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We negotiated a tuk-tuk to take us there for $1.50. When we got there, the driver said he wanted to wait for us to come back out. We told him we couldn't promise we'd even be able to find the same entrance/exit, but if we did, we'd find him. We went through the entrance into the enormous covered market. There were small stalls filling the entire area, each selling something a little bit different. There were sections of the market dedicated to food, clothing, toys, spare bike/car parts and tools, wooden carvings, silk, and much much more. Pretty much anything you'd hope to bring home (or not) from Cambodia can be found at the Psar Tuol Tom Pong!
We had to cut our market shopping short to make it back to our hotel in time to grab a small lunch before leaving for the airport. We did end up finding our same tuk-tuk driver who was super excited to get our business for the ride back to the hotel. We packed up our stuff, and ordered a pizza from room service. We told our same tuk-tuk driver that he could bring us to the airport, and we departed on the 30 minute ride (probably would have been only 15 min in a car, but you get to see more from the tuk-tuk) :) There ended up being a little misunderstanding about the price of the airport ride - we thought he said $3 when he swears he said $6. Either way, it was cheap and we ended up meeting in the middle. Our flight brought us to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - formerly known as Saigon. We cleared immigration and re-checked our bags to Da Nang, Vietnam. Both flights were a short 1 hour, and at 5pm we were in Da Nang. Now it was only another 45 min cab ride down to the small town of Hoi An, where we'd spend the next 3-4 days. We don't have any transportation booked from Hoi An back down to Ho Chi Minh City (where we will depart for Hong Kong), but we hope to book a plane ticket in the next couple of days. We checked with the Vietnam Airlines counter and found out that tickets are only $50. Seems like that will work out once we decide which day we want to leave.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, we are going to have another surprise visitor!! They will be meeting up with us in Hong Kong :) Final thoughts on Cambodia: Food: I can't say the food in Cambodia was one of our favorites, but it wasn't bad either. One of the Khmer staple dishes is the Amok chicken or fish - a thick coconut flavored curry. We had it several times and definitely recommend it. One convenient thing is the fact that the ice is all made in factories with safe water. This meant we could have ice in nearly every drink (even beer), which is much appreciated given the extreme temperatures outside! Beer of Choice: Angkor Beer, the national brand :) Memories: the incredible temples of Angkor, amok coconut curry, jumping in the swimming pool each day after sweating it out at the temples, riding the electric bikes and spending 1/2 our time worrying about finding a replacement battery, climbing to the top of the Phnom Bakheng temple with the crowds of other people to watch the sun set of Angkor Wat, seeing Angkor Wat from inside the gate with a sea of people all around us, climbing up the steep stairs to the top of each temple, exploring the jungle of Beng Mealea temple, six little kids following us around Beng Mealea, buying silk scarves, riverside bars and cafes of Phnom Penh, $6 per hour foot massages, getting lost in the depths of the Russian Market in Phnom Penh.
Economy: The Cambodian economy was hit hard by many years of war and internal conflict. It has just recently begun to recover and has received hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid from international donors. Tourism plays a key role especially in the Siem Reap area. Key products include rice, clothing and wood. Climate (April): Hot. Hot. Hot. I don't know what else to say. I don't think we've sweated this much since our time hiking in the Amazon Jungle!
Safety Rating:
Recommendation to friends: 8 out of 10 - Cambodia is an enchanting place to visit and should definitely be included on any trip to Asia (it's probably too small of a country to come all the way to visit on its own). The temples in the Angkor area are not to be missed - you can easily spend 5-7 days in the Siem Reap area. View Cambodia Photo Gallery (more pictures now) Day 113 - Phnom Penh < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 115 - Hoi An © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
Our last day in Cambodia, we had a few hours to explore Phnom Penh before catching our flight at 1:25pm. We had to choose between going to the Royal Palace to see the Silver Pagoda or going to the Psar Tuol Tom Pong (also known as the Russian Market, the largest market area in town). We decided to go to the market, since we thought the palace was going to be pretty similar to what we already saw in Bangkok. Another factor was the fact that you are supposed to wear pants, or at least long shorts, inside the Royal Palace - in this temperature, that is almost a show stopper! 
We were overwhelmed with the sights. It took a while to get our bearings, but we finally settled in to buying a few more souvenirs :) A highlight of the souvenir-seeking was when we were at one of the silk shops. I looked up at the silk ties they had on display and couldn't believe it when I spotted a Penn State tie amongst all of the other regular looking ones! There weren't even any other school ties for sale - what are the odds? Crazy. Anyways, for $2.50 we HAD to buy it! We took a picture of it and tried to explain to the shop owner that we went to school at Penn State. :)
We checked into the Phoung Nam Hotel in Hoi An ($26). It's a nice place with a quiet and comfortable room and ridiculously friendly staff (the friendliest yet!). The only problem is that they are a little further out from the town center then other hotels. They do have a free shuttle service that will bring us to the 2 minutes to town whenever we want to. We took the shuttle to town and walked to the riverfront where many of the restaurants are. We were lucky to stumble upon what we think is one of the best restaurants of our entire trip, called the Mango Rooms. Everything we ordered was amazing, from the mango margaritas, to the free chips with mango salsa, free fried veggies and sauce, our fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce, and my meal of tofu, sauce and veggies, and Mario's meal of flavorful ginger & garlic chicken with noodles. We will certainly have to come back to the Mango Rooms!! We made our way back to the hotel and called it a night - a great start to our stay in Vietnam!
People: People we met were very friendly, and most who wanted to interact with us knew enough English to get by, but not much more :) The street vendors and small shop owners were all very sweet to us and always had a big smile even when we were bargaining hard. The locals were out in full force, as it was Khmer New Years, visiting the temples. Many of them, especially the kids, found it amusing to observe us as we went about our own thing. They found it especially humorous to see us on the electric bikes, and many times greeted us with a wave, smile, and "hello"! 
Exchange Rate: 1 US dollar = 1 US dollar :) Surprisingly, they use the US$ as their primary currency here! Not at all expected, but very convenient for us :) They also have their own currency, called the Riel which is 4,000 Riel to 1 US Dollar. They use the Riel almost exclusively for change less than $1. 