Cambodia is wrongly portrayed in the media

I just finished my short 3-day, 2-night trip to Cambodia, and it was a truly humbling experience. There's just something in this world that cannot be explained with words.

Prolog

I was in Japan last month. Having a public holiday on Saturday or Monday is a very precious thing for me. It means I can escape and do something over the weekends. I saw that the plane ticket to Cambodia was relatively low compared to other places from Hong Kong. So, I set my sights on it. Impulsively, without further thinking, I booked a round-trip ticket to Phnom Penh from Hong Kong.

Several times, my flights were cancelled by Cambodian Airways (technically rescheduled by one day). I got free refunds, but nonetheless, had to book another flight which cost me more than buying plane tickets from other airlines in the first place. Lesson learned: just go with Cathay or Air Cambodia, dealing with flight cancellation is not worth your time.

Why Cambodia?

• Angkor Wat
• Cheap (But apparently, after hardships, it cost me MORE than if I were to fly to Japan)
• idk bro, for the meme? like "I went to Cambodia", and it will just add another topic to talk to girls. (haha yea yea)

I was about to book the hotels for my stay in Phnom Penh when I started checking how to go to Angkor Wat. God sake, it was apparently in another city. I was about to screw myself when I saw like oh shit, I might need to take another round trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap—the city where Angkor Wat is located.

The brightside? I got to ride an ATR, a small plane~

The Saturday: May 23rd, 2026

I woke up very early at around 5 AM. It was a very good morning, sky? clear, mood? good, hotel? trivago. I was thinking of taking the bus when I saw that it was leaving in 5 minutes. LMAO. Grave mistake, I rushed to pack my charging toothbrush, and got out of the room.

Plot twist: I went back to pee in my room. I put my phone on my bed, and peed. And got out of the room. But my phone was still inside, along with my room key, which I had put at the back of my phone. Cinema!

Two phones are important in a moment like this, so I used my other phone to call the receptionist. I had their two numbers. No pickup... I kept calling them several times. I went to the floor where they were. But there was no one there. I could hear my call ringing from the other side of the room. But there was no one in the staff room. I'm doomed, I thought.

So I stayed outside for about 90 minutes. I didn't panic whatsoever. I knew that I would just rebook my plane if my room wasn't going to open until 7.30 and call it a day .... (My flight is at 8.35) Luckily, at 7 AM, I just noticed that they had a third number that I could call.. Someone picked up! Oh lord, I'm saved. "I guess I'm going to Cambodia anyway...", I thought. Without further thinking, I ordered an uber directly and headed straight to the Airport.

There was no rush in the car. I knew I was going to make it because Hong Kong Airport is efficient. When I arrived, the gate was not open just yet. I still got to pee and everything.

Udah sampai, full senyum... (Translate: Arrived, full grin)

Flying to Phnom Penh was a very chill flight, not much turbulence, good Dimsum breakfast, and I played Angry Birds while flying. It was only a short 150-minute flight. By the time I fell asleep after playing, the plane was already in landing mode. "Is my kidney gone?"-- was my first thought.

Landed around 10:30 AM in Phnom Penh. The immigration process was surprisingly fast and efficient. And the airport? It was super elegant.

I got to drink starbucks there. I ordered the Kampot Pistachio Drink. One thing that shocked me, everything had a USD price! I grabbed some Cambodian Riel from the bank, and decided to go to the S21 Museum directly. I needed to store my backpack in a free locker there.

I bought the entrance ticket and put on the history of Cambodia video from my air buds while walking through the rooms there.

It has a very dark history.

The weather was really hot back there. But there were so many foreigners, UK, Singapore, Japan, US, you mention. Everyone was there. It wasn't any different from Bangkok, Jakarta, or Hanoi.

From the museum, it was already 12.20. I went to get lunch nearby, to the Boeng Keng Kang restaurant. I tried their Fish Amok and glass noodle.

So far, facts that I could conclude:

• Riel is basically used alongside usd(?) every place uses USD here??? 1 usd been always 4000~4100 riel everywhere
• 30 to 40% of the places have chinese banners
• I saw sooooooo many us, uk, japan, singapore, china tourists here
• "Ar-kun" is thank you
• Tuk-tuk is famous here as well(?)
• English is widely spoken (wow)
• Immigration officer is really friendly (i joked with them) -- I forget what the joke was, but they were really funny

I finished the food at around 13, and went to an Aeon mall, which is located about halfway from the city to the Airport. Aeon Mall there was so unreal.. There was a staff with the mic literally calling out everyone crossing in front of her. He called me a handsome boy and I couldn't help myself but to get something to buy.

I walked around there until about 14.20 and left for the airport using a tuk-tuk (not really a good decision because it was hot, full of pollution, and slow). I should've taken a taxi....

I went around the Airport, the departure hall was really empty, there was no queues. We boarded the airplane by foot lol. The plane was so short. It was truly an experience. If you load Maps before flying and turn it on during the flight, the GPS will be there for the entire flight! Even better, I could see a rainbow from up there!

I didn't do my research beforehand and had to pay around 250 HKD for the taxi to get to the city—which was 1 hour away from the airport. I chatted a lot with the taxi driver. Talking about food, stereotypes, conflicts, USD, foreign investment, social life. These are the best topics you can learn from the locals. It's not an interview, but you get to hear it from their mouth directly.

I stayed at the Uncle Sam Villa in Phnom Penh. There was a warung beside the hotel where I stayed.

The receptionist's name was Kim Pueng. I swear to god, everyone around me was so funny. I don't understand whether it's me who is so silly, or they make me silly. There was a really funny moment where I asked what her favorite food was and she said: everything.

Broo.... that's literally the worst answer ever to an open question. Imagine if I asked you what your gender is and you answered "Everything". How tf am I supposed to know what to say next after that.

Conversation with her:

me 😈: what is your favorite food
😭: cha kreng
😈: wtf?? type it for me
😭: i cannot you dont have khmer keyboard
😈: write the name i will type it in my maps
she wrote then showed it to me

My Reaction:

I went to the pub street there, walked around in the night market, and got myself Beef Lok Lak and Cha Kreung. I didn't know what it was, but when it arrived, voila, it's frog.

Well thankfully I can eat anything. I also got myself a sweet potato dessert there. Walking around at the riverside market, I bought the baby duck egg.

I almost got the rolled ice cream but because of the long queue, I retreated my intention to buy. I walked around there, greeted the people. I saw some interesting thing—it was the grilled dried fish.

I met some locals there who could speak English, lmao. He was so funny. He told me to try "Plad". I don't know what "Plad" is. Someone said, perhaps it's "Blood", but I was uncertain.

Before going back, I went inside Hard Rock Cafe (just seeing what they got, my father loves Hard Rock, but I'm not a fan).

I went to a supermarket after, getting coconut drink, also a bottle of avocado juice.

On the way back, I got some Chocolat Kampot Pepper gelato.

I asked the girl, "Can I get some of those peppers?", they replied "Really? I'll give you half, but you need to finish them.", I happily agreed, little did I know it was raw...

Looking back, I ate so much that night... I slept at around 12 AM..

City of Temples: May 24th, 2026

Woke up super duper early today to see Angkor Wat, 4 AM, but somewhat not sleepy.

The tour guide, Mr. August asked me to confess whether I'm gay.

I checked out of my hotel and left my bag in the lobby. I packed my jacket and wore my soft lens there. Everything suddenly became crystal clear!

The tour came with a breakfast. We visited a local restaurant near Angkor Wat at around 8.30, and I ordered the beef glass noodle.

After that, we visited the traditional dessert place. I got myself some grilled fish paste with pork, palm fruit jelly (kolang-kaling), and the bus driver gave us the palm tree cake. All three of them were really delicious.

We visited some temples around there too, the Bayon Temple and the Indiana Jones one. It was too sunny and hot. Most of my tourmates were fun. One is from Singapore; she works in social media. Some couples were from the US, India, and Russia.

Fast forward after the tour, the driver dropped me at a fine dining restaurant for lunch. I ordered the pounded chicken with red ants and grilled stuffed frog...

It was really good. A psychological trick is to smile every time at everyone. Somehow you will get treated better. Lmao.

After the lunch, I went back to my hotel to pick up my bags. I was deciding between the shopping mall and the national museum, but I went to the national museum instead. It didn't truly match my interests, but it was beautiful inside.

You can see many statues and historical explanations about Buddhism and the development of the kingdom back then. I took a car to a supermarket nearby my bus stop to the airport. I bought the coconut water drink and waited there. The rest of the day was not really interesting. I didn't eat anything more nor visit any places. I was tired and decided to just rest in the hotel.

Market Market: May 25th, 2026

It's so hot here in Phnom Penh. I didn't plan anything today. Museums in general are out of my interests, shopping malls are boring, the weather is hot, and the hotel is trivago. I went to the Ou Ruessei market at 7.30 AM, ate some fried dumplings and meat rolls, and had a very very delicious bowl of porridge.

Also got some snails, minced pork, and whole coconut for snacks. I went back to the hotel, showered and just chilled until 11.30...

I went to visit the central market there, had a pineapple and ginger smoothie. By the time I paid, I saw them using tap water to wash the cutted pineapple and some suspicious sourced-water for the smoothie. "I am so done"... I thought. I saw two monks walking around. It seemed like people actually donate to them, and in exchange they will receive some kind of a blessing from the monk.

For lunch, I went to Malis Restaurant, and had this pork pumpkin stew and shrimp in a traditional sauce. Went back to my hotel after, and directly headed to the airport.

I bought a cup of coffee at the airport. When I was about to pay, I saw that I had so much cash in my wallet so I just dropped everything to her and let her count.

I killed my time by talking to the pilot idling a bit of a distance from the boarding gate. It was a really nice chat. He graduated from a flying school in Canada and is now flying with Air cambodia! He's really smart, very good personality, he sounded like someone who's very charismatic and good at public speaking. Me tho:

🧑‍✈️: ok i think i need to board now
🥝: Cool! have a nice.... talk
🧑‍✈️: ? oh yea it was nice talking to you