For Cambodia, Visa on arrival is about as easy as it gets. You arrive with a U.S. passport have your photo taken pay $20 and you are in. Oh, fingerprints are electronically scanned.
A cab into town starts at seven dollars in the airport. That is what the sign said. By the time I exited the airport and flagged a cab it was now $9 dollars. You gotta love capitalism. Here it has a few rules in small type you will want to be aware of. I pay the cabby, make sure I throw in a couple of extra dollars and bid him fair well.
My night time tour is first to dinner for a little food poisoning which I found out later and off for a tour of the real nightlife in Cambodia. You have heard it all, but you really have to see it to understand what its like.
A Tuk Tuk here will try to charge you 3 or 4 dollars. But $2 is all you really need. There will be plenty of takers for that $2 even at 3 a.m.
Sushi is cheap. Pho is do it yourself from a conveyor belt assortment of chicken skin, liver and a lot of other stuff I passed on. I sat next someone who could have been right off the set of a Mad Max movie. Actually truth be told a nice guy. But I would not test the observation.
Local beer is a buck with the local entertainment running you about $50 if that is what you need. Yes, don't forget to pay the extra $50 or so to the house.
Looking through Trip Advisor I found the White Mansion Hotel which is the former U.S. consulate and a gem of a building with huge rooms and a very decent all day breakfast for about $100. Price wise you can do a lot cheaper. However, the place is clean and comfortable with a Tuk Tuk always just outside.
The local tourist shops seem to be owned by retired Aussies. There are quilts, jewelery and organic restaurants with many of them set up as shelters or places for women to escape some of the harsh realities that is often life in Asia. These are worthy causes and worth a visit.
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