Phnom Penh

The capital and largest city in Cambodia.  Located on the banks of the Mekong River, the center for industrial  and economic activities.

Very lively and tourist friendly, almost everyone speaks English and will quote you a price in US dollars. 

I would have liked to learn more Khmer, but almost everyone including all the tuk-tuk drivers will communicate with you in English.  I guess it is good...but at the same time it did not push me out of my comfort zone knowing that I didn't have to try very hard.  

Visa:

Prior visa approval is not required to enter Cambodia for US citizens except 2 copies of your passport photo which can be easily waived for $2 US dollars.  The cost of a tourist visa at airport immigration is only $20, but more than one official told it us it was $50 total and they short changed, but in the end they gave us the correct amount. Make sure to check the price listed on your visa 

From the airport: 

We took a tuk tuk from the airport, it was a fixed cost advertised at $7 inside the airport so we didn't have to worry about haggling a decent price.  This also gave us an idea of what an average tuk-tuk ride should cost relative to where you are travelling. 

Stuff we did: 

Night Market: 

favorite things:  sugar cane juice, heaps of food stalls with different varieties of goodies and local cuisine, there is also an area covered with mats so that you can sit down and enjoy your food.  

not so favorite things: lots of souvenirs, tourist hot spot, priced waaay too high and forget about getting a decent price on a tuk-tuk ride home. You are better off riding on a back of a motodops for $1 (although you do have a higher risk of getting lost, genuinely nice Cambodian men helped us and our motodop driver find our way back to the hotel).

Royal Palace: 

couldn't actually get inside the royal palace due to the passing of the King in recent months.. we were really bummed out because it looks really awesome.  There are mini memorials set up all through out the city decked in black silk and flowers to remember the King.  It was very different to experience the reverence  for the King, it is not common in the US or Australia to see pictures of the President or Prime Minister on a billboard or the side of the road decked in  gold, black silk, flowers...the giant photos are definitely very regal. 

Silver Pagoda: 

it was pretty awesome, cool Buddhist temples, very tranquil and actually quiet, nice art work on the walls surrounding the whole premises.  

From the Silver Pagoda/Royal Palace, you can pretty much walk along the river where there are plenty of travel agents,  cafes, restaurants, hotels etc.... we decided to walk from the Royal Palace along the river because we were searching for the Dairy Queen due to the possibility of a heat stroke.  Lucky we did because there is so much going on even if you just look down one street in Phnom Penh.  We didn't find the Dairy Queen but we did have fresh young coconut juice straight out of the coconut.  As we were walking around, we encountered Wat Ounalom, Wat Phnom, Sisowath Quay, Wat Lanka, Independence Monument & we spent some time haggling for goodies like a tripod for $5 and delicious giant squid at the Central Market. 

Favorite foods:

fish amok served in a coconut

salty Fish over rice

street mangoes with salt and chilli powder

fresh young coconut juice 

rice porridge 

fresh barbecued giant squid 

giant prawn skewers

Sugar Cane Juice!!!

fresh cut pineapples for fifty cents.