Tuk Tuks and Cambodia

It's been a while since the last post and I need to catch up before returning to the boat next month.

Our Tuk Tuk transport

When we leave Malaysia by boat, we will be heading to Thailand and then across the Indian Ocean.  There are plenty of places to see in S.E. Asia that we will not be going by boat so we need to consolidate some of those trips in our travels to and from the US.

Our departure plan at the end of our 90 day visas was to take the bus to Kuala Lumpur and fly to Cambodia, tour around and continue to the US.

They have the same electrician as Honduras.

A full family Tuk Tuk

We arrived in Phnom Penh without doing any in depth research.  We were surprised at the airport when we saw we needed visas.  The good thing, unlike other countries, was that we could obtain them right there at the airport immigration office.  There were signs telling how much to pay so before as we have done so many times before when entering other countries, we went to the ATM before getting in line to get local currency.  However, the only choice for the ATM currency was US dollars.  Guess what, this country uses the US dollar as their official currency.  Amazing.  Their local currency, the Riel, is only in denominations for less than a dollar.  They are essentially like our coins except in paper.  So there are no coins only paper money.

Tuk Tuk Truck

From the airport to our hotel, we hired a TukTuk. This is a kind of motorized rickshaw powered by a motorbike,.  One thing we noticed right away was that the car drivers were much less aggressive and safer than in Malaysia.  What a nice change considering that Tuk Tuk's are ubiquitous and only go 15-20 mph.  

The Mekong River

We booked a hotel a few days prior but had no idea what part of town it was in.  Turns out, we were pretty close to the center of the action.  For future reference,  about 3 blocks away, along the road facing the Mekong River is really where the action is. 

Our included hotel breakfast.  Interesting.

While getting a feel for the area, we arranged for the following day to have a full day of personal Tuk Tuk transport to be our guide around town for the outrageous price of $20.  More to follow.