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In Cambodia with love

This website, launched in 2006, is about in Cambodia with love.

If you’re looking to get or gain a whole new experience of living in Cambodia like a local, this blog is for you. This blog has been continuously updated by local insiders. You’ll get new insights as well practical tips and advice to travel and live the life like Cambodian people here. In this page, you’ll find some of the most useful travel information to help you prepare for your trip to Cambodia, my beautiful home country.

Royal Palace of Phnom Penh, Cambodia by Tharum Bun
Photo by Tharum Bun

Getting to know Cambodia

Living in Cambodia with love

First of all, you may ask why would anyone want to experience this local lifestyle. Well, it’s really easy to visit Cambodia as a tourist, or a traveler, or an expat. However, it’s a rare, unique experience to feel and breathe this lovely country and city like Phnom Penh as any local here. By being a local here, it means that you eat, sleep, and enjoy the way of living like the majority of Cambodians. Not only that you learn about culture and traditions, but you do really feel and experience them. So are you ready to start? You won’t regret for a second after all.

Cambodia is a safe destination and place to travel and live! Actually, there are problems due to extreme poverty and inequality, but people are generally super friendly and trustworthy. Most Cambodians are very kind and generous, and they’re are hospitable and helpful to tourists, travelers, backpackers, and expatriates. Kids on the street may call you foreign traveler a “Barang,” which means a French. Or “Ta Barang” to refer to an older Westerner. “Ta” means grandfather, a way of saying with respect to an elder.

Getting into or out of Cambodia by bus is the cheapest option, although there are many direct flights to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Travel across Cambodia is also getting easier. What amazes most travelers and visitors to Cambodia is high-speed Internet and free Wi-Fi everywhere, either on the bus, in a cafe, or in a budget guest house for backpackers. Mobile Internet? You can easily buy a 3G or 4G sim card. How to describe Cambodia? Believe it or not, Cambodia is about the same size to Oklahama of the United States of America. Khmer people are super friendly and gentle people. Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville all have its own unique characteristic. If you’d love to know and learn about Cambodia, visiting one of these cities is not enough.

This is a list of reasons people from all over the world fall in love with Cambodia, a charming country in Southeast Asia. Before you continue reading this, please make sure that you’ve been to Cambodia before. Or at least you’ve heard about Cambodia from you friends or family members. After reading this, it’s time for you to decide to make your first visit to Cambodia. If not, you may regret it.

Top places & destinations to visit

Top of the list is that Cambodia has Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. Not Angkor What, but the earth’s largest religious monument. The best beaches in Southeast Asia, the Lazy Beach and Koh Rong Saloem. These destinations and places must be on your itinerary when you travel to Cambodia.

Khmer people are super friendly in Asia

The most friendly people in Asia are Cambodians. Khmer people are very hospitable. Get a formal or informal invite to visit their home? You must be very fortunate because Khmer people consider you a nice person. In the urban cities like Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, or Sihanoukville, most Cambodians people are able to have a conversation with you in English.

Eat Khmer food to feel Cambodian

Khmer food doesn’t have the global brand name just yet. But it’s just a matter time that Cambodia will take its authentic Khmer food to the international arena. Have you ever heard of fish Amok? It’s very Cambodian dish popularly served at air-conditioned restaurants. Want to smell Prohok? Cambodia’s iconic salted fish paste favorable by the majority of ordinary Cambodians, Prohok is a must-taste if you really want to know what it’s like to live a Cambodian life. If you can eat Prohok for the first time, you’ll be good the next time. But if you couldn’t taste it, forget it, you’ll never ever understand why Cambodian people live and eat this their entire life.

Phnom Penh: Cambodia’s most colorful city

Phnom Penh, the largest and most vibrant capital city of Cambodia, is sandwiched by Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Yangon, and Vientiane. Basically, Phnom Penh is a safe city in Southeast Asia. Phnom Penh is not largely known as a city of burglary, theft, robbery, or vandalism. However, beware of having your handbag snatched by a motorcycle driver while you are riding in a Tuk Tuk. Don’t wear valuable jewelry and ride motorbikes. You just need to not go out at night alone at a quiet place. Keep your wallet or purse under close surveillance in crowded markets. It’s always good to avoid dark and lonely areas at night or groups of drunk youths. Phnom Penh was once regarded as Paris of the East and the Pearl of Asia. Phnom Penh is becoming one of the most beautiful cities in Southeast Asia. The infrastructure is getting better every year. It’s not very clean, but people start to realize this importance of a livable city. Unlike Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, Phnom Penh is a cheap city to live and work. There are nice, friendly people who speak English and Chinese, too.

Moving and traveling to Cambodia?

Q: What is visiting Cambodia like?
A: Cambodia’s Siem Reap is internationally known for its temples of Angkor, where you can have the breathtaking view of the sunset on the top of Phnom Bakheng. In Phnom Penh, the charming capital city, Cheoung Ek and the S-21 prison (for those who are brave enough to delve into the country’s dark past). S-21 prison is an ideal place to visit and learn about Khmer history. You might want to visit the floating villages on the Tonle Sap lake. Cambodians people are typically friendly, smiley, and polite. If you’re planning a long-term stay in Cambodia, you’d be able to figure out how to enjoy the low cost of living. You might want to visit the floating villages on the Tonle Sap lake. Cambodians people are typically friendly, smiley, and polite. If you’re planning a long-term stay in Cambodia, you’d be able to figure out how to enjoy the low cost of living.

Q: What things should you do and see when you travel to Cambodia?
One of the best things to do when visiting Cambodia is to get to know the local people, who are typically friendly and kind. Getting to know Cambodians personally allows you to learn about Cambodia in a way that you don’t find on the travel guide book. The ultimate place to visit and see is Angkor Wat and many other ancient temples in Siem Reap.

Q: When is the best time to visit Cambodia?
A: from November to March. Avoid the rainy season. April is the hottest month of the year, although Cambodians celebrate the Khmer New Year during this time of the year. In December, it’s typically dry, sunny weather, low humidity and quite cool temperatures (average temperature: 26 °C) throughout the country. Not surprisingly, December is amongst the most popular months to travel to Cambodia.

Q: What are the best islands in Cambodia?
A: Both Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem (as tipped by Lonely Planet writer Jessica Lee) are on the south coast of Cambodia. In Sihanoukville or Kampong Som alone, there are nearly 20 islands. However, these two Koh Rong and Kong Ron Sanloem have been praised by travelers for their cleanliness, beauty, and serenity. Also, the best choice and closer from Phnom Penh is Rabbit Island (Koh Tonsay).

Khmer food?
While Amok is much better known as something called authentic Khmer food, there are some more dishes you should know. I’m not just talking about Prohok. Cambodian people eat cooked crickets, ants, snakes, among other things.

Khmer music
There is no better way than getting into Cambodian culture through Khmer music, which is part of Cambodian daily life. Cambodian legendary singer Sin Samouth is Elvis Presley. In this blog post, you can find some selected YouTube music video to listen to.