Upon arrival at the bus stop, you can exchange money, buy a local SIM card, and check into your hotel of choice. We decided to get there by tuk-tuk, because we'd never used this type of transport before. At the time, we still suspected that there were tons of tuk-tuks around here, and that while walking down the street, you'd be hailed from every bush — and sometimes it really did get annoying.
Next, we checked into an atmospheric Cambodian hotel with a windowless room and low ceilings, but with a great view of the street from the lobby — at a price of about 7–9 euros per night. Photos coming right up!
In Cambodia, there isn't the same abundance of street food restaurants that we had grown accustomed to after Vietnam, so losing that comfort felt unusual. The city looks poor — you can see underdressed children on the streets, and due to the exhausting heat, tuk-tuk drivers and even some locals simply sleep right out on the street. As for attractions, you can visit the central square and the local temples.
If you go to the market, you can buy fruit at low prices and find a food court where locals eat. Of course, all of this looks quite exotic.
Not long ago, Phnom Penh launched regular city buses — brand new ones with air conditioning. If you need to get somewhere, download the official app (better yet, ask the locals which one), because information online from bloggers about bus routes may be outdated. We wasted a whole hour heading toward a route that no longer existed, trying to get out of the city.
Overall, the city — being the capital of an entire country — didn't seem particularly interesting to us, so of course we hitchhiked our way toward Siem Reap, where the largest ancient temple complex, Angkor Wat, is located. More on that in the next article.
Lastly, I'll attach a few more photos of this beautiful city.
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