[swan]

my bro and I were there for a week in Dec '05, we stayed at a newly-built Chinese-run hotel on the water for $10/night (the name of the hotel escapes me). Roads were verrry dusty, we both got throat problems within a few days from riding our scooters ($3-4 day) so we bought mouth covers that helped abit but we had to get medication from the clinic.

As for P4P, it is really different that Thailand. The gals are really laid back and it's not right in your face. You have to know where to go so talk to the local bar owners who are more than eager to tell/show you. Also, because the gals are not so jaded, the whole experience is in my opinion is way better than Thailand.

For the adventurous advanced types, try the strip out by the pier. It's a dirt road that all the fishermen frequent. Wild beyond anything I've seen in Thailand, even after over two years there. Look for the Beerlao sign at the turnoff onto the dirt road.

Really good food at the French owned and run restaurant on the strip on Victory hill - once again sorry I don't have the name but it's easy to find, just ask anyone on this short soi. He's got a nice steak that we had several nights we were there - I'm telling you after spending 3 months in Asia I was really screaming 'Where's the beef?'.... Otherwise, the food here is okay.

Beware of the taxi-mafia in Phnom Penn, we missed the last bus to Snooky, so I asked 2 other travellers if they wanted to share a mini-bus. I negotiated $30 for the 3 hour ride and the driver said okay. So the four of us got into the minibus and after going around 4 corners he stopped along a busy boulevard behind another minibus that was way overloaded with stuff on the roof and all. Both drivers and helpers started to load the minibus we were in. I got everyone to get out and took our luggage out before the driver figured out that 'hey, we want to go to Snooky now!, not after you fill up the minibus with cargo and make our drive unpleasant'. He complied and back on the road we go. We stopped for fuel halfway there and he wanted us to pay the $10. Okay. When we got to Snooky, he wanted more money than the $20 that we owed him. Things got abit heated but my experience with these situations is stay calm (yelling doesn't help) and just get your stuff and assertively leave if you can. So we got our packs out of the minibus and went into the hotel and left him there on the phone to call for his reinforcements that never showed up.

We had another slightly sour experience when we left Snooky. We took the sausage-boat up the coast to Koh Kong. When we arrived at the pier, I told my bro to stay with the luggage and I'll find us transpo. I left the melee of locals trying to nab an ATM and walked up the road ignoring everyone. The last local to follow me up the road got our business (this method has always got me an honest helper because the agressive ones are right in the front) . So we got into the backseat of his car but the front door opens. This local had been speaking to my brother sat down and he wanted a piece of the action. After abit of commotion and my yelling for him to get out of the car (which didn't help by the way, but it's easy to get caught up in the commotion) he didn't leave until his father came with another car out of the blue. We moved our packs into his car and off we went. These guys are paid a commision by the guesthouses so they are real keen to nab a tourist at the pier. When we got to the guesthouse, the owner had to tell a local who followed us there to 'F#@K off' literally. He wanted to show us around for a fee, I guess.

Overall, though, it was a superbe experience, soon to be repeated.