A Writer's Journey Through Cambodia
My adventures in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
I recently returned from a 7 month trip traveling Southeast Asia.
My time was spent living in:
Vietnam
Thailand
Cambodia
The experience was unforgettable.
And it gave me time to really focus on my writing. NORMIE was written overseas. Work also began on my upcoming novel, Amy on the Island.
I already detailed my time spent in Vietnam (which you can read here).
Now let’s take a look at my time in Cambodia:
1. Phnom Penh
I arrived in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, in early June 2024.
To get to my hotel, I ordered a car from Grab (the Southeast Asian version of Uber). The car cost only around $7, and that was during rush hour. The low price was a good sign of how my wallet would handle the rest of my time in Cambodia.
We eventually pulled onto the street I’d be living on for the next two weeks. I didn’t do too much research into where to stay, just opting for a place close to the city center while making a reservation on Booking.com. The location turned out to be great.
I was only a short walk away from the river front. There were plenty of good restaurants nearby to eat at and shops where I could pick up the essentials.
The room itself was fine. At this point I was 4 months into my 7 month trip, so I was accustomed to the style of SE Asian hotels. Aircon? Great. Better yet, the room cost me less than $20 per night. And like I said, the location was great.
It was still relatively early when I arrived. I decided to go out for a drink, and that’s when I discovered just how cheap Cambodia can be for a weary traveler.
I stopped at a nearby bar where the draft beer was only $1. Yep, that’s right. Only $1. And that’s not even anywhere near the lowest price you’ll find. Often you’ll see signs for $0.65 draft beer.
To make things stranger, I even paid with US dollars. Cambodia uses two currencies: the US dollar and their own, the riel. The reason that both are used is because their national currency is insanely inflated. $1 is about 4,000 riel. It can be hard to purchase items when you have to use so many bills. Luckily if you have some US cash, it’ll work fine. But the riel has no value outside of Cambodia, so you’ll want to spend all of yours before leaving. I made that mistake and left with about $20 worth of riel that I was unable to exchange.
Life in the capital city:
Phnom Penh was a nice enough city, but there’s not much going on in most parts. It really doesn’t compare with a modern metropolis like nearby Bangkok, but it has charms of its own.
I spent many warm afternoons wandering the city.
And yes, I opted for a $2 haircut:
It was just as good as any $20 haircut back in the states.
Food:
I pretty much ate local food the whole time. Beef is the main protein that I came across. Cambodian food doesn’t have the same spectrum of flavors of other Southeast Asian countries (Thailand, for example), but I still found it to be very good.
The craziest thing to me was how cheap the beer was. The cheapest beer in the world? I don’t see how you could ever find any for a lower price.
The Killing Fields:
Pol Pot was the communist leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
In that short period, over 25% of the country’s population was murdered.
That’s a hard fact to think about. Many of the victims were taken from the capital city and murdered in nearby fields. They’re still finding the skeletal remains of the victims to this day.
You can visit some of the fields and learn about the history of what happened there. I visited the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, which is just outside of Phnom Penh.
The experience was something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. They give you a headset when you arrive that provides you with an audio tour in the language of your choice. The English tour had narration from actual people who were alive when the killing took place. It was chilling to hear their stories. I actually turned off the headset for a large part of the tour and just walked through on my own, trying the take in what I was seeing.
S-21 Prison:
This was an elementary school converted into a prison during Pol Pot’s rule of Cambodia.
It was equally as chilling as the killing fields.
There were photos of all the people brought in during the time that it was operational. Many were parents informed on to the regime by their own children. The prison’s location is in the heart of the city. This is where people were held before being taken to the killing fields outside Phnom Penh.
National Museum of Cambodia:
Unlike the two places I’ve previously noted, the National Museum of Cambodia doesn’t focus on the country during Pol Pot’s reign. Instead, the museum provides a look into the more ancient history of the country.
2. Siem Reap
After two weeks in Phnom Penh, exploring the city and working on NORMIE, it was time for me to travel to my next destination.
Siem Reap is about a 5 hour drive north through the country. There isn’t much in between. I took a bus and mainly saw fields out the window.
After arriving at the bus station, I made the short walk to my hotel.
And I was pleasantly surprise. The hotel was unbelievable.
Great staff.
Great room.
Everything you could really want for less than $14 a night (!!!).
The only minor hiccup was the internet situation. Yes, I know. Poor me. But in my defense, I had a book to write and digital newsletter to maintain (thank you for subscribing).
The wi-fi didn’t stretch to my room. So I had to work almost exclusively in the hotel lobby. Honestly, it was kind of nice in the end. It forced me to establish a pretty firm routine. I’d wake up, grab an iced latte from a nice Cambodian barista down the street, then head to the lobby with my laptop. I’d get all my work done in one sweep and then have the rest of the day to explore the city.
And explore the city I did.
Let’s get serious:
So why did I go to Siem Reap?
Why does EVERYONE who travels Cambodia go to Siem Reap?
Because it’s the home of Angkor Wat…
Siem Reap lives off tourism. And I was quickly informed that it was currently low season. Tuk tuk drivers stopped me everywhere I went, asking if I needed a ride. Even if I was just walking down the street to get my laundry. Fortunately, Cambodians are incredibly nice people, so it wasn’t like I ever really felt hounded.
But Angkor Wat is the main draw of the city.
So of course I visited.
And it was amazing.
Angkor Wat:
Angkor Wat is the ancient capital city of Khmer— the precursor of modern day Cambodia. It’s a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex that stretches 402 acres.
Here are some aerial photos I found online to give you an idea:
I booked a morning tour because I’d heard it’s worth being there to see the sunrise.
The bus picked me up at 4am. That was a bit rough.
Unfortunately, it was a cloudy morning and we didn’t see too much of a sunrise behind the peaks of the main temple. But it was okay, because we still had a full tour ahead.
I have to note that the photos I took don’t really do the place justice. It’s one of those things you just kind of have to see for yourself. That being said, I’ve still added some of my photos below.
It’s important to emphasize that Angkor Wat isn’t just one temple, but a whole collection of them ranging in size. If you book a tour, you’ll drive around the complex and stop at only a small number of them. Many travelers will actually spend multiple days exploring the entire site.
Indiana Jones vibes, right?
It was a long day of exploring ancient ruins in the hot sun. I all but passed out when I got back to my hotel in the afternoon.
Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed my time in Cambodia and would definitely recommend visiting if you’re planning to do a trip through Southeast Asia.
If I was to change anything it would be the amount of time I stayed there.
I spent a full month in the country: 2 weeks in Phnom Penh and 2 weeks in Siem Reap.
That’s probably too long.
It would have been fine if I’d only spent a week in each city.
That’s especially true for Siem Reap. The only big thing to do there is Angkor Wat, which is obviously great, but after that there’s not much else. I spent my extra time working on NORMIE in the lobby of my hotel. In a weird way that was a main highlight of my trip.
I want to hear from you:
Let’s open up more discussions in the comments of these posts.
I’ll add some questions, but feel free to comment your general thoughts as well:
Have you ever visited or wanted to visit Cambodia?
What other countries would you like to travel to?
Have you ever in your life seen a draft beer sold for less than $0.65? I’m guessing not, haha.
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I do a lot of reading and I’m amazed how well you write at such an early age. Also, do you realize how rare it is that someone can go on a seven month tour just for the Joy of traveling? Wow!
I enjoyed “Normie“ and will wait for your next edition.
I have recently moved to Phnom Penh. I recognize some of the sites in your photos. I lived in China as of late. It's great to be in a country where the weather is warm, the living is even cheaper, and the internet is free.
I haven't read Normie yet, but it's on my ever-lengthening queue of things to read!