The following TripReport snippet is taken from 2003/12 Merlin - Spending the Holidays In Cambodia

NON P4P FUN:

Ganga or pot is readily available and you will smell the stuff all over Martini bars and in your hotel. The hotels don’t care, but the neighbors complain. Be careful as I "heard" this stuff is more potent than what you may be used to.

SHOOTING RANGE, there are 3 shooting ranges operated by the Army near the airport area. The girls love to go there and I found them to be better shooters than guys – girls are better at squeezing the trigger instead of letting it rip. Easily the best selection of hardware that I’ve come across in my travels, including all types of Ak-47s, Uzi’s, anti-aircraft guns, grenade launchers, M-60 machine guns, .50 cal machine guns etc. It’s very expensive to go shooting b/c the amo is so expensive $30 for 30 Ak-47 bullets, $200 for a grenade launcher, etc. I “heard” you can purchase a chicken for $15 to practice on…one big, red rooster at this shooting range actually costs $25. When I asked why, the trainer said that they call him “Ho Chi Minh” because of his prowess in evading European tourists’ feeble assassination attempts on its life. Also, be careful with the “trainers” as I had one experience where the nitwit was trying to un-jam a tommy gun, and then the gun went off on the ceiling about 3 foot from where I was standing.

Go-Cart. By the airport, there is a cool go-cart area where you pay $7 for 10 laps around a very fun track. It’s a good place to take the girls as they absolutely love this place.

Pool Halls. There are a bunch of pool halls all over the City.

SHOPPING CENTER: Sorya Shopping Center (5 minutes) from Hawaii Hotel is a new, 5 story shopping mall with a great food court and a bunch of shops. It’s air conditioned and a very good place to people watch.

There are no Buger Kings, KFCs or McD’s, thank god. But the local food is incredibly good and cheap ($1.00 average). It’s a lot more expensive at the River Front Area.

RIVER FRONT AREA: The River front area has a lot of very touristy hotels, cafés and restaurants. McDijj stayed at the California Café/Guest House, which is very nice but they only had about 12 rooms there. The river front area is about 15 min. walking to the Central Market Area, it’s less congested and a lot more comfortable for Westerners. A lot of high speed internet cafés here also.

Driver: I can't say enough good things about my driver, Ben Wee, who selflessly refused commissions. showed me around to the places worth visiting, and steadfastly came out with me until the late hours of the mornings. The guy is a class act and a very safe driver (more conservative them me). His knowledge base itself is worth the money of $20/day.

MotoDop: there is also a motodop guy named Theary who was good at finding the good places. Theary tried a couple of times to get commission, but he was protective and affable.

Correction: There are KFCs here. One is just north of California 2.

Some great street art from Cambodia.