Before we start, here is a brief intro you’ll find at the start of all of my blogs!
This is a story-style travel blog featuring my adventure through Southeast Asia in the fall of 2024. I spent 1 week on my own in Laos, then joined a 14-day tour called Ultimate Cambodian Adventure from the company G Adventures, and a final 3-day solo stop in Singapore. You can read the blog in order, or about whichever destination intrigues you! Within my stories, I’ll offer some recommendations and some tips and tricks for a smooth journey. When I travel, I mostly do group tours and the reasons are:
* As a solo woman traveler, it is much safer especially if traveling long distances or to countries that can be dangerous in some areas
*The itineraries are amazing and usually include all of the things you’d want to see and do…and if not, there is free time to do as you wish
*You don’t have to worry about booking transport, finding hotels, etc. Sometimes that can contribute to the adventure, but it’s also nice to sit back and relax and let your Tour CEO be in charge
* And finally…the new people you meet on your tour become your family, and I’ve made lifelong friends in these journeys. For myself, this has equal importance with exploring new countries.
After visiting the Killing Fields, next on the itinerary is our lunch stop; we will be dining at Khmer River Restaurant. Of course, we could go off on our own and eat wherever we like, but G Adventures carefully selects these places for the quality of food and cleanliness. And it’s always fun to enjoy a meal with my awesome group! I have the amok with tofu. Amok is considered the most popular dish in Cambodia; it’s a spicy coconut fish curry, steamed in a banana leaf. I’m not a huge fan of fish, so that’s why I choose tofu instead. It tastes amazing.
We have free time this afternoon so a few of us head over to the Royal Palace and the temples surrounding it. First, a quick stop at Wat Ounalom. It is the most important wat in Phnom Penh, being the centre of Cambodian Buddhism.
We arrive at the Royal Palace, and spend the next hour or so exploring.
The monarchs still live here, but we don’t see them today. Haha. It’s time to mention that it is STUPID HOT today, so I’m happy to find anywhere in this palace that has shade or a giant fan. We walk over to the Silver Pagoda, which houses some cool gold and jeweled fancy bling Buddhas.
Before I go in, I have a quick peek to see if it’s worth it. I feel someone smack my butt, and I’m like, what the….. I turn around to see an elderly Cambodian woman, who smacked my butt because I was blocking access to a chair she wanted to sit in. She laughs, and her granddaughter apologizes. I think it’s hilarious, and I have a quick chat with them before going inside. Across from the pagoda are two large stupas surrounding a statue of King Norodom.
The walls of this complex are covered in a giant mural, and we walk the whole distance of it and it’s really stunning – it tells a complex story of history and folklore.
Here is the moonlight pavilion, an open-air pavilion that serves as a stage for Khmer classical dance. It’s built along the palace walls, so it’s very prominent.
This is the throne hall, where the king and his officials once carried out their duties, and is still used for ceremonies and a meeting place for the King and his guests.
By the time we finish exploring, I’m heat exhausted and ready to take a break.
Tonight, Ratha informs us that there is an optional activity of going to see a Cambodian kickboxing match. I’m on the fence about going, since I’m not really into kickboxing, or know much about it. But I also know that these optionals are usually pretty cool, and I have nothing else to do tonight and the rest of the group is going to attend. What’s also cool is that these matches only occur on occasional Sundays, and it’s lucky that our tour is here on a Sunday!
As I mentioned, Vic is Cambodian, so he speaks the language and literally talks to every Cambodian he sees. It’s so cute to witness his connection to the people here. Whether it’s a wave and a smile, or a Suostei (Hi), he is on top of it. We are picked up by a fleet of tuk tuk’s to take us to the arena. Our driver is talking to Vic, and Vic lets us know that he is apologizing because he had a beer before he picked us up. What?? Haha.
We get to the arena, and are escorted to the most amazing seats right beside the ring.
It’s so hot in here and not much air circulation, so I manage to score a bag of ice cubes to slather all over my body. It helps, but I’m worried how I’m going to make it through the night.
The first match begins, and we make some fun bets on who will emerge victorious. Red shorts or blue shorts?? I honestly didn’t think I’d enjoy it this much, but I am LOVING it!
There are two matches, and then we get a halftime show with a guy singing couple of songs (he’s great!).
He’s got 4 backup dancers, and they look really unenthusiastic and out of place. Like is someone forcing them to be there? Haha. It looks like someone just said, hey we need 4 cute girls to do a couple of steps back and forth on stage in an hour. Any takers? Haha. After the fights are done, we stick around and get to climb into the ring. So fun.
On the tuktuk ride home, I’m still not feeling great and since we didn’t really get a chance to have dinner, I go up to the sky bar and order a plate of spaghetti before calling it a night.
The next morning, we leave to begin our adventure across Cambodia, and we will spend a bit of time here in Phnom Penh at the end of the tour, so I’m going to skip ahead to that.
11 days later, we arrive back at the SIM Boutique Hotel, and this time our room is much nicer and spacious with a huge bathroom equipped with a shower and giant tub. Whoo-hoo!!
After we’ve all checked in, we are in for a treat. We’re doing a cyclo tour! A cyclo is like a 3 wheeled taxi – it looks like a bicycle with a large bucket seat in front.
I don’t think I’d last more than 10 minutes driving this thing, so I’ve got mad respect for the guys that are behind the wheels.
A few of the guys must be at least over 60, so even more impressive! They are part of the Cambodia Cyclo Association. It’s crazy to be riding in the streets in these cyclos, it feels even more vulnerable than being in a tuktuk.
And let’s just say…we look ridiculous in these things but it’s soo much fun and a great way to see the city.
And shall I mention also pretty relaxing as I’m finding myself wanting to doze off. Our first stop is Wat Phnom; I’m disappointed we don’t get to go inside, and I wish I had come here during our free time a couple weeks ago. It is actually a pagoda, and was created by a rich old lady named Penh.
COOL STORY ALERT: Penh lived on a small hill by the rivers. One day she saw a floating Koki tree in the rover and called the villagers to get it out of the water. Inside the tree were 4 Buddha statues and 1 Vishnu statue. She then assigned the villagers to build an artificial hill with a temple on top to house the statues. She invited monks to bless the statues, and the rest is history. As you can tell by her name, she is the one who founded the city of Phnom Penh back in the 1300’s!!
We have a look at the pagoda from the outside, and walk over to the statue of Lady Penh while Ratha tells us more history about the city and Cambodia.
We hop back into the cyclos as we make our way around the city.
Tonight, we’re having dinner at River Crown. It’s a popular place for tour groups; the menu is extensive and it’s hard to choose. I decide my final Cambodian meal will be beef lok lak…it was my first meal here and will be my last!
And for dessert – the most amazing mango sticky rice.
There’s a deal on cocktails, so we all order a couple and pass them around to try.
There are speeches, there are tears. This has been one of my favorite groups ever, and Cambodia has become one of my favorite counties in the world. When we arrive back at the hotel, a subgroup of us I’ve nicknamed the “cool kids” go up to the Skybar for our last drinks together. It is myself, Tristelle, Eline, Dave, Jason and Vic.
The 6 of us had so many laughs and fun times together, and it’s difficult to bid farewell to these amazing new friends. But for now, we’ll head back to the start of this roadtrip in the next blog……………….
Everywhere On Earth With Erin 