Cambodia. My fourth Southeast Asian country after Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. I spent over three weeks in Cambodia which was enough time to fall for its people and culture. Here’s the itinerary of my trip to Cambodia! The good news is, you don’t really need three weeks to see everything I did – my itinerary also included a lot of rest, both voluntary and involuntary…

Watch my guide to Cambodia on Youtube! Turn on English subtitles 😉

SIEM REAP

After crossing the border from Laos to Cambodia (which is an adventure by itself!), I headed straight to Siem Reap. If you should only visit one place in Cambodia, this is the one. Mainly because it’s the home of Angkor Wat.

My trip didn’t start off great – I brought food poisoning from Laos and was unable to leave my hostel for a few days (yes, that’s also part of travelling). So even though I stayed in Siem Reap for about 10 days, I wasn’t exactly active the whole time.

When I was finally feeling better, I got the 3-day Angkor pass and explored all the ancient temples in the area. There’s a lot more than just Angkor Wat so if you’re clueless about where to go and what to see, my post here will make everything clearer (I’ve also shared some tips for avoiding crowds 😉 ).

The good thing about having the 3-day pass is that you don’t have to visit Angkor temples three days in a row but you can space it all out over one week. I didn’t want to feel “templed out” so I alternated going to Angkor and walking around the Siem Reap town.

If you ask me, it’s worth spending some time in Siem Reap beyond seeing the temples. Don’t miss the organic Sister Srey Cafe which has awesome healthy food and is very eco-friendly! And BioLab is honestly the best place if you need a day or two to just plan your travels or get some work done.

SIHANOUKVILLE

One night bus later and I found myself in the south of the country, in Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is where you take the boat to the Cambodian islands from. And well, that’s really the only reason you should go to Sihanoukville…

I stayed for one night before going to Koh Rong Sanloem and was very happy to leave. Sihanoukville may look nice in pictures but it’s actually a damp, dirty and full of rubbish. And it’s flooded with Chinese tourists (so much that all the restaurants by the beach have menus in Chinese!).

KOH RONG SANLOEM

Cambodia has two main tourist islands: Koh Rong and Koh Rong Sanloem. I picked the smaller out of the two, Koh Rong Sanloem, and I’m pretty sure I discovered paradise!

It was end of July and rainy season so probably not the best time to be on an island where you only have beaches and jungles to explore… It rained almost every day but not all day so there was still plenty of time to lie on the beach (or even better, in a hammock in the water) and chill. I met a lot of fun people and just had the best time on Koh Rong Sanloem! I even saw the bioluminescent plankton for the first time in my life.

Maybe it was due to the low season but the island was very peaceful with just the right amount of people. And it was just so so beautiful, especially when the sun came out.

Koh Rong Sanloem really isn’t very big and the activities here are limited. I stayed in Saracen Bay where most of the accommodations are. From Saracen Bay you can walk through the jungle to the other side of the island and get to either Lazy Beach (very easy walk) or Sunset Beach (slightly more challenging, bring good shoes!). Both Lazy Beach and Sunset Beach are beautiful and quiet but the sea is much rougher on this side and the big waves are not so ideal for swimming.

During my 9 months on the road I didn’t spend a lot of time on the beach but the six days on Koh Rong Sanloem were definitely needed, especially after all the temple hopping in Siem Reap.

PHNOM PENH

Last stop – the capital city! (I know it’s a strange-looking name so here’s how you can pronounce it.)

Phnom Penh may not be as interesting as Siem Reap but you should definitely stop here for one simple reason: to educate yourself about the dark Cambodian history. I’m talking about the Cambodian genocide happening under Pol Pot in years 1975-1979. These horrific events are not so well known, which is why I urge you to pluck up the courage to visit The Killing Fields and the S21 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum while you are in Phnom Penh. Read this post to find out how my view of Cambodia changed after seeing these two places.

Phnom Penh is also home to the Royal Palace …which I didn’t visit, just like I didn’t go inside the Grand Palace in Bangkok. I’m absolutely not saying it’s not worth it (please visit these places if you want to) but when I was travelling long-term, at some point I realised I don’t have to chase all the tourist spots and see everything to have a great experience.

One thing to be aware of in Phnom Penh! Unfortunately, the city is notorious for theft on motorbikes. You might be standing by the side of the road with your phone in hand or even sitting “safely” in a tuk tuk – then before you know it, a motorbike driver appears next to you, snatches your belongings from you… aaand he’s gone. This didn’t happen to me personally, I was actually quite paranoid after reading stories of it happening and almost didn’t take my phone out of my backpack when walking the streets of Phnom Penh, but it could happen and it does happen so I advise you to be extremely vigilant of your surroundings here.

And that’s it, this was my trip to Cambodia! If you want to go a little off the beaten path, I hear Kampot or Battambang are interesting places to visit (and I probably would have gone there if it wasn’t for my food poisoning).

My next stop: Singapore and Malaysia!

Read all the parts of my travel diary here.

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