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Post by nomadic on Feb 25, 2018 8:26:29 GMT 7
I am currently on a visa run to Laos and decided to go there via Cambodia for a change. Two new places in the wild east I have wanted to visit for years in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri. So started off with Battambang which is the second biggest city in Cambodia. Two days i Thought but now a week as a more chilled out place would be hard to find. I call it the Pakse (Laos) of Cambodia. So anyone on UP could take a look at it maybe. Not the infrastructure of Thailand and is a bit rough and ready on face value but feels very safe. A young American girl runs Eden cafe for ten years and even has Mexican food among other good tucker. I am still staggered that all those years ago at the thought I would end up in places like Cambodia in preference to OZ. Really was science fiction stuff. But now real fact. And there is not a single person in Oz who if only had DSP and nothing else wouldn't choose the same. Only ignorance would say otherwise. Angkor beer is a good drop also and coffee at hotel cafe is far better than Nescafe. Go figure that severely disabled Australians prefer to live in Cambodia among other options.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2018 10:01:24 GMT 7
I have heard that there re some good places in Cambodia Maybe one day i might take a trip After i fully recover I have my bucket list But am too lazy to do any of them lol keep the blog going The more information the better My traveling mate
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Post by Banjo on Feb 25, 2018 16:48:32 GMT 7
I had a trip there back around 2003/04 and it was a bit wild and woolly then, I believe it's more civilised now. I only got to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and enjoyed both places but the guys I were traveling with, who had not had a lot of experience in Asia, cut short the trip it was just too different for them.
I know a couple of older people who lived there, one for quite a long time, both left when their health deteriorated, they said that even in Phnom Penh the hospitals were second rate.
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Post by nomadic on Feb 25, 2018 19:32:05 GMT 7
This afternoon i had a splurge. Caramel Latte. Best coffee i have ever had. In Cambodia. The local market is a bit grotty & third world though with ladies shooing away the flies from the fresh meat and fish in the open with plastic bag in hand. Will try and drag myself away in next day or so. But with BBC world service and CNN in the air con hotel i am am really treating myself as someone without a TV for 20 years or more. There's not really much in tourist attractions as such but it just has a great feel about it. That is until the usual crazy on a motor bike just misses you as you look right instead of left before crossing the right hand driving roads.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2018 4:32:19 GMT 7
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Post by Banjo on Feb 26, 2018 7:33:57 GMT 7
Laos and the Philippines as well.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2018 10:21:38 GMT 7
Always a bit confusing for us as we used to Left side of the road
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Post by latindancer on Feb 26, 2018 14:17:34 GMT 7
until the usual crazy on a motor bike just misses you as you look right instead of left before crossing the right hand driving roads. The time when you really need to be mindful about this is in the heat of the day, early afternoon, when your brain becomes dull. I TWICE almost got run over in Taiwan for this reason. Be careful, Nomadic....you don't want to end up in a Cambodian hospital.
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Post by nomadic on Feb 28, 2018 9:07:12 GMT 7
Even more confusing than the right hand driving is that if you come to Cambodia with US$ make sure you have new notes only. I got some in Thailand and un be known to me some of them were old ones. Not a single shop/ hotel will except them and there is no logic, at least to me why they don't. They say "you can use them in your country". No other reason offered. Point blank refusal. Luckily i have enough new ones. Today I will go to a bank today and see if they will change them into the local Riel. But everyone takes US$ and gives change in either/both US$ and Riel. If I threw them away it would be interesting to watch how fast they would swoop on these worthless bits of paper. I love it here but you must forget all about logic as we know it. And no paper or talk back radio to call up and complain about anything. No welfare system to complain about either. So where is the best place to be? Take your pick depending on your own circumstances and try and be content whatever turns up. Yes, I'm a hypocrite also as I complain about things where ever i am . But less so here.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 28, 2018 9:13:29 GMT 7
I seem to recall an ATM that paid out in USD when I was there. Never had any trouble using the ones that I brought though but some businesses would only give the change in Reals which upset my companions but I just used them for lunch money, drinks etc. I think I still have some somewhere, along with a few Lao kip and Vietnamese dong.
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Post by latindancer on Feb 28, 2018 9:47:54 GMT 7
I think that so many international scumbags have descended on Cambodia and passed counterfeit notes that the locals are now very wary. Just in the last couple of days there was an arrest of two Western women in either Cambodia or Thailand for trying to pass US notes, which they claimed they somehow got....or found....on the street in Cambodia.
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Post by nomadic on Feb 28, 2018 10:22:02 GMT 7
Not sure if this post should be under chin wag also because it comes under the banner of losing weight also. After asking the hotel who would change my old notes I went to nearest bank and the sign said exchange here. But no way on this US$20.00 note and English speaking girl could offer no reason why not. So then in the humidity I try another 3 banks not so close. All say same thing. Last one points me in direction of private money changer next door. Same thing again after they take a close look at it. Then I spot a row of private ones. Next three same same with no one knowing why. Gold shops in market also say Yes, change money. That is until i show them the note. Then at 5th money changer three people from bottom to finally the guy who looked like the boss examine it and say YES! And rate is even 2% better than everyone else. So you are most likely right Latin D. I suspect most people, even in the banks can't tell fake from real so won't take a chance. I will check bank rates for new notes as i suspect even better again though. It seems 5% more is a great money earner for the country overall if every local business gives that much less on every transaction. So in one hour i had the bonus of burning more calories in search of loot also. Bloody hot it is. But like Centrelink, never give up and success is near. Both illogical madness at best.
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Post by Banjo on Feb 28, 2018 11:36:11 GMT 7
About 20 years ago I heard this strange story in Laos about how the Iranians had acquired printing blocks or plates for the American $100 bill. They were perfect except for a very minute size difference and were known as the "big hundred". No business in the region would touch them and you had to take them to the bank to get them changed for smaller bills after careful measuring.
I suppose the distrust of USD has carried on from there.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2018 14:17:42 GMT 7
I've got ringgit,dong and baht all taking up space in my wallet. Still I'll be able to rectify that soon enough.
It's very rarely aud ever does though. We seem to have become that Cashless Society! Cheers bear
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Post by Banjo on Feb 28, 2018 14:40:27 GMT 7
It's not that fact that they are AUD, it's the fact that you are in Australia that they don't ever get to take up space in your wallet.
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