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3 weeks in Cambodia

 
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warren pease



Joined: 12 May 2008

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:00 am    Post subject: 3 weeks in Cambodia Reply with quote

Planning three weeks in Cambodia starting 9-1. Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated. Best place for cheap flight? Is it worth going to the beach in rainy season? Itinerary ideas? Good hotels/restaurants?

Seriously, all i've got is a Lonely Planet and pocket full of dreams.
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waltjocketty



Joined: 09 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I chilled out in Kampot for about 5 days and really enjoyed myself. You can rent a motorbike for $5/day and there's a really cool zoo and some other stuff around town to explore. The park is closed right now, though, as far as I know. Go to ArtsCafe for baked goods. Go to Honey's Bar at night, but along the riverfront they have happy hour every day for $.50 beers or something like that.

Kep was nothing unless you wanna check out some abandoned buildings. I stayed at a really cool, cheap place. I forget the name, but it's up the hill from the market (where the bus drops you off) on the left and on the shore with hammocks lining the beach. It's not the French place. Just tell the motodop you wanna go to the cheapest place on the shore. It was one of the best deals I've had in all of Asia.

The island off Kep was super relaxing and cool (Lonely Planet will tell you it's $15 to go there, but wait for some locals to show up and try to tag along. I got a free ride.) Bring a flashlight. They had to hook up a fluorescent light to a car battery to give me a light in my cabin ($5/night) and it turned out that is was their only light. There's a really cute girl at one of the restaurants (kinda in the middle of the 5 identical options) who speaks no English but cooks a mean crab or fish curry and you can watch her brother dive into the ocean and return 30 seconds later with a cage of fresh crab. The wind is ridiculous and there isn't much to do, but that's what it's all about.

The tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia are ridiculously annoying and made me want to leave the cities as quickly as possible. Sihanoukville is full of spring breakers and it's not a great beach.

Angkor is the most amazing thing you'll ever see so spend at least 3 days. I stayed at the King Guesthouse and had my own bathroom and cable tv and queen size bed for $6. You can get happy pizza delivered to your room. The food is really good in Siem Reap, and all over Cambodia actually.

There's an expat club in Phnom Penh on the waterfront road on the 2nd or 3rd floor with great western food. I heard good things about the guesthouse up by the lake, but I was too stoned to go out of my way to find it or to deal with the tuk tuks.

The HIV rate in Siem Reap among prostitutes is pushing 90%, so don't do it.

I didn't go to Battambang, but I get the feeling (I'm probably very very wrong about this) that it's a more developed, less charming Kampot-esque place.

I hope that helps.
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Gamecock



Joined: 26 Nov 2003

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
The HIV rate in Siem Reap among prostitutes is pushing 90%, so don't do it.


Wow! REALLY? I'm not interested in being with a Siem Reap prostitute, I just wonder where one gets such a dramatic statistic.
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waltjocketty



Joined: 09 Oct 2006

PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gamecock wrote:
Quote:
The HIV rate in Siem Reap among prostitutes is pushing 90%, so don't do it.


Wow! REALLY? I'm not interested in being with a Siem Reap prostitute, I just wonder where one gets such a dramatic statistic.


OK so I wasn't close with the 90%, but here's a statistic as of 2002:

"Brothel workers in Siem Reap have an HIV infection rate of 43 per cent. And the beer girls, "aristocrats" of the trade, are rapidly catching up. Between 15 per cent and 23 per cent are now infected. And when local men patronize them, those men become the bridge on which the tiger travels.

The married women of Siem Reap are shy and unassertive. They don't ask their husbands to use condoms. The virus comes home from the restaurant to the bedroom, and now 11 per cent of the pregnant married women who come to the local ante-natal clinic are HIV positive. "

this was pulled from Toronto Star, Nov. 17, 2002., p. A2, via http://www.psychology.uoguelph.ca/research/lubek/cambodia/newsrelease.html

I realize this is a Canadian publication and Canadians just recently discovered mathematics, so who knows if this is reliable.
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