[mpksuhas]

Day 8: 06-July-2019 : Around Phuket Ctd

Big Buddha statue

Location

This is a statue of Buddha on top of a big hill. You can drive up to the top of the hill.

There are many quadbike centers on way to the hill. We saw them conducting ride events enroute.




Toyota Yaris in a different avatar






Dress code



Timing





Next to Big Buddha statue is this statue






There were lots of monkeys around












View from top of the hill

[mpksuhas]

Day 8: 06-July-2019 : Around Phuket Ctd

Rawai Beach

Location

From Big Buddha, we asked our cab driver to drop us at Rawai beach. We just wanted to visit this place since it was the southernmost part of Phuket.

Cabs hourly package was getting over and we let go off the cab, once we were dropped at Rawai.

Our cab heading off after dropping us, notice the wheels of the cab and the car following it. Saw lots of cars which has chunky tyres and upsized alloys.









Restaurant at beachfront




After roaming around here for a while, we take the bus using pass we purchased yesterday and head to Kata beach.

Here we head to Kataturk Turkish restaurant for late lunch.


Location



I came to know of this place based on online reviews, however do note that there are two restaurants next to each other. Hence I am not sure which one is better rated than other.

In any case, the place we went to was good and food and service great.






Turkish tea to finish the meal




A blast from the past




Shuttle bus arrives, we take it to Patong





Suzukis seemed to be popular among commercial operators




We head to beachfront for watching sunset.

[mpksuhas]

Day 9: 07-July-2019 : Phuket to Bangalore

We checkout from our hotel and head to shuttle bus pickup point, bus takes around 45 mins to reach airport.

We are early for our flight, however we need to claim refund of VAT paid during our shopping at Thailand, so we head to for that.


Claiming VAT refund at Phuket airport


It was mentioned that the counter is near check-in counters, however it seems to be shifted inside.



PP10 form was filled by the shopkeeper, along with the required fields. They had stapled that along with the bill and mentioned the amount we were supposed to receive back.



As per guideline, you are supposed to show the customs department purchased goods in case they ask. Hence we had kept all the purchases in our check in bags. However, they didn't ask the same and hand over the amount without any fuss.

Refund counter






Filled forms and bill




Similarly, many shops give an option to bill the purchase amount in INR. This helps in avoiding bank conversion charges.

That is the reason above bill is displayed in INR.

[mpksuhas]

Day 9: 07-July-2019 : Phuket to Bangalore Ctd


Indigo airlines

Flight was on time and took off before time as with case of many Indigo airlines flight. I have noticed it may times that Indigo mentions flight duration longer than actual, hence they are always on time.


Good-bye to Phuket




Indianized version of safety booklet





Even after pre-booking flight meals, one is served with ready to eat meals. That too for biryani.





And a menu card in USD doesn't help either.




Its not just car seats, aircraft seats too have become thinner




Flight route





We cross over Chennai beach




And land at Bangalore international airport. Notice the second terminal under construction.

[mpksuhas]

What locals drive in Cambodia?


Cambodia is a big market for second hand left hand drive Toyotas imported. Mostly the imports are from US. Talking with locals, I understand that a pre-owned SUVs seen here are mostly available for approximately INR 3~ 5 lakh.

Hence you find lots of Lexus on road here










Number plates have the province name and are available in two different size based on the vehicle.Should add that the quality looks much better than those provided in India after HSRP rule came in place past 01 April 2019.







Fuel rates are less compared to India, as in case with many other places. However, considering rates of other items in Cambodia, I feel the rates are high.




There are lots of two wheelers used and Honda seems to be the favorite brand.

One interesting thing noticed is that, even when riding triple everyone one wears helmet.




Also, saw more Alturas / Ssangyong Rexton in Cambodia than in India, which is not a big feat though.





Road conditions are good throughout the places we travelled and road manners are leagues ahead of those in India.

However, with many two wheelers on road, westerners may feel bit overwhelmed. That could be the reason of many negative reviews you will find online about traffic in Cambodia.






Auto Rickshaws are immensely popular in Phnom Penh.








TVS & Bajaj rules

[mpksuhas]

What locals drive in Cambodia? Ctd

Non Japanese brands are also seen, though less in numbers.






Police vehicles







However, the most popular vehicle around here is Tuk tuk.

Its a bike mated on a two wheeled seat carrier.








You can find them all around Cambodia, ferrying cargo of all sizes to tourists.










Our Tuktuk driver, Solky. Would recommend him for anyone visiting Siem Reap. You can contact him through details mentioned here

[mpksuhas]

Grab taxi service

Grab taxi is the local equivalent of Uber / Ola in Thailand & Cambodia.

You can rent taxi, auto or tuktuk using the app for both point to point and time based format.







Taxi and tuktuk are displayed in different icons







And per hour rates





Payment can be done via card too. However, when I tried with both Visa & MasterCard, I got notification that the cards are not supported even though a test transaction of Rs 1 was debited from my account through Google payment.

I am not sure what the reason for the same is, however since it was not resolved, I went ahead and paid using cash.

Do note that once you install the app for the first time, you will receive an OTP as SMS which is required for authentication. Hence, if you are not having a Thai/ Cambodian SIM and if your home country SIM is not activated with international SIM, it will not be possible to access the service.

Easier way to avoid this issue is by installing and activating the application before your travel.

[mpksuhas]

Epilogue

• USD is accepted currency in Cambodia. You can withdraw USD and Riel from any ATM using your debit card. We noticed few currency exchangers accepting INR too.
• Safety concern around Cambodia is not unwarranted for. However, the same is related to mostly bag snatching incidents at Phnom Penh. Take care of your belongings as you would in any city and you should be fine.
• Tap water is not potable in Cambodia and hence be careful with drinking water and also with any juice you have from outside.
• Do not opt for any international roaming packs if there is no dependency on getting call / SMS to your number. It is cheaper to get a tourist SIM on landing at Cambodia.
• Not all USD notes are accepted in Cambodia, details in pic below.
• Carry mosquito repellants when visiting killing fields and temples.
• Cambodia is mostly cash economy, not many restaurants accept cards.

[SDP]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Suhas! This one has a LOT of useful information. Definitely going to read this in detail and take notes.

[peterjim13]

Great one Suhas - In-fact by reading in depth it helps people like me (who take truckloads of questions) answer a lot of questions before travelling, and sure would save this for future reference if any.

I wish all the travelogues had this details over - but what I appreciate is your first-hand research to help others in planning future trips. Cheers

[mallumowgli]

Awesome as usual. Quite exhaustive too

Would have been a depressing experience at the Killing Fields museum

[naveenroy]

Hey great travelogue Suhas. I loved Cambodia - I travelled directly from Bangalore to Phnom Penh and back. I took a bus to Siem Reap - nice journey too.

I loved the Cambodian people - so very nice and respectful and always helpful. The food was awesome too.

Good you visited Angkor Wat for the sunrise. Banteay Srei - probably the temple I loved the most.

[alphadog]

That was a very crisp and detailed travelogue with all information a person would need to travel to what seems to be a great country to visit.

In these historical places two things never fail to amaze me - one, ancient India's soft power influence in south-east Asia and two, how they managed to build such beautiful and grand structures without so called modern industrial equipments and motorised tools.

I will mark this travelogue and keep this as a reference, for the near future, when planning a trip to Cambodia.

Thanks a lot for sharing it with us.

Cheerio!

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by peterjim13

Great one Suhas - In-fact by reading in depth it helps people like me (who take truckloads of questions) answer a lot of questions before travelling,

I try to get maximum information about any place I am visiting / planning on visiting. So it becomes easier to mention the same soon after visiting, it acts as a reference for me if someone contacts me details of the places I visited later.

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Would have been a depressing experience at the Killing Fields museum

Depressing yes, but at the same time it's interesting to note how much Cambodians have moved ahead after a big dark phase in such a short time.

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Hey great travelogue Suhas. I loved Cambodia - I travelled directly from Bangalore to Phnom Penh and back. I took a bus to Siem Reap - nice journey too.

Yes, the bus trip would have been interesting. I too wanted to try that and had checked out few options including smaller buses which tourists can pool together and hire. However, I dropped the idea since I may end up losing more time. However, road would have given you a much better understanding of life outside bigger towns.

Originally Posted by alphadog

ancient India's soft power influence in south-east Asia

Yes, agree. Though the India (or the geographical landmass of current day) at that time was different and no single country existed as such. The impact on culture of south east Asia from area under current day India is huge.

[Anduril]

Awesome travelogue Suhas, thanks for sharing. You have given a treasure trove of information with meticulous detailing. Have bookmarked it already.
We are planning a trip to Cambodia whenever we get leaves and as usual like any of my other trips, research started with a search on T-bhp After reading your travelogue, looks like it won't prudent to take our daughter this time since there appears to be lot walking involved to visit all the places (specially Siem Reap) and she is too young (3.5 years). So planning to modify our trip to a backpacking one with just me and wifey.