’99, but I don’t know about that, the whole vibe of Phnom Penh is different now. Coming here in 2010 is how I thought it might be in ’99. Bottom line, ’99 exciting, mellow and fun, 2010 exciting but for all the wrong reason and fun still but not as much. So with that here are some safety tip I think people should know about. | |||||||||
| Kids of the wealthy; Stay away from the places that are popular with the notorious local “elite” youth (and their minders) who carry firearms and other weapons, and who are allowed to pass through so-called “security” checks without being searched. These little #$^##@’s are true pricks (as I found out 1st hand) and in Cambodia there is no real rule of law, money and influence will win out every time.
Sober Drivers; This might be a no brainer but you will find that a larger number of the tuk tuk and mototaxi drivers are flat out wasted. Check before you jump on or jump into a tuk tuk or mototaxi. Armed robbery: Phnom Penh still has more bad guys with guns than most Asian cities. Most commonly Cambodians are victimized for their cell phones or motorbikes. Phnom Penh’s Expats reports an increase of armed robberies of foreigners, mostly women, involving motorbikes with young men who carry knives or guns. Avoid walking in quiet areas at night, try to find a dependable tuk-tuk driver, and don’t carry unnecessary valuables or cash. Bag snatching: The Phnom Penh Post reports, and many expats state as well, a large upsurge in this crime, both in broad daylight and at night; in crowded streets and deserted ones alike. The victims are almost entirely Western and Khmer women riding in tuk tuks or on motorbikes (either as passengers or drivers). Sometimes these incidents are violent, with women dragged off moving motorbikes and thrown to the road. When targeting pedestrians, thieves grab bags, or snatch mobile phones and purses out of hands. If you must carry a bag, when using a mototaxi put it between you and the driver. In tuk-tuks put it under your seat. Apart from their appalling road safety record, motorbikes do not allow you to protect your bag as well as you can in a four-wheel vehicle (rent a car and driver guys, it is better in the long run). Bag-snatching happens all over Phnom Penh, including outside popular expat hang-outs. Some mototaxi drivers are known to be in league with the thieves. Traffic, traffic and more traffic; By far the greatest danger in Phnom Penh is none of the above: it is getting hit by a motorbike, or thrown off one, in the city’s unbearable traffic. Cambodia has arguably the worst drivers in Asia. Although traffic tends to be slower than Bangkok’s and less dense than Saigon’s, it is literally all over the road: two streams going in each direction at any one time; plus endless switching from one stream to the other. Motorbike taxis, or riding your own motorbike, instead of tuk tuks, will save you a few dollars a week. However an airlift to a Bangkok hospital will quickly make that seem like a false economy. Tuk Tuks, however, can often give a false sense of security. They are usually very cheap motorbikes with substandard brakes pulling incredibly high loads, and if they need to stop quickly, it will often not be possible. Minimise the risk by choosing sober drivers, vehicles in good condition, and not overloading. Crossing the road in this city requires constant 360 degree vigilance.
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| Eating and Sleeping | |||||||||
| Hotels | |||||||||
| More and more accommodations are going up in Phnom Penh everyday so you have a wide range of locations and prices to choose from. You can have your choice of very basic backpacker dives (5-20$), some nice mid range places (20-75$) and some really extravagant hotels with outrages prices to match. | |||||||||
| Hotels that I’ve stayed at before; | |||||||||
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| For more guesthouse, hotel information Click Here. | |||||||||
| Restaurants | |||||||||
| I am always pleasantly surprised with the restaurants in Phnom Penh, as I’m not a big fan of SE Asian food it was great to find a wide range of cuisine. Because of the large ex-pat community from all over the world, you can find French food, Korean food pretty much anything. And yes even Cambodian food is readily available. |  |
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You can find freshly baked baguettes all over Phnom Penh a left over from the old French colonial days. |
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| Here are some of the restaurants I’ve eaten at; | |||||||||
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favorite place, due to all the high brow NGO types that hang out there. Sorry but these guys idiots. With that said they do have good food, the best in my opinion is breakfast, great portions, good coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Drinking your coffee at a table on the rail overlooking Sisowath Quay and the river, is a great way to start the day.