Tomorrow I go to Cambodia for a few weeks

[dennis123]

I travel by car, is there anything I must see besides Angkor Wat? Not that crazy about temples though. Already been sightseeing in Phnom Penh before, eg killing fields and prison turned museum and such, kind of depressing for a holiday out.

I enter at Koh Kong and then move towards Sihanoukville, perhaps further down the beach to Kampot and then to Phnom Penh to get a visa and Siem Reap and back to Poipet.

Would it be worth it to explore the east above Phnom Penh?

[inzman]

You traveling by your personal Thai vehicle? It's illegal to drive in Cambodia. The wheel needs to be on the left and they drive on the opposite side. Best to check this out before you go.

[Jip99]

You traveling by your personal Thai vehicle? It's illegal to drive in Cambodia. The wheel needs to be on the left and they drive on the opposite side. Best to check this out before you go.

Ignore this nonsensical post.

IF you are traveling in your own car there are issues put it is possible. Have a look at some of the posts from Phuket Richard on this subject. I also know 3 people who regularly drive from Thailand to Siem Reap.

Personally, I doubt that you are taking your own car as I believe the route you describe is a difficult one to accomplish.

As you clearly are not interested in culture and history you may well find Sihanoukville to your liking - as it has none of these things.

[phuketrichard]

I hvae done that route before and others;

KK- shv-Kampot-PP- SR- Poi Pet

If u don t need to see the temples go from PP to Battambang an exit at Pailin rather than Poi Pet,

also Kep is worth a drive and its only 30 so kms form Kampot, ( i am heading there next week)

NOTE in KK they will tell u ur ONLY allowed to drive in KK Province but no body checks or cares,

They also ( at least last time i entered there) take ur Thai temp export paper ( and issue u a red plastic Temp license plate) that u get from customs.

Which ur supposed to have when u re enter Thailand

I have left after entering at KK at Pailin & Poi Pet and was lucky.when they asked where my temp papers where and told them i l lost them.

Careful passing;;;;;;; DONT drive at night

[phuketrichard]

So

dennis123

did ya cross? hows the driving? i am heading up next week with car

[dennis123]

I drove a day before as you suggested to Had Lek / Koh Kong.

Had to visit 4 Thai immigration desks/windows, first window number five where a lady prepared the papers, then to customs, after that the normal desk where you show your personal departure card and after that with the papers to another 'customs' type of desk that was controlled by the army. They ask how long you go and charge 100 baht/day, if you stay longer than 30 days with car you get fined 1000 baht/day with a maximum of 10000 baht. The Thai side provided me with two temp export documents so I still have one in my possesion. I also got this red plate that I put behind my window.

On the Cambodian side I bought a business visa for $45,-, didn't argue too much as I took the fast lane so to say, also showed the export papers I think and off I went, they didn't ask for insurance or car inspection at the Cambodia side so that went pretty smooth. Sure officially it might be so that you have to arrange an insurance but no words about that nor the steering wheel on the correct side but why I care, could be that Cambodian police stops and you pay a small fine of 1-5 dollar and you're on your way, haven't been stopped yet. They didn't tell me I can only drive in Koh Kong btw.

Today I talked with a Cambodian lady in Sihanoukville and she told me I should visit Kep, she says it's a great route high through the mountains so I'll do that indeed, after I go to Phnom Penh and then Siem Reap and Poipet because I do want to see Angkor Wat, what I meant was that I don't want to see any other temples, seen plenty of them already in Thailand, gets boring quickly. In Sihanoukville I do drive at night, not far, just from the casino back to my hotel and such or when I go out for dinner or whatever. I won't drive at night to other cities due to holes in the road and such and it's bloody dark in Cambodia so I'm not comfortable with that anyway.

The road is semi-ok, I heard much better than two years ago, however still some holes so you definitely have to keep your eyes on the road, I hit one hole but luckily no damage, only very close to the KK border the road has some huge holes so go slowly there. From Koh Kong (where I stayed for 4 days) to Sihanoukville took me a little more than 3 hours. After about 2/3rd of the route you get this split where you can go to Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville and from there the road becomes very smooth, though also a bit busier, saw many huge trucks that drive at high speed towards PP and to me they appeared quite careless/reckless. I also used my mirrors a bit more often due to the steering wheel on wrong side just to be sure I don't come to close.

As for driving styles, Cambodians really can't drive, worst then Thai and many do some weird stuff like driving on the left side of the road when it's very quite, absurd annoying when you want to pass them, Ok good cause my steer is on the right side so easy to see traffic coming but does that mean I have to pass them on the right side instead of left, doesn't seem right to me, and they sure were Cambodians, or at least Cambodian license plates. In Sihanoukville it's also crazy as everyone ignores traffic lights or the lights are setup in such odd way that everyone is allowed to go at the same time, you get some very odd situations there lol. Anyhow I just drive slowly as it's pure chaos here and I'm uninsured so better safe than sorry.

[dennis123]

Almost forgot yeah, I'll tell them I lost my papers as well

[phuketrichard]

Almost forgot yeah, I'll tell them I lost my papers as well

:-)