New piece from New York Times travel section about Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia you can find here: In Phnom Penh, Hopefulness Replaces Despair

Tourists came to this part of the world usually visits Cambodia more famous tourist attraction Angkor Wat on the northern part of the country near the city of Siem Reap.

But apparently, Phnom Penh is now becomes a discovery for most of people, especially the young ones.

In fact, after a few days in this city, you notice that Phnom Penh has something of a “next Prague” vibe about it — a place where many young people from around the world, heady with excitement and the thrill of the unknown, are coming to reinvent themselves.

More about Phnom Penh and its history you can find it here:

•  Phnom Penh, Wikipedia
• Camboda, ThornTree, Lonely Planet Forum

Links from the article:

Where to stay:

• Raffles Hotel Le Royal,  www.phnompenh.raffles.com
• The Pavilion, www.pavilion-cambodia.com

Where to eat:

• Friends, www.streetfriends.org
• Boddhi Tree Umma, www.boddhitree.com
• Foreign Correspondents’ Club

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Videos are the next big thing on Internet, specially with the spread of broadband connection and the recent buy out of YouTube by Google for $1.65 billion on October 9, 2006.

YouTube are full with popular tv series, short funny clips, music videos and generally whatever people put and uploaded there, but one area that can be greatly benefit from video is travel.

People always want to see first the places they are going to go, the destinations that they plan to visit and the hotels they are going to stay.

Enter Travelistic, dubbed itself as “Videos for Travelers”, Travelistic is basically YouTube but for Travel Videos only.

There you can upload your videos, gives comment, rating etc.

You can embedd the videos to your blog or your website ala YouTube.

Other than user uploads travel videos they are also hosts professional content and tourist board videos.

So the next time you travel somewhere, create a video of the place (the new digital camera now all came with video recording function), upload it to Travelistic and put it on your blog so you don’t have to carry the bandwidth.

Here are direct links to some travel videos about Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China
Here are two embedded videos:

Bus & Taxi in Bangkok, Thailand

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For majority of people, Asia is just a big foreign continent. The Oriental, the Far East, but what exactly to go if you want to visit “Asia”?

Check out this list of 12 Destinations in Asia that make the continent what it is.

1. Guangzhou, China. To the British it was Canton. The city is over 2200 year old. It is littered with temples and pagodas - and with old markets and new shopping malls. If Shanghai is the Whore of the East, this is where she bought her dress.

2. Goa, India. On this former Portuguese colony, 75 miles of its coast line, over 50 miles of it, is beach.

3. Suzhou, China. Perhaps the most beautiful place in China. Suzhou. The city could remind a Westerner of Venice. Canals and street are interlaced.

4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has become famous in recent years for its seven star hotel, perfect beaches, and relaxed atmosphere.

5. Beijing. Possibly the most visited city in Asia. Places to see in Beijing:

• The Confucius Temple
• The Summer Palaces
• Tiananmen Square
• The Ming Tombs
• The Western Qing Tombs
• The Great Wall

6. Xi’an, China. Six thousand year of history. And perhaps most famous for the Terracotta Warriors discovered there in 1974.

7. Henan Province, China. The cradle of Chinese civilization. The attractions in Henan are numerous. Among them:

• The Shaolin Temple
• Dengfeng and the Songshan Mountains
• The Longmen Grottoes
• Kaifeng: Memorial Temple of Lord Bao, the Iron Pagoda (Tie Ta) and Xiangguo Temple.
• Luoyang: Guanlin Temple, Ancient Tombs, and the White Horse Temple.

8. Tibet. The roof of Asia. Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, is a fascinating city of history and culture.

9. Bangkok, Thailand. Its reputation for fast living combine with traditional values and easy atmosphere has made it an exciting place to visit. The world comes here to wheel and deal, to shop and relax.

10. Angkor, Cambodia. The great temple-city complex of Cambodia is bigger in reality, the complex alone covers some 500 acres of land and is rich enough to spend much more than a single day at without actually wasting your time.

11. Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. Famous for slim young girls walking elegantly down the avenues in the white ao dai suits unique to Vietnam - pants with a knee length shirt that has a slit up to the belt line. Despite all the things to do, it is the people, the hospitality, and the street scenes that make this city an essential Asian experience.

12. Bali, Indonesia. The island is Asia in a capsule in many ways: Idyllic beaches and lofty mountains together in one package. Bali is a Hindu culture left over from the days before Indonesia because the world’s most populous Islamic country.

For more destinations and travel guide of Asia, check out this page from Wikitravel Asia.

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New York Times has a very interesting story about luxury tourism in Cambodia.

It seems that 5 stars hotels and world class restaurants are beating each other to exist in Cambodia.

From the article:

… now more than 100 hotels serve tourists of all budgets. The Grand has been joined by a Sofitel, Le Meridien and the Sokha Angkor. On the boutique side, Angkor Village must now contend with la Paix, La Résidence d’Angkor, the FCC Angkor, the Shinta Mani and an Aman resort, the Amansara. By the end of this month, the One Hotel plans to open its doors - or, rather, its door: There’s just one room, a duplex with flat-screen TV, iBook, Wi-Fi and a whirlpool…

Most of Cambodia tourism industry are centered around at Siem Reap, the famous Angkor Wat’s city visited by 690,987 visitors last year, up from 451,046 in 2004.

Complete NYTimes story here: Why Is Everybody Going to Cambodia?

Hotels mentioned on the article:

• Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, start at at US$360
• Hôtel de la Paix, start at at US$195
• The Amansara, the suites starting at $650

More information about Cambodia:

• Lonely Planet Cambodia Guide
• Cambodia Ministry of Tourism official site

cambodia, siem reap, angkor wat

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