Background This was a first trip to Asia for myself and my husband. When friends of ours, who have traveled extensively in Asia, invited us to join them on a trip to Cambodia we were eager to take advantage of their cultural navigating skills as long as we could add Laos into the mix.
We all hoped that it would work out to have Hong Kong as an entry point and it turned out that a Cathay Pacific flight through Hong Kong to/from San Francisco was the best combination of price, onward booking, and short lay-over times. Cathay booked us on Dragon Air flights from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh and out of Chiang Mai back to Hong Kong where we had a short lay-over before continuing on to San Francisco. As we planned to work our way from south to north it made more sense to use Chiang Mai as our springboard home than to get back to Phnom Penh. All other flights were on Laos Airline-- all of which were on time and in new planes.
We left the bulk of the itinerary planning up to our friends, while I worked on booking accommodations. (I used a combination of Trip Advisor, Agoda and Fodors trip reports.) We used a combination of independent travel and tours. My husband and I had never used a tour company before, and I am not convinced it is the way for us, but I will admit that we got to parts of each country that we may not have gone to easily on our own. My husband has business school friends who live in Cambodia and have worked with the Sam Veasna Center which arranges visits to the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary on Tonle Sap Lake so we made sure to include that in our plans.
Itinerary
4 nights - Hong Kong
4nights – Phnom Penh
4 nights – tour of Mondulkiri with Diethelm
1 night – Phnom Penh
3 nights – Siem Reap
1 night – Prek Toal Village with the Sam Veasna Center
3 nights – Siem Reap
2 nights – Battambang
1 night – Pakse
4 nights – tour of Champassak area and 4,000 islands with Inter Lao Tours
1 night – Pakse
2 nights – Vientiane
4 nights – Luang Prabang
2 nights – Chiang Mai
For the most part this itinerary worked well for us. We would have liked an additional night in Battambang, not because there is that much to do there, but because our accommodations were wonderful and provided a much needed rest at that point in the trip. The days on tour tended to be quite long with very early starts, and even though they were private tours it was difficult to build in any flexiblity in the schedules. Our traveling companions’ previous experiences with tours was that the guides’ relationships with tribal people greatly enhanced their visits. This was not to be the case and I will offer more detail further on.
Hong Kong
Highlights Lunar New Year decorations, Chi Lin Nunnery, Hong Kong History Museum, Peak Tram (go first thing in the morning to avoid lines), Star Ferry at night.
Empire Hotel Well located in WanChai, comfortable enough, no smaller than most large city hotel rooms although an overweight person would have trouble getting into the bathroon, no heat in the room, no place in the lobby to hang out. We stayed here as it had worked for our traveling companions on previous trips and we got a good deal through Agoda.
We found a good spot for breakfast about ½ block from the hotel on Lochart Street called Tsui Wah. Egg dishes were available, but I fell for the shrimp dumplings in fish broth. The only noteworthy dinner we had was at Tanyoto on 129-135 Johnston Rd. We chose the non hot pot menu items and enjoyed them all. In addition we had a great lunch on Lamma Island in Yung Sue Wan at the last restaurant you reach before the ferry terminal.
We found the residents to be pleasant and helpful. Whenever we pulled out a map to get oriented we were asked if we needed assistance. Twice my husband and I were seated promptly in a restaurant and promptly ignored. Both times nearby diners called the waiter over and sent him to our table after what sounded like a stern talking to.
I was impressed with how well Hong Kong works. At least while we were there the buses and taxis moved smoothly, pedestrians can travel on elevated walkways and through office complexes, escalators whisk one up hill, and boy do they ever want you to shop! The metro is clean and efficient. There is a free hotel shuttle from the Central Station, and bags can be checked with the airline at Central before taking the train to the airport.
Cambodia, Laos and a bit of Hong Kong - 5 1/2 weeks (Jan.24-March 4, 2013)
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Very interesting. Keep it coming especialy your stay in Cambodia. One of my favourate countries.
Looking forward to more. We are doing Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in June.
(Continued)
Cambodia
Overall impressions The people we encountered were lovely, ever smiling, helpful and seemed happy that we were there. By lovely, I mean in spirit as well as physically beautiful. We used U.S. dollars everywhere except in the markets and English is widely spoken. However, the poverty, corruption, environmental destruction and trash wore me down. I realize that we visited well into the dry season and that there might have been prettier landscapes and less burning had we gone at a different time.
Phnom Penh
The traffic ballet from the airport to our hotel was a choreography of every imaginable wheeled vehicle, all moving apparently in sync, never a horn or a screeching of brakes to be heard. I was impressed, especially when I noticed a small tot teetering backside to the roadway. As if controlled by one guidance system the traffic formed a pocket around him and then gracefully regained its previous position in the flow.
Highlight We happened to be in Phnom Penh in the days leading up to the final mourning and funeral procession for the Father King. We felt it was a great privilege to witness this part of Cambodian and Buddhist culture. We watched as the park next to the royal palace gradually transformed into a stunning space where the cremation would take place: seemingly hundreds of workers building, paving, painting, landscaping, and steam cleaning the surrounding streets. No detail was left undone. One man spent the afternoon with a small paintbrush touching up the surrounding walls where they met the sidewalk. We watched as the final touches were put on the string of golden float platforms that would carry the casket, members of the royal family, monks, and a stack firewood.
Finally, we walked with thousands of others to watch the funeral procession as the casket was moved from the royal palace, through the streets of Phnom Penh, around the Independence Monument and into the transformed park where the cremation was to take place. Foreigners were asked to dress in black and white, or attire appropriate to their own culture. There were road blocks set up, with valet motor scooter parking, and we were asked to remove our hats. The crowds were quiet and polite. Free water and fans were available. We were able to get close enough to see quite well, and we often checked to make sure that no one was behind us who should have been in front. Many people were visibly grief stricken. Once the Father King’s body passed, the crowd was allowed to join the procession. Those who didn’t jammed the streets to make their way back to the multitude of large, open bed trucks they had ridden in from the countryside.
While these days of mourning meant that streets around the royal palace were closed to traffic, many shops and restaurants were closed and there were limited hours for museums, we would not have traded this experience for anything.
Hotels
Our friends stayed at Eureka Villas one block from the National Museum. This happened to be on a street that was closed to traffic in the days leading up to the cremation, but other than needing to meet our tour guides on the corner, rather than at the door of their hotel, it posed no problem for them. I did not see their room, but they were happy with its size and the made-to-order breakfasts.
We stayed at the 252 Hotel in a deluxe room for $60/night including a very nice breakfast. We were quite pleased with our large room overlooking the pool. There was plenty of storage space, the mattress was firm, the bathroom was large, the place was clean, the staff were great, the little restaurant was nice, the bar drinks were lovely. We were met at reception with ice cold cloths and yummy limeade . Even though it was on a block-long street, it was just off the main Monivong Blvd. and it was easy to find a tuk-tuk (remork) at the door. The 252 is about a 12 minute walk to the area of the National Museum and Royal Palace, requiring crossing busy Norodom Blvd, but we were able to walk along it until we came to a signal crossing.
Restaurants
Many restaurants along the quay and in the area of the National Museum and Royal Palace were closed, but we still ate very well.
Sugar Palm – very good, reserve a table upstairs on the open verandah. Order fish amok
Tom Yum Kung – very good Thai. Our friend said it must be good if the Khmer are eating here.
Khmer Sandoval – out tuk-tuk driver took us here one lunch when Khmer Borane was closed for the funeral. We had a great lunch of amok, curries and beer.
Activities
None of us wished to visit the Killing Fields or go to the Tuol Sleng Museum.
Other than the previously mentioned funeral, we toured the National Museum, the Central Market, ventured into several wats (Wat Ounalom, Wat Lanka), walked along the quay, window shopped (Mekong Arts)and waited for the Royal Palace to open. Visiting hours were limited, and unpublished, due to the mourning period. We were fortunate to be walking by the temporary ticket gate one afternoon just as they announced it would open in 30 minutes. Our visit was limited to the southern section of the royal complex (Sihanouk’s body was laying in state elsewhere in the palace grounds) but this is the section with the Silver Pagoda.
Another day we asked Eureka Villas to arrange a driver to take us to Tonle Bati. We were fortunate to have Bond, perhaps the slowest, most cautious driver in all of Cambodia. His Toyota Landcruiser was impeccably clean with wonderful AC. Bond is a wonderful young man with 4 children. Like many, his grandparents were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. His father was forced into the army at an early age and became an abusive alcoholic. Bond headed to Phnom Penh on his own when he was 11. He learned English and is now a driver working long hours during the tourist season in order to send his children to private school. He was open enough with us that we felt comfortable asking him how Cambodians viewed Sihanouk’s alliance with the Khmer Rouge. He said, “Everybody makes mistakes. It was a big mistake, but everybody learns from mistakes.”
The ruins at Tonle Bati were, perhaps, a good first glimpse of Khmer ruins, but the highlight of the day’s outing was our lunch on a pavilion built over the lake. We ordered fried fish, sautéed vegetables and roti chicken on shore before walking along rickety bamboo planks out to a thatch covered pavilion where we waited for our lunch in the lovely coolness of the lake’s breeze. As we waited, an occasional food vendor would make her way out to entice us with some little delicacy such as steamed coconut cakes in palm, or a boat would pull alongside offering up fruit, drinks or steamed rice sweets. This is the type of experience I doubt we would have found on our own. Sure, it is written about in Lonely Planet, but I know that on our own we would have taken one look at the dusty, hot scene and the muddy lake and would not have bothered to find out how to go about ordering a lunch and renting a pavilion.
We were treated to some interesting scenes on the way back to PP. A man was washing his cows in a stream while 3 little boys frolicked behind him. When we stopped for a photo, the little guys really started hamming it up. We were constantly amazed at the loads the motos took on. At one point we followed a moto with a casket strapped onto the back, wobbling down a bumpy road demonstrating remarkable balance on the part of the driver.
(to be continued)
For those of you who may be interested in the photolog while you wait for me to write this trip report:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114413210604778104209/SoutheastAsia2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink
It shows up in Google+. At the top center there is a link for Picasa which I find is easier to view.
more, please!
Yes, much more!!
What great reports!
Excellent and extremely well written report with great detail. I can understand people not wanting to visit Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields but I found both places to be extremely moving and a salutary reminder of man's inhumanity to man and the west's inexplicable capacity to turn its back on genocide.
Looking forward to reading more, particularly your impressions of Si Phan Don, probably the most relaxing place I have ever stayed.
Yes, I need to finish this report! I have promised myself to work on it this week before I plan our fall trip to Turkey.
Thank you for your comments.
Loving reading your report! We are going in October so anxiously await more!
why don't you come to vietname? vietnam is a good country and many beauty sight,If you intend to visit Vietnam, I'm glad to send you some suggestion if you can send me the email to: ductrung@fiditour.com. We will send you some packages that may meet your requirement. We are experienced in operating the tour in Vietnam - Inbound Market. For more information, you can refer at the website:http://www.vietnamfittour.com
I'm loving this report and waiting for more. In the future, please check off "trip report" when you begin a report. It makes it easier to find for those looking for reports.
Turkey is wonderful - you'll live that trip as well. And yes...Vietnam is also a great destination! So many places to visit.
Oops - disregard my comment re: marking this as a trip report. I went back and see you have.