Tag: cambodia

My bike is the one in the middle

The videos below were taken on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Phnom Penh. They do not convey the usual busyness of the streets because it was a weekend and I was mostly on main roads. Typically the roads are much more crowded, especially with big SUVs.

The videos are raw and unedited. Hopefully they give a snapshot into the look and feel of Cambodia’s capital city.

This video is of me riding from my apartment to the frozen yogurt shop Snow Yogurt.

This is me cruising around the Riverside area of the city.

View of Phnom Penh from my apartment

This is a brief list of observations from my first five full days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I plan on spending two weeks here before heading to Saigon and then suburban Kuala Lumpur for another housesit.

1. Lots of good coffee shops
   The biggest and most pleasant surprise upon arriving in Phnom Penh was the ubiquity of high quality coffee shops. There are dozens of places near my Airbnb apartment that serve good coffee and have attractive interior spaces. Brown Coffee, which has 10 locations in Phnom Penh, is my favorite spot so far.


Inside a local cafe Wings Coffee

2. Danger of theft
   Bag thieves are apparently quite common here. It is good to keep an eye on your belongings while in tuk-tuks as thieves often operate on motorbikes.
3. Congested traffic
   There seems to be a lack of traffic lights at some busy intersections, which leads to clogged roads. I try to avoid driving during rush hour.
4. Polluted air
   Like Bangkok and Hanoi, the air is quite polluted. This makes riding around the city on my motorbike less enjoyable.
5. The city that always sweats
   It is supposed to be the tail end of the extremely hot part of the year, but the picture below gives you an idea about the sizzling heat.


Dog days of summer

6. Many people come from villages
   The city has expanded rapidly in recent years with a large influx of Khmer people from surrounding rural areas.
7. Lots of corruption
   I haven’t seen any corruption first hand, but I have heard that Cambodia is highly corrupt with regards to the government and doing business in the country.


Hummer next to trash

8. Expensive cars
   One outward sign of the corruption here (I assume?) is the abundance of luxury cars on the streets. Although the vast majority of Cambodians are poor, high-end vehicles such as Lexuses, Range Rovers, and Porches are surprisingly common.

My Cambodian cruiser

Join me on a tour of everyday life in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Below are two short videos of me biking around “Temple Town”.

The first video is from my apartment to Angkor Muscle Gym. The second one is on the way back home. Both were shot on a Monday around 5 PM.

View from the back of a tuk tuk

Here are eight more observations from living in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

1. English is OK
   Most people can understand and speak at least some basic English.
2. Friendly people
   Most people are friendly in a calm sort of way.
3. Traffic is easy to navigate
   The aren’t many traffic or stop signs here except on main roads, but people drive slow and yield excessively at intersections.
4. Tuk tuks are everywhere
   Tuk tuks are basically Cambodian taxis. They are riding carriages attached to a motorbike and are all over the place.
5. Prayer gesture is common
   The Buddhist prayer hand gesture is a typical greeting, often used at fancier hotels and establishments.
6. Power outages
   Power outages are common and usually last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. My apartment has a backup generator so I am usually never without power for than a few seconds. There was a city-wide power outage after the first rain of the season that lasted for over 72 hours, but life went on pretty much as usual. Some places without generators shut down and there was less light at night, but otherwise it was surprisingly not a big deal.
7. Lots of tourists
   Because of the nearby Angkor Wat temples, the city is full of people from all over the world. This is especially noticeable in the Night Market and Pub Street areas.
8. Funny t-shirts
   There is a particularly high number of ironic and witty shirts, worn by both Cambodians and foreigners.

Lucky Supermarket in Siem Reap

When I arranged to housesit in Siem Reap, I had little idea of what to expect. Over the past month, however, I’ve familiarized myself a bit with this western Cambodian town. Here are some notes and observations.

1. Mix of dollars and riel
   Although the Cambodian riel is the official currency, the U.S. dollar is widely used and accepted. Only U.S. bills are used, not coins. Anything below $1 is calculated in riel, with an exchange rate of around 1 U.S. dollar to 4,000 Cambodian riel.
2. Lack of street signs
   Streets and addresses are often not marked. Google Maps works fine here but the lack of signs can make it difficult to locate some streets and buildings.
3. Concentration of useful stores
   Siem Reap is a pretty compact city, at least the central part of town that I’m familiar with. Because of the amount of tourists that come through the city, there are stores that supply just about anything a Westerner would want or need.
4. It’s cheap
   Like other countries in Southeast Asia, the cost of living here is generally low. You can rent a serviced studio apartment for as little $250 per month and you can buy a coconut for fifty cents.
5. It’s hot
   April is the hottest month of the year with high temperatures usually in the 90’s Farhenheit, sometimes reaching triple digits. When I first got to Siem Reap, I wasn’t sure if I could handle the heat. But after about a week I adjusted to the climate and now it feels “normal”.
6. It’s dusty
   There is often dirt in the air, which makes many people cover their mouths or wear masks.
7. Plenty of geckos
   You can spot these little brown creatures on walls around the city.
8. Techno music
   European-style dance music seems to be the popular choice of music here and can be heard in stores and on the streets.