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Cambodia Cheap Travel
"Motodops" Buses Taxis and Cheap Flights
In the last few years travel in
Cambodia has become much less arduous than in years gone by
with the continual improvement of the roads Buses taxis and
“Motodops” (shortened to moto’s) are running at faster speeds
and they are not the body shaking, teeth rattling odysseys
anymore for the most part.
The major exceptions would be the
route from Poipet to Angkor Wat voted worst road in the
world for over ten years and the overland route to Sihanoukville
from Bangkok via Trat Thailand.
With more tourism, which has
been growing in double digits for many years now, the flights
and air routes into Cambodia have more potential passengers,
which have increased the competition, which has resulted in some
of the cheapest flights in Cambodia in quite a while.
Cambodia buses both the mini bus and the big commercial
busses are getting to be a higher quality, and new bus
companies are forcing the older companies to improve their
equipment in order to compete.
Taxis like wise are improving as
the western tourist demand a better quality, you can be fairly
certain of getting a taxi that meets a minimum standard that is
much improved from the old days.
I remember one time that they had
taken the seat belt and secured it behind the molding of the
door frame, making it totally useless, this kind of modification
was not unusual, nor was it unusual to be suffer from a massive
headache in a mini bus due to sucking on exhaust fumes for hours
on end from the open rear door.
“Moto’s” still tend to aggravate
tourists mostly for the constant
rip offs
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and now there is a
lot of “took tooks” these guys
are just as bad as the “touk touks” drivers in Bangkok and if
you can avoid using one you will
be that much happier on your
travels.
In Cambodia cheap flights
are now more common and there
are more flights both within
Cambodia as well as flight to
the neighboring countries of
Thailand and Vietnam and
Singapore which serves as a
regional hub for the discount
flights.
As always in Cambodia
remember to be vigilant when you
travel if it seems wrong
often times it is trust your
intuition and do the smart
thing.
Author Fred Tittle has lived and
worked in holiday vacation
resorts his entire life, from
Lake Geneva’s Playboy Club, as a
rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen
Colorado, he became a PADI Pro
Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on
Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big
island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He
now owns EcoSea Dive in
Sihanoukville Cambodia where he
teaches SSI and PADI scuba
diving courses and runs
liveaboards in the gulf of
Thailand and Asia adventure
tours, http://www.ecosea.com
Fred’s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com
where he reviews cheap hotels ,
budget guesthouses, discount
accommodations and cheap
international flights, but is
really an excuse to go scuba
diving on vacation more, China
is up next.
Sailing in Cambodia and Thailand
- Deserted Beaches and
Aquamarine Seas
Travelling by road from Bangkok
via the ferry from Laem Ngop to
Dan Kao on Koh Chang, the second
largest island in Thailand, we
arrived at Thida’s base at Salak
Phet where she was moored by the
side of a seafood restaurant.
Thida is a 44 feet yacht built
in Pattaya, Thailand in 1986
which was to carry us on our
journey through the sparkling
waters of the Gulf of Thailand
for the next 6 days. As the
captain and assistants stowed
our luggage and made final
preparations for the voyage, we
tucked into the as usual
delicious Thai lunch, our
appetites sharpened by the
Cambodia travel
car
journey but also whetted by the
excitement
and thrill of the impending
cruise.
Captain Ralf eventually joined
us for a beer bearing the same
name as the island – Chang. A
glance at the
Cambodia travel
chart quickly
reveals the origin of the name
as the island is shaped like an
elephant’s head, “chang” being
the Thai word for
elephant.
We
were drinking elephant beer on
Elephant Island. We discussed options for the
impending cruise and, decisions
made; we cast off at 8pm just as
the full moon was rising over
the mountain and picked our way
across calm, silvery seas
through the small islands that
make up the Koh Chang
archipelago. 4 hours of
atmospheric, moonlit cruising
under power later, we dropped
the anchor and chain into black,
shimmering waters of a very
sheltered bay on the south
western tip of Koh Kut The plan
was to head for Koh Tang which
was as far from home port that
we would travel and then
slowly work our way back to Koh
Chang. This was the reason for
the 4 hour trip to our anchorage
and why we needed an early start
in the morning.
Dawn broke around 6am and very
soon afterwards the rattle of
chain as the winch hauled up the
anchor signalled our departure
from our
very scenic anchorage.
We set a course of 155 degrees
across the Gulf of Thailand to
Koh Tang under steady throb of
the Volvo Penta engine. The wind
direction was south east
prohibiting the use of sail as
we had an estimated 14 hour
journey at 6 knots to reach Koh
Tang. The early morning cloud
that was to be an almost daily
feature gradually dissipated
leaving behind a hot blue sky.
Wind and wave height increased
gradually slowing our speed and
lengthening our journey until we
decided that Koh Tang was
becoming just a little beyond
our comfortable reach for that
day opting instead to raise sail
and head East for Koh Rong. With
jib and mainsail aloft, Thida
steadied in the beam seas
providing a more comfortable
journey as we sped across the
now Cambodian water at 6-7
knots. We reached a large bay in
the north of Koh Rong, well
protected from the swell and
south easterly wind just as the
sun was setting. The bay offered
a selection of palm fringed
sandy beaches and our carefully
selected anchorage was shared by
a solitary fishing boat, the
occupants of which had retired
to a makeshift shelter on the
beach.
The next day the travel was to
round the
point and motored a few miles
down the eastern side of the
island
and took the dinghy
ashore to visit a fishing
village. The village epitomised
how the fisher folk of Cambodia
had lived remote from the
mainland for hundreds of years
scratching a living from the
sea. Our curiosity with the
village was equally matched by
the villagers themselves who
seemed happy at seeing such
strange visitors.
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A posse of children soon
followed our every move and gently jostled each other to
gain prime position whenever our cameras were raised to take a
photo. This was followed by laughter and squeals of delight as
we showed them the result. The adults also got in on the act
usually transforming a toothy or toothless grin into a solemn,
proud pose for the photo before breaking out into the same
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grin again.
We moved on with a good wind to
reach the port of Kampong Som or
Sihanhoukville to give
its most
recent name. The port was
established in the 1950’s and is
also Cambodia’s major coastal
resort with several beautiful
beaches of its own once
frequented by the pre Pol Pot
middle class of Phnom Penh. The
captain had radioed his agent as
we approached who was waiting
with the necessary official
papers. There then followed a
troupe of officials representing
various agencies, customs,
health, immigration etc. each of
whom received their “gratuity”
for ensuring the smooth
processing of the necessary
official documentation. In
actual fact we were registered
as entering and leaving Cambodia
on the same day which
effectively meant that we did
not have to stop in
Sihanoukville again on our
departure from Cambodia.
Official business over, we spent
some time exploring
Sihanoukville before returning
to Thida now lying serenely
anchored off one of the beaches.
That evening, we ate excellent
seafood and soup cooked by
ourselves on a table top BBQ at
one of beachside restaurant for
U.S. $3 each accompanied by the
local Anchor (the “ch’ is
pronounced as in “cheers” which
differentiates it from the rival
Ankor beer).
Determined to eventually reach
Koh Tang on our Cambodia travel
tour, we set course again
and arrived in the early
afternoon to anchor in a bright,
aquamarine bay with a selection
of fishing boats. After a much
needed, refreshing dip into
warm, clear and deep salty sea,
we spent late afternoon amassing
a pile of driftwood and bamboo
on the beach in preparation for
our beach BBQ. Ralf took the
dinghy and visited the fishing
boats returning very shortly
afterwards brandishing a king
mackerel which was cleaned and
cut up into thick juicy steaks
in readiness for the BBQ. All
food preparations complete we
lit a fire on the beach, relaxed
with a beer and waited until we
could rake the coals out of the
fire to barbeque the fish. The
fishing boats had all left for
the nights fishing and we could
see their bright lights
attracting the squid on the
horizon looking like a city in
the distance. Otherwise, we were
alone cast away on our own
private desert island. We were
late to our bunks that evening
as we savoured the unforgettable
moment as long as possible each
of at times gazing with that
faraway look into the orange
embers of the beach fire
thinking our own private
thoughts.

We were now half way through
our Cambodia travel tour and it was time to
backtrack towards Koh Chang. We
again stopped at Koh Rong but
this time on the western side of
the island in a bay featuring
intense, aquamarine water and
fringed with blinding white sand
as fine as talcum powder that
squeaked when you walked on it.
It was just so beautiful –
Paradise found and a reminder of
the magnificence that Mother
Nature has bestowed upon this
world all by herself for us to
enjoy. The beach was about 6
kilometres in length and
deserted but for an unoccupied
hut at one end and a small
fishing village at the other
end. We spent the afternoon
periodically enveloped in the
aquamarine liquid and exploring
the beach before reluctantly
raising the anchor at dusk to
motor for 3 hours to Koh Samit
for what proved to be a rather
eventful overnight stop.
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On our
Cambodia travel tour we anchored off the fishing
village in Koh Samit which,
although Cambodian territory, was founded by Thai fishermen
deciding as a precaution against collision to leave the
navigation lights on in preference to the anchor light and hit
the sack. A squally storm had us back on deck at around 3am to
let out more anchor chain. Satisfied that the anchor was holding
it was back to bed |
until around 5am when a
tremendous crash brought us
hurriedly on deck again just in
time to see a fishing boat
reversing off the stern and
speeding away at full throttle. Initial thoughts of giving chase
were soon sensibly discounted
given our location, as we
inspected the damage which
appeared to be all above the
waterline. Under the eerie glow
of the aft, white navigation
light that appeared to have
acted as a magnet for the
fishing boat as it seemed he had
headed straight for it. Our
inspection revealed that the
bathing platform was smashed the
ladder having completely
disappeared, the aft safety
railing had been partially
wrenched from the deck, one of
the davits was gruesomely
twisted at an angle pointing
away from the boat and there was
a deep V in stern where the fibreglass and teak had been
splintered. It could have been
worse as it appeared that the
fishing boat had almost mounted
our stern at an angle with the
help of the bathing platform,
rather than a full blooded smack
by his prow. We had been
sleeping inches from where he
hit but thankfully no-one was
injured and he had also missed
the dinghy with outboard engine
attached. We assume that the
captain of the fishing boat was
drunk, which would appear to be
a regular
occurrence judging by
all the empty liquor bottles we
saw in the fishing village in Koh Rong and it was the only
explanation we could think of
for smashing into a yacht
anchored under full navigation
lights. Sleep was abandoned as
we waited for dawn to recheck
the damage which proved to be no
worse than we already thought so
we motored off in light drizzle
across a dead flat sea. The
drizzle was gone by 9am and the
sun came out to cheer our
passage to the north eastern
coast of Koh Kut, an island to
the south east of Koh Chang, and
another delightful bay where we
stopped and swam and explored as
before. We were now back in Thai
waters and moved to a deep water
bay to moor against a rickety
landing stage by a restaurant of
sorts in a fishing village.
Dinner consisted of some of the
freshest crabs and prawns,
deliciously cooked Thai style
with chilli and other spices,
that we had ever tasted. We
anchored in this deep bay
undaunted by the previous
night’s events and had a
thankfully peaceful night waking
to warm sunshine on the last day
of our adventure.
It was not so far from Thida’s
base and so we had time to stop
for snorkelling and swimming at
Koh Rang a popular day trip for
these activities before briefly
visiting beautiful Koh Wai. We
arrived back at Salat Phet and
had lots of time to reflect on
our voyage during the 6 hour
road and ferry journey back to
Bangkok. Memories of this trip
will always linger – shimmering,
silver, azure and aquamarine
seas, powdery, white beaches,
crystal clear waters and
friendly Cambodians not to
mention something that went
"bump" in the night!
Visit my website for access to
photographs of the trip.
Author
Kevin Hellon has a website
offering accounts of other
interesting places to visit at
http://kevinhellon.googlepages.com/home
Indochinese countries promote
overland travel tours.
In 1989, following the end of the
Cold War and civil wars in Indochina, then Thai Prime Minister
Chatichai Choonhavan advocated transforming Indochina ''from a
battlefield into a marketplace.''
The slogan, once dismissed as a mere pipe
dream, has gradually become a reality as governments in the region work
to improve infrastructure and facilitate the movement of goods and
people.
Earlier this year, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam jointly organized a
33-vehicle caravan to tour those three countries by land -- the
highlight of the journey being a visit to Cambodia's famed temples of
Angkor, a World
Heritage Site.
It took about four hours to traverse the 150-kilometer stretch of
torturous road between the Cambodian town of Poipet, on the Thai border,
and Cambodia's travel major tourist hub of Siem Reap, also in the northwest of
the country.
As the dry season had begun in the region, farmers could be seen
harvesting rice from golden paddy fields. Children carried farming tools
to go work in the fields while others fished in ponds.
Most of the shabby houses along the dusty road were covered by reddish
dirt and built on cement stilts, presumably to keep them dry during
floods.
The western part of Cambodia was formerly under control of the
now-defunct Khmer Rouge, held responsible for the deaths of more than
1.7 million Cambodians during their harsh rule in the late 1970s. It was
only in the last decade that guerrillas gave up their arms and the area
was opened up to outsiders.
According to Cambodian Tourism Minister Lay Prohas, construction work on
the road from Poipet is scheduled to be completed within two years.
''Although it's a dirt road, you can do 60-80 kilometers an hour. It's
quite comfortable,'' he claimed. ''But soon, within one to two years,
traveling between Thailand and Cambodia from Poipet to Siem Reap will
take only two hours.''
Cambodia has secured a soft loan from Thailand to improve the road at a
cost of some 1.7 billion baht (about $42.5 million). ''We're politically
committed to this project,'' Lay Prohas said.
The Cambodian government plans to build more roads for Cambodia travel
tours linking Siem Reap to
towns on or near the border with Thailand, including between Siem Reap
and O'Smach, and between Siem Reap and Anlong Veng, he said.
Siem Reap is a fast-growing Cambodia travel town that welcomed about 500,000 tourists in
2004, a year when Cambodia as a whole received 1 million tourists. The
tourism minister estimated 35 percent growth last year and projected
that by the year 2010, Cambodia will have 4 million tourists, about half
of them traveling to Siem Reap.
"On their Cambodia travel statistics, 50 percent of tourists choose Siem Reap. Therefore,
the government is actively improving our infrastructure,'' he said.
Sompong Sanguanbun, Thailand's consul general in southern Vietnam's
economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City, said the Mekong region has huge
potential for economic growth and Indochinese countries are keen to
accelerate free-market reforms.
''In the next five years, we expect to see more intraregional land
transportation and travel within this region,'' Sompong said.
As part of the Indochina's so-called East-West Corridor, tour operators
have recently begun overland tours from Thailand's northeastern Mukdahan
Province to Savannakhet in southern Laos and across to the central
Vietnamese coastal town of Hue.
To travel from Thai border town of Aranyaprathet into Cambodia,
travelers have to switch to Cambodian buses on the other side of border
in Poipet as the two countries have not resolved traffic impediments.
Thailand uses the left-side-of-the-road driving rule while vehicles in
Cambodia and Vietnam drive on the right side.
''It's not convenient for passengers and we hope to be able to check
through in the near future,'' said Ho Vandy, president of the Cambodian
Association of Travel Agents.
Currently, 45-seat air-conditioned coaches operate two roundtrips daily
between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City. It costs
$10 for a one-way ticket. The service is set to be expanded to Siem
Reap.
To facilitate smooth traveling in the region, authorities admit they
need to improve not only transport routes but also visa and immigration
procedures by harmonizing border formalities for travelers and vehicles.
Sompong said Mekong Basin countries participating in the Greater Mekong
Subregion scheme, or GMS, are drafting a regional agreement on
harmonizing international driving licenses and license plates. The six
GMS members are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, along
with China's Yunnan Province,
''I hope that through the GMS and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian
Nations) collaboration, we'll be able to solve all the problems,'' he
said. ''If we successfully tackle the problems, it'll be easier for the
people to make use of the (Poipet to Siem Reap) road.''
ASEAN leaders agreed in 2003 to grant visa exemptions for ASEAN citizens
but until now that vision has not been materialized. Cambodia, for
example, has not agreed to give up its visa requirement for Thai and
Vietnamese visitors.
Under a basic bilateral agreement between Thailand and Vietnam expected
to be signed in the near future, Vietnamese cars will be allowed to
enter the northeastern part of Thailand through Route 9 of the East-West
Corridor, which passes through the Lao Bao border gate between Vietnam
and Laos, through Savannakhet and then to Mukdahan.
Likewise, Vietnam will allow right-hand-drive cars from Thailand to
enter the central part of Vietnam, according to Sompong.
The Thai consul also pointed out, however, that Vietnam still has no
agencies to issue international driving licenses.
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Some tour operators in the region have expressed concern that overland
tourism in the region might attract merely backpackers, but authorities
say that among backpackers are those who have potential to revisit the
region when they become wealthier. But a tourism expert who requested anonymity said it will be an uphill
task for countries in the region to promote the overland tourism among
Mekong countries.
''It is the policy of government. It is a political-driven project
rather than a market-driven policy. It is not truly realistic, but the
state tourism agencies have to carry on their promotion campaign
efforts,'' the expert said.
COPYRIGHT Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT Gale Group
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