Parameswaran Seshan's Blog: Fascinating Cambodia

This time, we (I and my family) spent the Christmas/New Year holidays in Cambodia. The trip was well worth it. It is a country so full of culture. There is a heavy influence of Hinduism and Buddhism in Cambodia (the land of Khmer). The Indian epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata are inscribed and depicted in many old temples here including Angkor Wat.

There was so much of Khmer culture to soak in. We went to Phnom Penh first and Siem Reap next. Keeping Siem Reap as the base, we explored places around such as Angkor Wat, Bantey Srei, Tonle Sap. The majestic Angkor Wat is a an imposing structure. It is arguably the largest temple in the world.

Coming from India, it was easy for us to relate to the stories carved or inscribed in the temple stones and walls. In fact, we were called upon by our guide to explain some stories (from the epics and Hinduism) to the rest of the tourist group, which we gladly did to the best of our knowledge.

We found the Khmer people to be so polite, friendly, pleasing, and hospitable. We never felt, anyone we interacted with was taking us for a ride.

A few striking observations that I had:

Tuk-tuks are ubiquitous in Cambodia. A tuk-tuk is very much like the "auto rickshaw" in India. A tuk-tuk is a three-wheeler which provides seating for 4 people. It is a 2-wheeler motor vehicle made taller and expanded to accommodate 4 passengers by having one wheel in the front and two wheels in the back. It is a very inexpensive way of going around the city or towns. To travel say 2 kilometers, you would need to pay something like USD 2 to 3. They are easy to hire and available anytime.

If it is 4 wheeler (cars, SUVs etc.), then it is Toyota everywhere. More than 90% of cars and SUVs that we saw in Cambodia are Toyota. In Cambodia, they consider Toyota to be the most reliable brand for cars. We learned that Cambodians largely import used cars from USA, since that the customs and duty involved is cheaper than that for importing brand new cars. Most of these used cars are Toyota. I saw exclusive shops selling imported cars (the cars are lined up for the customer to come and pick) and I found it hard to spot one that is not a Toyota. Quite a number of them still sported the American registration plates, which I assume, will be converted to Cambodian registration once the customer buys it.

Vegetarian food (no meat, no fish, no egg) is not easy to find. We being vegetarians had a bit of problem in finding vegetarian food. We had to explain to the restaurants clearly about no fish, no meat, no fish sauce, no egg in the dish. A few Cambodian dishes (such as coconut milk mixed veg curry with steamed rice) that we tried were really tasty. A few times, we located some good Indian restaurants where it was easy to order vegetarian food.

For local cell phone connection, I bought a USD 5 SIM card from the telecom operator named "Smart", right at the Phnom Penh airport itself. That card gave me about 80 minutes of local calls within Cambodia plus international calls with about 1 GB of internet. That was sufficient to cover our 6 day trip.

Here are some pictures from Cambodia.