Tuk-Tuks in Cambodia

Two of our favorite people that we met in Cambodia were our tuk-tuk drivers in Phnom Penh and Siem Riap. Riding tuk-tuks in Cambodia was surprisingly enjoyable, and I’d recommend it for all visitors.

First, the vehicles: tuk-tuks in Cambodia are rather like carriages pulled by motorcycles. The seats are very well cushioned (even poofy) and there is a good view out each side. I never enjoyed riding them in Thailand, partly because of the recklessness of most drivers, and partly because they are completely open to the traffic exhaust and pollution. In Cambodia, there isn’t so much air pollution, so the breeze always felt wonderful as we rode along.

When we arrived at the airport in Phnom Penh, Nin was waiting there to meet us. Our guest house had arranged for him to pick us up. I was immediately impressed by his careful, slow driving through the morning traffic. I was even more impressed when, as I handed him the $7 I had been told was the price for a car pickup from the airport, he returned $1 to me, explaining that the price for tuk-tuks was only $6.

The next morning, as we deliberated over breakfast about the best way to get to and from the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum, Nin appeared out on the street. We quickly hired him for the day, and continued to enjoy his safe driving and friendly manner. In Thailand I often felt I had to play defense with drivers – tuk-tuks and taxis alike – in order to not get ripped off. Not so with Nin.
Two days after leaving Phnom Penh, we arrived in Siem Riap – the site of the Angkor Wat temples. Our original plan was to save money by riding bicycles around the temples each day. After a few days in Cambodia’s extreme heat, however, we knew that this would not be an option for us! It was an easy decision to try to hire tuk-tuks again. They are all over in Siem Riap, so finding one is not difficult.

Naht had just dropped off another couple at our guest house late in the afternoon of our arrival in Siem Riap, and we were headed out in hopes of catching the sunset at Angkor Wat. He offered to take us out for $4, which seemed reasonable to us, so we agreed. At the end of the evening – yet again impressed by excellent, safe driving and friendly, helpful manners, we hired him for the following day ($12). Pleased again, we added a second full day, and on our final morning in Cambodia, it was Naht who took us to the airport.

Over the course of almost three days, we got to learn a little about Naht. Like most others in the Cambodian tourist industry, he spoke English excellently. He told us that he had learned it not in public school but by taking special courses at a private school that he paid for himself. He also gave classes to other tuk-tuk drivers and tourism industry employees. He wasn’t from the Siem Riap area, but had moved there because of the opportunities to make good money from tourism. He was married, with one daughter, and was hoping for a son. We were quite fond of Naht and have his email address for anyone who’d like to hire him in the future!
On the whole, I would say that riding tuk-tuks in Cambodia is a great way to relax in the heat, see the sights, and get to know some nice people.

Phnom Penh: Royal Palace and Surroundings

Our last afternoon in Phnom Penh, after taking a break from the heat, we decided to venture out to see the Royal Palace and its surrounding area. The Palace is located near the river, just south of the main tourist strip.

There’s a small admissions fee, and an extra charge for bringing in a camera, but we thought it was worth it. The grounds are very lovely – well-landscaped gardens and tended lawns, and beautiful Khmer architecture. It was similar to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, but on a much smaller scale.

The palace grounds include the Temple of the Silver Pagoda, in which photos are not allowed. We spent some time walking around the perimeter of the inside of the temple, looking at assorted artifacts from Cambodian’s Buddhist past, before sitting on the rugs to reflect under a fan’s breeze. The previous evening, a fellow American tourist we met had commented on the Silver Pagoda and its collection of objects.

It’s not the most impressive collection, she noted, if you are judging by size or shininess. There are hundreds of tiny Buddha statues and other items, but many are faded or dull. But consider that in the 1970s the Khmer Rouge regime tried to destroy Buddhism in Cambodia: knocking down temples, smashing statues, and killing monks. The objects in the Temple of the Silver Pagoda are the ones that survived, and were slowly collected, all across the country, hidden by people who defied the regime. Their worth is more than what it appears.

The area around the Royal Palace also includes the National Museum, which we didn’t have time to visit. We did enjoy taking a photo from the outside, though.

Food in Phnom Penh

As I have mentioned on my Peace Corps Thailand blog, I’m a vegetarian. However, I’ll occasionally eat fish when traveling if it seems like the best way to enjoy a particular local cuisine. This was certainly the case in Cambodia!

Our first dinner in Phnomn Penh was eaten at the Khmer Boran Restaurant on the river, which had been recommended in the Lonely Planet. The recommendation was well deserved – that was some of our favorite food from the entire trip! We started with a light pomelo salad, which was very flavorful in a delicate way.

That was followed by two fish dishes – amok and fish with palm sugar. Amok is a Cambodian specialty featuring fish cooked in coconut milk with assorted flavors (lemongrass, basil, etc). It came served in a banana leaf wrapper and was fantastic. We vowed to eat as much of it as possible during our stay in Cambodia. The fish with palm sugar was almost as good, with a not-quite-sweet flavor.

We were each given a free serving of dragonfruit at the end of the meal, and the entire dinner was nicely accompanied by a shared bottle of Angkor Beer.

Our second day in Phnom Penh, between tourist activities, we decided to splurge on some amok for lunch. There are plenty of small restaurants in the neighborhoods along the Tonle Sap river, so we chose one near our guest house. We shared a plate of amok along with a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and both were quite good. This time the amok came on a plate in a curry form instead of in a banana leaf wrapper.

That evening, having slightly overspent our budget for the day, our dining goals included affordability and Tonle Sap River experience. North of the Grand Palace, there are a number of bars and restaurants lining the riverside park advertising amazingly cheap happy hour specials. We chose one that had 2-for-the-price-of-1 Angkor Beer on tap, with a good view of the activity along the river, and settled in to watch the sunset.

On the walk back to our guest house, we stopped at a noodle shop that appeared to be doing a good business with the locals. We tentatively approached the cook, an older woman positioned above a giant wok with piles of vegetables nearby, and Robert gave our orders in Cambodian. The food arrived just as ordered! We found two spots at a table, the locals showed us which sauces to add, and we were set. It was so good, and so cheap, that Robert went back for a second plate. Three big plates of noodles for just $1.25.

Tuol Sleng Museum and The Killing Fields, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In the 1970's, Cambodia was taken over by the Khmer Rouge, a totalitarian Communist regime that conducted a massive genocide, killing an estimated 1-2 million people. The stated goal of the Khmer Rouge was to turn Cambodia into an agrarian society, eliminating social classes. After taking control of the government and expelling the population from the city of Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, began killing anyone and everyone who didn’t fit into their plans. This included the wealthy, the educated, people of Chinese or Vietnamese ancestry, people who had worked for former governments or had participated in other political parties, and people with eyeglasses.

Those targeted people who weren’t killed directly were made to live in small villages or camps where they worked in fields for long hours and were given little food – sometimes just one meal of rice soup per day. Many died of starvation and disease during this time. Before we traveled to Cambodia, Robert and I both read First They Killed My Father, a moving description of life under the Khmer Rouge written by Luong Ung, a survivor who was able to settle in America. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about this topic.

We visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, where “political prisoners” were taken to be interrogated and tortured during the Khmer Rough regime. The buildings were first constructed as a school, but the classrooms were turned into prison cells and torture chambers. Today, you can walk through those same classrooms and see photographs of the people who came through there as prisoners. Some of the torture devices and cells are also on display.

Photos of some of the youngest “political prisoners”:
A sign showing an English translation of the “rules” that prisoners at Tuol Sleng were expected to follow:
One of the more difficult rooms for me to experience at the museum was one focusing on people who had worked at the prison, and were interviewed years later about their time there. Many claimed that they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but they felt forced into it out of fear for their own lives. For me, this raised the question: At what point can someone be considered a victim? Is someone who conducts torture because they are fearful of the consequences of not following orders a victim in the same way as the person they are torturing? Is there a difference between believing in AND participating in a genocide, vs. participating without believing? I’m still unsure how I feel about these questions, and I’m not sure there’s an easy answer.

After being interrogated or detained at Tuol Sleng, prisoners were usually transported to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh, usually within 30 days of being arrested. The Killing Fields are located about 13 kilometers south of town, next to a school. Here, prisoners were executed and buried in mass graves – men, women, and children alike.

It’s a quiet place, though the sounds of kids playing nearby is a constant reminder that life goes on in Cambodia today. Visitors can walk around viewing the mass graves, many of them labeled. Some are not yet excavated completely.


A tower has been constructed on the site and filled with the skulls that have been recovered. The skulls are sorted by age and gender onto shelves that fill the center of the tower and rise at least ten levels into the air.


Our entire time in Cambodia, as we moved between cities, interacted with locals, and watched life going by, I could not get over how anyone that I saw who appeared to be my age or older would have lived through the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. They might have been part of it themselves, or they might have been among the victims – we were told that every family in Cambodia lost at least one or two members to the regime. How does an individual, and a community, move on from such a horror? What does it take to pick up the pieces and start over again? When I looked at Cambodian children, I wondered how much they know about what happened to their parents, their aunts and uncles and grandparents, and how it affects them as they grow up in this so recently devastated country. I had a great deal of admiration for the generosity and kindness of the people we met – that they could be so warm and open-hearted to us, strangers, after having lived through such pain and terror not so long ago.

I was also impressed that the people of Cambodia do not seem to be afraid of labeling the genocide for what it was. Perhaps they’ve realized the economic benefit of doing so, as tourists pay money to see the sites that we did, but I think that many countries would not be willing acknowledge such a black period in their history in such a short time period. I think that anyone who wants to understand Cambodia must go and see these places.

Visiting the museum and the Killing Fields: Consider hiring a tuk-tuk for the day – it will take you to both locations for a reasonable price ($10-15 per vehicle), and wait for as long as you want while you are inside. Each site has its own entrance fee of $2-4. You can hire guides just inside the entrance of the Killing Fields, and they seem to be very knowledgeable.

Last Home Guest House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

For our two nights in Phnom Penh, we stayed at the Last Home Guest House not far from the river. It was a nice little place in a residential neighborhood, an easy walk from some of the main attractions in town (Royal Palace, National Museum) and from the riverside park area.


We paid $15 per night for an air-conditioned double with attached bathroom. The room itself was fine – no windows, but a nice size and very quiet. We had to walk up a steep flight of stairs to get to our spot on the second floor, but the fine balcony down the hall overlooking the street made up for it – we spent time both evenings sitting out there reading, journal-writing, and listening to the sounds of the neighborhood. Because the power goes out from time to time in Phnom Penh, we were occasionally without AC for a couple of hours, but not so much that it made a difference in our enjoyment of the place.

The staff at the guest house was very friendly and helpful with our questions about touring the city. We ate breakfast there both mornings – a baguette with eggs was both affordable and a welcome treat after months without decent bread in Thailand! I would recommend the Last Home Guest House for the traveler who wants an affordable but comfortable place to sleep in a quiet neighborhood.

Phnom Penh: First Impressions

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, early on a Wednesday morning. The sun was still low enough that the air was not too hot, and the first thing we noticed after getting off the plane was how clear the air was compared to Bangkok. Everything felt much cleaner than what we had left behind in Thailand.

The ride from the airport into town takes about twenty minutes, and we enjoyed every moment. From the back of our comfortable tuk-tuk, we could see all sorts of people going about their Wednesday morning activities. Shops were opening. A few kids were walking or riding bicycles to school. Others played by the side of the road. Goods were transported on the backs of motorcycles or trucks. People lined up to buy baguette sandwiches sold out of glass cases.

Streets seemed wider than what I was used to in Thailand, and I was impressed by how slowly and orderly the traffic moved along. Phnom Penh doesn’t have the population of Bangkok, of course, so there are fewer people on the roads to begin with. There seemed to be a lot of new construction happening. There was a lot of trash in some spots, but not too much air pollution.

This man appears to be making an important chicken delivery!
Here are some students on their way to school.
Many roads were unpaved, which meant there was a lot of dust in the air. There were some random piles of dust, too. A mellow street not far from our guest house. Tuk-tuks wait for passengers on the side of the road.

We arrived at our guest house with the feeling of excitement that comes from being in a completely new place!

Air Asia: Takes You Where You Want To Go

My first set of entries on this blog will describe our post-Peace Corps vacation in Cambodia and Malaysia!

We wanted to see a bit more of Southeast Asia before returning home after our service as Peace Corps Thailand Volunteers ended in March, but with the hot season arriving in this part of the world, we also wanted to be sure to take it easy and travel in some comfort, even on our low budget. After hearing a few horror stories about the overland route from Bangkok to Cambodia, we did a little investigation and decided to go instead with Air Asia, the budget airline based in Malaysia.

We flew first from Bangkok, Thailand, to Phnom Penh, Cambodia; then from Siem Riap, Cambodia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and last from Kuala Lumpur back to Bangkok. Two of the three flights were delayed, but not so significantly as to negatively impact our travels. All the flights were smooth and comfortable. We purchased the tickets online in advance. The website can be problematic at times, but after several tries we finally had all our reservations made.

Air Asia is cheap because they don’t have any “extras” associated with their service. Seating is not pre-assigned. Inflight food and beverages must be purchased if you want them. For the short flight distances in southeast Asia, though, these are not significant details. I highly recommend Air Asia for budget travelers in this part of the world!