Phnom Penh May/June 2017

[rexton]

Hi all, Arrived here yesterday with a tummy bug so haven't been to any of the bars yet. Was wondering where any of you found the better place to exchange

[Moses]

Exchange what? Money? Everywhere they accept US dollars.

[rexton]

Hi, It seems like only a little part of what I wrote was published....I did give a lot more detail....but not sure why it cannot be seen...I was exchanging € to $ and I quoted a few places and wondered if based on people's experience if there was a particular bank or exchange facility that was consistenty good?

[Moses]

It is bad idea to exchange euros to dollars in Cambodia, better do it in your country

[rexton]

Thanks...can you give me any idea why most of my original posting was not published? Thanks.

[Surfcrest]

We'd only see the finished product, after you pressed the "post" button. We do not and have not edited posts, considering what we've regularly allowed over the years. I can only suggest you try to post whatever you were originally trying to post again.

Surfcrest

[christianpfc]

Timely post. I will in PP soon and face the same problem: my home currency EUR, and I don't want to exchange EUR to THB to USD in Thailand, but rather do it in Cambodia to lose only once. I remember last time in PP (Aug 2016) near the bus station, only the third exchange booth I asked took my EUR! Small booth not connected to a bank or chain, but I needed the money now to pay for the bus ticket.

For one week in Cambodia I will need about 300 EUR, and nowadays ATMs charge 5 USD (and I don't know how unfavorable my bank's or visa exchange rate is), so I rather exchange cash. For Thailand, I scrupulously calculated that exchanging cash has the least losses EUR to THB.
http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2016/07/money-exchange.html

As for the lost post, occasionally I have internet problems and when I press "post/send", my text disappears, or there is an error message, but fortunately somehow comes back when I post again (auto saved by forum software). To be safe, highlight and copy before sending or write longer posts in a text processing program.

[pong]

my home currency EUR, and I don't want to exchange EUR to THB to USD in Thailand, but rather do it in Cambodia to lose only once..

Aber mein lieber-dann solltest du doch mal zur Superrich (eine der 3, wovon der orange 3 L

[goji]

I have always taken a few minutes to check the currency situation before visiting any given country. The effective hourly rate for doing this is very high.
So I always turn up to Cambodia with USD, since it is effectively their currency.
Or have an idea of where the competitive exchange rate booths are before arriving in many other cities (Bangkok, Singapore etc).

Here is one suggestion, which I cannot verify. http://www.khmer440.com/chat_forum/viewtopic.php?t=30992
A few more minutes on google is probably time well spent.

If you do not see anywhere obvious, then check the mid market rate on XE. If the money changers want to take more than about 1% off you, then just change enough for a day & keep your eyes open as you walk around, in case somewhere better pops up.

[rexton]

I see that another post of mine seems to have gone missing. I was using quick reply. Going to keep this as brief as possible.
The best value I got for € to $ exchange rate was Acleda Bank near Independence monument (very low spread from official rate). The 2nd best was ANZ Royal which had in excess of a 3 cent spread from official rate.Western Unions seem to have a 5 cent + spread. Based on the ANZ Royal I would have got a similar deal in my home bank.
Posting now to see if it goes through.

[Moses]

rexton, I can't reproduce missing of posts... what do you use for posting: comp, tablet, phone? what OS is installed there and what browser?

[Surfcrest]

I just had similar problems with a post. I cut and pasted it from a Word document I had worked on beforehand. When I pressed post, most of it vanished and this happened a few times until I cut and pasted the whole post paragraph by paragraph. Even the preview showed the post as being fine, until I pressed post. I had to piece it back together through Edit. Not sure what it is.

Surfcrest

[rexton]

At least I have confirmation that I'm not the only one this is happening to. I mostly/ currently using an android tablet.

[Moses]

At least I have confirmation that I'm not the only one this is happening to. I mostly/ currently using an android tablet.


Ok, I see where issue is possible. Please wait till I will finish update of our software (ETA Sunday), your problem should be eliminated at time of upgrade.

[goji]

If I put a british pound sigh in the post, everything after the pound sign disappears.
Since this thread includes some exchange rate discussion, I suppose this might be a part of it.

Here:

[christianpfc]

I walked along st 51 Pasteur south to north and checked several banks and independent money exchangers, best rate I found was at Somnea and Or Sovann (both diagonally across st 136, between st 51 and 53 near south-east corner of central market) at 1.121 USD for 1 EUR, at the same time xe 1.12635 (Tue 6jun2017 around 9 am).

[rexton]

A synopsis of my PP visit. I stayed in the King Grand Hotel. This is a nice hotel with friendly staff and mostly boys as waiters. I found them engaging and 2 of them plus a friend came for drinks with me to a riverfront bar. One subsequently came with me to a gay bar the night before my departure -his first time in a gay bar - he is straight but interesting and sociable. Many of the waiters are college students doing a shift of 8 hours either before or after college. Based on what one of them told me, they get $5 a day and are paid monthly. I can totally understand when they say that it is tough going trying to survive on that and the stress of trying to fit in college work. They do appreciate a tip.
The hotel itself is clean with a good breakfast. There are 2 pools. The sky bar pool is quite small but I preferred it to the one downstairs. The room I had was not very big (as well as the other rooms I saw when doors were open for cleaning). There was no place to put a suitcase except the floor nor were there shelves for clothing. There were 2 hangers for trousers etc in closet. The room is fine for a short stay. The shower was the best of the 3 hotels I stayed in on my trip. There was no issue when I had a visitor to my room. (I always book a double room). There was a fabulous very moderately priced Indian restaurant opposite the hotel and there were always tuk tuks available usually looking for $3 or more for a trip but sometimes excepting 2 for a short trip.
I was mainly in two bars: Blue Chilli and Space Bar. I found both to be friendly and entertaining. I looked into Popp Bar, but the smoke immediately hit me and I didnt go in although two boys came out to entice me. I heard too late of the newest bar, Toolbox on 174 St. owned by a Canadian, Doug, whom I had met many years ago on another trip and I heard that the bar is well worth a visit.Just sorry that I heard of it too late.
I concur with other contributors with regard to visiting The Killing Fields and the Genocide museum.

[rexton]

Just one other thing that comes to mind for anyone buying a data/sim card. Based on my experience, avoid buying the QB one. It rarely ever worked for the 6 days I was in Phnom Penh. Based on my memory there are four mobile operator kiosks to the right of the exit door in the arrivals section. Someone did say to me that the 4th one from the exit is the best one (right of QB kiosk) but because the queue was long, I decided to take a chance on QB and what a disappointment so avoid if you want to get a good connection. I cannot recall what if any name was over the 4th kiosk.
Anyone with experience of a good network operator for data sim card?

[fedssocr]

This new place called Toolbox bar sounds interesting
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209527652172142&set=p.10209527652172142&type=3&theater

[frequent]

This new place called Toolbox bar sounds interestingWith a name like that how could it be otherwise for the many whoremongers amongst us
Anyone with experience of a good network operator for data sim card?Yes although I now can't remember the name. I used to pop over and visit a447 at River Queen Guesthouse when we travelled to Siem Reap (https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showthread.php?16803-My-SE-Asian-sojourn-(Siem-Reap)) a couple of years ago; the nearest phone shop to the guesthouse sold a very popular and reliable data SIM. However all I remember about (I think) was that its logo was yellow and blue. This web site (http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Cambodia) seems the most up to date

[frequent]

Checking my happy snaps - a beaming a447, must have got lucky for once - I can see the brand is called "Smart" and it's yellow and red rather than yellow and blue