#Cambodia - Day TripPER on Ten Bucks

It is a Friday night and you are feeling blue, stressed out after five days of work. A day trip over your long-awaited weekend would effectually bring you back to life. Yet, you have busted your budget this month and think you can’t afford the journey. So, you remain indoors all weekend listening to the off-key neighbour doing karaoke. Fact is, a good trip in and around Phnom Penh doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. Taing Rinith sets his compass for a one-day trip. The price, he attests, is only 10 dollars.

Packing the night before

This $10-budget plan for a person is based on one assumption: that you have a vehicle with a tank optimistically half-full to avoid spending during your journey. Therefore, you should more cash on you in addition to the banknote bearing the portrait of Alexander Hamilton.

It is wise to prepare for your trip before setting off in the morning. Carrying too much weight can cause discomfort. Items recommended are: fill a small backpack with one change of outfit, a hand towel, a swimsuit, a bottle of water and a raincoat, and maybe your favourite book or e-reader. You should also bring a picnic blanket or a small mat with you. Sleep early because you will need a lot of energy tomorrow.

7:00am-9:00am

An artistic Breakfast

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 Begin your day by visiting the Royal University of Fine Arts, just across from the National Museum. The oldest university in Cambodia and the heart of the Art Street, RUFA can also be described as a museum without an entrance fee. In its peaceful and quiet compound, you can admire the artworks crafted by its outstanding graduates. Even during the weekends, you are able to see the industrious students working on their sculptures and paintings and listening to their nice music. Yet, don’t do that until you have slurped down a $1.5 bowl of Kuy Teav (Chinese noodle) with beef and meatball in the university canteen, which is filling and a famed delicacy in the locale. Don’t forget to order a bento of takeout rice with fried chicken and egg, also $1.5, for your lunch.

9:00am-10:30am

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Next, you have to head to Koh Dach, a natural isle on the Mekong River. To reach it from Phnom Penh, drive to Chroy Chongvar peninsular and then board a ferry at the pier about 5km from the Chroy Chongvar bridge. The ride, costing only 1,000 riels, itself is quite enjoyable with a simple but fetching view of the mighty river, especially from the top of the ferry. It takes only about 10 minutes. On the island, you will also find driving along the concrete road, lined with tropical trees and flowers, plantations and country houses, another pleasant experience.

10:30am-3:00pm

Lunch bites at the Love Plantation

Your next destination is Chomkar Sneh (translates as Love Plantation), a resort popular among cyclists. Entrance fee is only $0.50 for local and $1 for foreigner. Although it is designed to attract lovey-dovey singles, others too will find the visit worthwhile. Apart from lovely trees and flowers, there is a mini zoo, a swimming pool, sculptures and more. At noon, you can have your bento lunch in one of the huts built high from the ground, modelled after ethnic housing in the northern region of the country.

3:00am-5:00pm

Life is a Beach

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Yes, you heard right. A beach just outside of Phnom Penh. From Chomkar Sneh and after a rest, head back to the pier and then go south. After about 30 minutes, you will reach Koh Dach Beach Resort. The white sand of the natural beach on the tip of the island, just off the big parking lot near the entrance, is utterly beautiful, even superior to some crowded and spoiled beaches within the country’s coastal region. There are small huts on the beach or on stilts in the water. They are usually free on non-holiday weekdays. But on weekends or holidays, you are likely to pay $5 a hut. However, you do not need to pay anything apart from the $1 entrance fee. Instead, stay on your mat or picnic blanket under a big tree and enjoy a dip in the Mekong.

5:00pm-7:00pm

Fare thee well on a river cruise

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If you strictly follow our plan, you should still have around $5 in your one-day budget, which should be enough for a cruise along the riverfront. Boats will leave from along the bank of the Tonle Sap, cruise out, across the Tonle Sap, past the southern tip of Chruoy Changvar and traverse the waters of the Mekong River. From there, the vessels cruise along the far bank of the Mekong before circling around and slowly return to Phnom Penh. The sail takes around an hour and-a-half, and if you squint into that little red rubber ball on the horizon, you can just about see all your troubles riding off into the sunset.

Source - Khmer Post

#Cambodia - Government creates ‘great tourism zones’

Tourists visit the Wat Phnom historic site in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

A sub-decree issued Thursday coined ‘great tourism zones’, a term for areas where a wide range of tourism-related services is available.

In last week’s sub-decree, the government describes the zones as areas that have accommodation, food and beverage services, entertainment complexes, sports facilities, gardens, parks, health care centres, and other tourism-related facilities.

Great tourism zones must cover at least 100 hectares, according to the sub-decree.

Investors that wish to create great tourism zones in any part of the country must first submit an application to the Tourism Development Committee of the Ministry of Tourism, who will study and evaluate the project and submit a report to the government, the sub-decree said.

Top Sopheak, spokesman at the Ministry of Tourism, told Khmer Times that the concept of great tourism zones is modelled after special economic zones, areas that bring together facilities needed to streamline manufacturing activity.

“In Khmer, the word ‘great’ (piseth) has a similar meaning to the term ‘special’. That’s why the government chose this word,” Mr Sopheak said.

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“Great tourism zones are hubs that offer all tourism-related services. It is based on the same idea that special economic zones, which focus on manufacturing,” he said.

Mr Sopheak said great tourism zones cannot be established in existing tourism sites but only in new locations that show great tourism potential.

Source - Khmer Times

A new carrier takes off in capital Phnom Penh

Cambodia Airways, the latest passenger airline to enter the Kingdom, launched its first domestic flight on Tuesday.

Flight KR801, carrying 145 passengers, left the Phnom Penh International Airport at 9:50am and landed in Siem Reap at 10:35am in an Airbus A319.

Cambodia Airways marketing and branding manager Sok Ravy said domestic routes connecting Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville will operate daily, while the Siem Reap-Macau, Phnom Penh-Macau and Sihanoukville-Macau routes will operate four times a week.

The first international flight is scheduled for takeoff on July 21.

Ravy said the company plans to add a Siem Reap-Taiwan route at the end of the month.

Acknowledging that there has been a spike in competition in the airline sector, she said there was still plenty of room to grow in the Kingdom, as the tourism industry was also booming.

“We believe the tourism industry will keep steady growth, which will drive demand for good quality airline services. We have quality aircraft, professional captains, well-trained cabin crews and standard services."

“So we believe our company will operate successfully,” Ravy said.

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A fleet of two

Cambodia Airways, which is fully owned by the Prince International Airlines Company, is registered in Phnom Penh and received initial approval to operate in August last year. It secured an air operator’s certificate (AOC) on July 6.

With an initial investment of $200 million, the new airline currently operates two Airbus A319 aircraft, with another three A320 aircraft to be commissioned at the end of the year.

Ravy said the company will grow its fleet to 20 aircraft by 2020. The airline expects to operate scheduled flights to Japan, South Korea, Asean countries, as well as routes to Europe and elsewhere in Asia.

The new airline will tighten competition in Cambodia’s increasingly crowded airspace, where 44 commercial airlines operate scheduled flights.

With Cambodian Airways now operating, it puts more pressure on local carriers as the number of domestically registered airlines stand at six.

Cambodia Airports general manager Chloe Lapeyre said the Kingdom is a very attractive market for the sector at the moment because it still hasn’t realised its full tourism potential. Cambodia Airports operates all the airports in the Kingdom.

Lapeyre said the capital’s airport can accommodate between 70 and 90 flights daily – an increase of about 30 percent per year.

“A lot of new international routes have been opening since the beginning of the year. The trend is for faster growth on the international side. That said, there is still space for domestic development too,” she said.

Lunar New Year shines across Asia - The Year of the Dog

From Beijing to Jakarta, dragon dance and dog lanterns ring in the colorful spring festival.         

Folk artists perform a lion dance ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring festival, at Taierzhuang Ancient Town scenic area in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China.

People visit lantern decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai, China.

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People walk past lantern decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai, China, 

Men perform a dragon dance ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

A man prepares lanterns and decorations for sale at a market ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

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