beyondtraveler-blog

[beyondtraveler-blog]

14 Dec 2018 - We arrived at the hotel on a Friday evening and were greeted with friendly smiles from the hotel staff who served us chilled lemongrass tea and nice cold towels to wipe our face and neck off from the long 6-hour drive from Phnom Penh. After a few minutes of checking in, the bellhop took our luggage to our deluxe room on the 2nd floor.  The hotel is 5 stories tall with two elevators should guests want to use them. The decor of the entire space is a mixture of Western minimalism meets traditional Khmer decor, giving it a relax luxury feel. The airy restaurant on the 5th floor offers a range of Khmer and western dishes, and a buffet breakfast in the mornings. The restaurant also includes a nice little bar and leads to a nice rooftop pool overlooking the city - the hotel is a 5-10 minute walk from Pub Street. We got great sleep in our room as it was nice and quiet at night. The room was clean and tidy with modern amenities such as a flat screen TV, stocked mini fridge, etc. The bathroom has clean towels, bathrobes, slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste, etc. as well as a nice sized bathtub that one can lay in. Room service was excellent . We were happy to return from breakfast to folded blankets and sheets, fresh towels and restocked items. Checking out was fast and easy. The staff were as normal their friendly selves. Highly recommend, definitely one of the best value for money in Siem Reap. We're for sure going to stay at Hari again on our next Siem Reap trip!

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/hariresidence/

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville by Public Bus

Going to Sihanoukville by public bus? It will take you at least 5 hours - it could take 6 hours depending on traffic. There are other bus stations in the city, but quite convenient is the one at the Central Market or "Psa Thmey" next to the Total gas station. Tickets per passenger is about $5.50 - that's dirt cheap. You can hire a personal taxi (1990 Toyota camera), but that's about $40 to $60, depending on your negotiation skill. Note: I'm a bit lazy to write, so this post contains a lot of photos.

My cousin.

You don't have to really book tickets in advance (if you're not traveling in a large group), as buses leave just about every hour.

The picture above is the bus you'd be riding in. They're old, so the aircon takes a little while to cool - about an hour.  A tip before getting on the bus, is to buy a bottle of water at the mini-mart (located at the bus station) and probably pack some lunch (from home or a restaurant of your choosing). The bus will stop at a rest stop half way to the destination (about 2.5 to 3 hours from the starting point), where there is a local restaurant, specifically for the passengers.

The food there is precooked and usually served lukewarm and tastes pretty bland. I don't recommend eating it.

There are snacks, soft drinks and fresh fruit sold outside, but I'm not sure if they'd suffice as lunch.

There are many hotels and guesthouses in Sihanoukville that are very reasonably priced, from $6 a night to over $100 a night. As I am not rich and enjoy staying at simple, affordable and convenient places, I chose to stay at GBT guesthouse ($15 a night for a double), conveniently located about 5 minutes walk from O'cheteal beach (popular with expats and foreign tourists. 

GBT is the largest guesthouse operation in Sihanoukville. We stayed at the bungalows - there's also a GBT guesthouse that feels more like a hotel, that's even closer to the beach. But, at the bungalows there is also a large restaurant, that feels like a restaurant/convenience store/travel agent - you can buy just about everything you would find at a small convenience store, book travel and tour tickets, make international phone calls and surf the web.

Below are some photos of the amenities:

The blue towel is mine.

The bathroom is definitely not the highlight of the bungalow. Although the toilet flushes and water pressure is decent, the toilet cover, the toilet seat as well as the towel rack were broken. Plus, there was mildew all over the wall and hose of the aircon, which drips into the drain in the bathroom.

The night's stay at the bungalow was peaceful, as it's located away from major traffic, the walls are thick and neighbors kept to themselves. What's also convenient about this place is that you can book a bus back to Phnom Penh or other destinations at the front desk, and a van will come to pick you up and drop you off at the bus station - saving money from having to pay for a motor-taxi or a tuk tuk, who will try to charge you $2 for a 5 minute ride.

My cousin again, on the right.

Happy travels!

[beyondtraveler-blog]

If you're going to book a place to stay in Siem Reap during high season (October to March), do so a couple of weeks in advance. Otherwise you'll have great difficulty finding a place to stay at whatever price range.

After over 30 failed attempts at getting a place, I was able to get this one for $50 a night, plus they charged an extra $10 for an extra person.  This place USED TO BE run by Nyemo, an NGO doing great work to help abused, vulnerable and at-risk women and children for poverty, domestic violence and trafficking.  It no longer is, as I found out, on the second night's stay.

On the first night, the hotel did not give us any blanket, pillow, towel or any other amenities for our third person.  The next morning we mentioned that we did not receive any of those things and that we were fortunate that one of us didn't stay at the hotel that night.  The receptionist just smiled and acted like there was nothing wrong with that picture.  I'd told him that we would be having the third person staying that night and reminded him to give us those extra things for which we paid $10 extra.

That night, an extra towel and blanket was put inside our place.  As there were three of us, we wanted another blanket so that two guys didn't have to share one blanket on one bed. We asked the receptionist guy for it, but he said that there was nothing that he could do. Apparently, they don't have extra anything stored at the hotel. In his words, "We keep it far away from here." 

After giving him a lecture about customer service for about 15 minutes, revealing to him how unsatisfied we were, he finally said he'll see what he can do.  20 minutes later, we received an extra blanket.

The "apartment" of the hotel, the one we stayed in is a large suite, with only one bed, a large living room, kitchen and bathroom. It's a very nice place to get some work done, but the mosquitoes buzz about all day and night, more mosquitoes than at any other place I've ever stayed.

To make matters worse, the water pump to our unit was old and broke down twice while we were there. They were able to fix it the first time after about half an hour. But, the second time was on the morning that we were leaving.  We woke up without any water in the faucets, showers or bathroom, so I used bottled water to wash my face and brush my teeth. They never got around to fixing it while we were there waiting for about another half an hour.  We left the place at 7:30am without eating the breakfast that came with our booking. We were so fed up, we just couldn't say anything to the staff there anymore.

The hotel is now called "My Home, Nature". The address is the following:

House #0197, Treang Village Siem Reap, Cambodia

Private transportation that we used was a 15 seater van from "Chumreapsua Travels". The driver is excellent and very helpful through and through.  We took them from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, the entire time there and back to Phnom Penh. Here's their number: 081.286.6163

Safe travels!

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Phnom Penh: Tuk Tuk to/from Airport

A tuk tuk ride for one person from Potchentong airport to anywhere between Wat Onalum and the Royal Palace or "riverside", should cost you $5. To get this cheap, comfortable and quick ride directly from the airport, just walk directly to the road in front of the airport and you'll find a number of tuk tuk drivers just waiting for you. If you're a foreigner, they'll ask for more, but just let them know that you've always taken it for $5. If the first one doesn't budge, be patient and approach another.  A traditional taxi cab will cost you about double and will take longer. A moto taxi will cost about $3, but it's not very convenient if you have large luggage.

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Money Exchange: American Dollar to Thai Baht

The current exchange rate for the respective currencies is 29.9+ baht to 1USD. Once you're in Thailand, however, it is nearly impossible to get that rate. You might be able to get 29.10 baht for a dollar.  If you're coming into Thailand from abroad, check first with your trusted in-country money exchanger to see if you can get a better rate than the 29.10 or better yet, higher than 29.9+!

Useful link: http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/USDTHB:CUR

From Adam: http://www.facebook.com/cabournejones

The rate today is 29.95 bht to the USD! There's several branches in the central area and the best website to get the real rates at these and most other places in town is this one: http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Khao San Road to Mega Bangna Mall

"Bangna" is pronounced "Bana".

Awesome German beer at one of the bar/restaurants at Mega Bangna Mall.

Take a tuk-tuk off/away from Khao San Rd. area (bargain down to 30 baht/person = 1USD), get off at Victory Monument BTS Station, take the BTS Skytrain line towards Bearing Station, get off at the 15th stop at Udom Suk Station (50 baht) - If you're not sure if you have it right, check the back of the BTS ticket/card or on the upper panels inside the Skytrain for maps - Get off the Skytrain to Exit 2 (I might be wrong about this. If so, just ask the ticket agent which exit to Mega Bangna) and walk to the closest 7 Eleven mart and wait for a free shuttle almost directly in front of the mart.  Tell any of locals waiting for buses that you want to go to "Mega", and they will let you know where to stand to wait for the shuttle.  Shuttles arrive every 10 to 15 minutes or so.  Be patient.  An alternative route would be taking a fare or metered taxi, but that might cost you $20!

[beyondtraveler-blog]

No farting in Bangkok taxi cabs.

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Bangkok to Chiangrai by Air

Travel Tip Thailand: The best airliner to take from Bangkok to Chiangrai is Nok Air. Warning do not take Air Asia - they claim to be a budget airliner, but this is not completely true. You can compare prices at each airliner's website. Nok is either the same price, cheaper or just a few dollars more. However, Nok serves free refreshments and food, while Air Asia doesn't give you anything, except an airplane-load of advertising. They even charge for water! Warning, do not even think about riding on Orient Thai. I'm not so sure that their planes would pass inspection in comparable countries.

[beyondtraveler-blog]

Chiangmai to Bangkok by Air

Travel Tip Thailand: If you're flying from Chiangmai to Bangkok, take Bangkok Air. The airliner offers customers free use of its boutique lounge with free wifi, snacks and refreshments, as well as a nice little lunch while you're up in the sky. The customer service is excellent!  If you sign up for its FlyerBonus card (free membership), you are automatically entitled to 30 kg of baggage allowance. It takes less than 10 minutes to fill. Link: http://flyerbonus.bangkokair.com/ffp/home.aspx