Project: Cambodia-Vietnam Trip for Three for Only P30,000 per Person! [Part 2]

We rode the Virak-Buntham Express sleeper bus from Siem Reap at 8PM. It was a six-hour overnight ride that cost us about P495 per person. We actually got the back-most seats, so the trip was a little bumpy and we weren’t really able to sleep well.

We arrived in Phnom Penh at 2AM. Sunday Guesthouse was actually near the bus terminal, so we just walked to the hostel. It is run by a family, so the owners themselves lived in the same building. We checked into our 3-Bed Private Ensuite Room, which cost us only about P1,500 per person for the two nights. The room was surprisingly wide and comfortable enough for three. And because of that we slept for a bit more to re-energize for the day ahead.

We woke up at 7AM, washed up and had breakfast at the restaurant below the guesthouse. Breakfast was not free, so we paid about P90 for omelette and baguette.

I had arranged for a tour of the city with the receptionist that morning. So a tuktuk arrived to fetch us to take us around. We paid about P100 per person for the transportation.

Our first stop was the Cheoung Ek Killing Fields. Entrance was US$3 per person.

The Cheoung Ek Killing Fields was one of the many grave sites where millions of Cambodians were executed and buried during the Khmer Rouge regime. It looked like a harmless park, with shady trees, grassy lands and a stone pillar near the entrance. But upon closer inspection, the shady trees, the grassy lands and the stone pillar took a different light. The shady trees were actually tools of torture – the spiky branches of the palm trees were used to beat and lacerate the necks of the victims; the famous Killing Tree is where the executioners used to smash babies’ heads to kill them. The grassy lands had numerous shallow pits that used to be the holes where the naked victims, dead or alive, were thrown into. And the pillar is a monument that housed the bones and remnants of the victims, standing as a reminder to the world and the generations after of the gruesome tragedy that had befallen Cambodia.  

The tour of the Killing Fields was designed to be a reflection, with each visitor handed an audio guide, instead of an actual tour guide talking. Each person could go through the tour in his own time, playing and pausing the audio guide as he goes through each stop. I found this very much preferable as I had time to sob on my own in the quiet corners of the site. Listening to the survivors’ stories spilling from the audio guide, I couldn’t help but imagine the horrors that they experienced. Most of the people died of torture, but some died because of sickness, loneliness and hopelessness.

The most depressing part of the tour is probably the Killing Tree. Faced with the reality that babies and children were also killed during the Khmer Rouge regime, I could not fathom what kind of humans could do such horrendous things.


“To dig up the grass, one must kill up to the roots.” This was one of the slogans of the Khmer Rouge, the ultimate rationale for killing even children and babies, so that they would not take up revenge on the killers. 

After the Killing Fields tour, we headed to the Tuol Sleng Prison which used to be a high school that was turned into the interrogation quarters where the victims were held and tortured before they were thrown to the fields. It is now called a genocide museum, as it exhibited the preserved rooms and devices of torment, the actual photos and records of the victims and detailed accounts of the genocide. Each prisoner was photographed and interviewed, forced to confess made-up treasonous activities. Their pictures lined up the walls of the museum, and you could see their shell-shocked faces, probably shocked at being suddenly arrested and not knowing what will happen to them. There was no mercy in the interrogators and executioners as they upheld the tenets of the Khmer Rouge: “To keep you is no gain; to lose you is no loss. Better to kill an innocent man than to let escape a guilty one.” I could not comprehend how little or close to non-existent the value of life was during that time.

We weren’t prepared at all for our trip to Phnom Penh. A stark contrast to the cultural adventure that was Siem Reap, Phnom Penh provided a historical flashback and the most emotionally-depressing tour we've ever had. After those two sites, we decided to uplift our spirits a bit and had lunch at the Apros Bar near the Russian Market.

We toured the rest of the city via the tuktuk ride, passing the Independence Monument and the Vietnamese monument.

We toured the Royal Palace, which had an admission fee of KHR 25,000 per person.

We also visited the Wat Phnom temple that had a cover charge of US$1 per person.

We headed back to the guesthouse after our city tour to rest. At 7PM, we took a tuktuk to the Sovanna Phum Art Association to watch a Drum and Dance show. The show ticket was US$5. The instruments and performances were actually very similar to the tribal music and dance rituals of the Philippines, so we felt right at home.

After our filling cultural experience, we decided to fill our stomachs this time through dinner and drinks at Bar Italia. We shared a whole pizza. Then got free limoncello to cleanse our palate after our meal. This cost us about P120 per person.

The next day we traveled to Mekong Island or Koh Dach via cruise boat from Sisowath Quay. We paid US$1 each for the tuktuk and US$0.12 for the ferry.

Mekong Island is known for its silk-weaving craft. So we stopped by one residence to try it out ourselves. I've always been interested in fashion, including the fabric and production of it, so I definitely enjoyed this experience! I even bought fabric to take home and turn into a dress.

We toured the rest of the island, checking out Ampor Phal, Kra Pumpich, Sa Maki Kbal Koh pagodas and the Koh Dach shore. We just paid a meager US$0.50 for the tourism fee.

The tuktuk took us back to the guesthouse and we had a quick lunch at Tattoo Guesthouse, a few blocks away. I just had to try the local beer, which was their own craft beer.

We checked out of the guesthouse and walked to the bus station. We bought tickets for a 1:45PM departure at Phnom Penh-Sorya Transport for US$12 per person. This was another six-hour ride to Ho Chi Minh, which included crossing the border between Cambodia and Vietnam and having our passports stamped.