The much awaited trip of the year just happened. I am now sitting on a bus on the way back to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to catch our flight back to Manila. I am travelling with friends, Pin, Ina and Jun (the usual roadtrip group). We’re tired, can’t wait to be back in Manila and I can’t wait to see my little kid again. From November 20-25, we travelled from Vietnam to Phnom Penh for a night then to Siem Reap for 3 nights. It’s the only vacation we got and seeing the beauty of the famous Angkor Wat is worth to visit even just for a day than not see it all.
Straight from our day job, Pin and I went straight to Terminal 3. We waited for Ina and Jun to arrived, after swapping stories, we boarded our flight on time and we slept all the way to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam to start off our trip.
We arrived in Tan Son Nhat airport at 1:30am, the airport was basically empty. The bus terminal won’t be open until 5:30, we found ourselves sleeping just right outside the airport. It was hard, we were sleepy, hungry, and we don’t have any choice but try to catch some rest before we head off to Cambodia. By 4am, we head off to the bus terminal, which was about 30 minutes from the airport. The taxi driver charged us $16 dollars for the ride, we were 4 so it was okay I guess. 
We got to Sapaco tour bus terminal and inquired for tickets. From Vietnam to Phnom Penh, the bus ticket is $12 each, this comes with free one bottled water and a bread (either you get a croissant or other pastries). Pin and I were together while Jun and Ina took the seat in front of us. We settled on our seats and by 6:30 am off we went for our 6 hour journey. 
It was almost 12noon when we reached PP. With the help of one overseas Filipino guy, we were safely turned to an English speaking Cambodian tuktuk driver. I told him our hotel name (Royal Inn) and showed him our address and with full understanding he said “okay, yes!” For the ride, our fellow Filipino whose name escapes me while doing this blog helped us to negotiate with price of the tuktuk ride. It wasn’t much, he told us $5, we’re okay with it.
We were too happy to get inside Royal Inn and find that Standard rooms all booked so we were upgraded to superior room! Wuhoo!!! And one of the best part…they have wi-fi access. We were charged $16 per person/night with breakfast, Royal Inn was clean, the hotel staff speaks English well, the bed was nice, and the room was great and spacious. 
We agreed to meet after an hour downstairs. Pin and I hurried off to our room and took a decent shower…put some clean clothes after more than 24 hours of wearing the same clothes
We went out to look for our first decent meal.Just few steps from Royal Inn, there was a Korean Restaurant. After we order our food, they started filling our table with different types of kimchi, we were not sure if it was free or if we touch it, we buy it. But the kimchi was too delicious to be ignored…our food came and it was great! I loooove that Korean meal we had, it was superb! And one meal cost only $6, the kimchi was free, and after meal they served watermelon and cinnamon tea, isn't that cool?! And they were free, they only charged us $24 for every thing and we left $1 for tip cause we were blown away with how cheap it was. 
On the way back to hotel, our tuktuk driver was waiting for us in front of our Inn. He took us to the Genocide Museum, it was one of the most interesting part of our travel, being able to walk around inside the walls of the notorious S-21 prison. A former school was transformed into a gruesome prison cell for thousands of Cambodian people who at that time were under the Khmer Rouge regime. It was devastating, sad and scary at the same time. There were pictures of all the victims that were tortured and killed, from children, adult, men, women, they were all killed by the orders of Pol Pot. I remember myself just standing on this particular board, I was just there, staring at the faces of those children who died in there, I took a moment and prayed for them. For a mom, it was heartbreaking. I once read Angelina Jolie’s book (Notes from my Travel) she talked about her experienced inside Genocide Museum. According to her, she couldn’t breathe, she needed to get out of the place as soon as possible as she was feeling sick just seeing the faces of the victims, and she had nightmares for days. 
It was the same feeling for me…or for the rest of us. We didn’t even bother to check the other floors, one room can already give you a chill on your spine. 
After the prison tour, we cancelled our tour to the killing fields. I think we had enough devastation. We asked our driver/guide to take us to Russian Market…to change the mood we thought shopping!
We got some nice but very cheap Cambodian silk scarves and some knick knacks to bring home. We then head off to the bus terminal to buy our bus tickets for the next day and after that…some relaxing coffee by the river…well, we went overboard to do a night out with break fast theme, cappuccino complete with basket of bread and jam. Cappuccino or Americano coffee cost about a dollar to 2.
Phnom Penh is a beauty to explore, unfortunately I only had a night to even think, breathe and flirt with it.
Back to Royal Inn before 9pm, we decided to rest for a while and meet again for a late snack, but everyone just ended up sleeping for the night.
Royal Inn info: http://www.royal-inn.net/accommodation.php
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