John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:46 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:19 am
Learn how to speak TUK TUK on the first day. "Turn left" + "Turn right" + "Straight On" + "Stop" will be the most valuable language you will learn. You may know where you are going but just because you jumped in and said "Harry's Bar - Sisowath Quay" and he drove off, do not assume he knows where you are going, he's probably taking an educated guess.

Guide to speaking to drivers.

Hello: Low/ Sok Sabai/ Suas'day
Turn left : Bot Shweng
Turn right: Bot S'dam
Go straight: Dow (muk) trawng
Come back: Mao weng
Stop: Chop
Stop here: Chop tea knee
Stop there: Chop tea noo
Riverside: Mot tonle

If you are giving a destination to a driver vocally note that they don't necessarily know street numbers. They often go by the nearest market or pagoda. Some streets they will know, main ones like Monivong/ Norodom/ Pasteur (51).
As mentioned you are better off getting a Passapp / Grab app and then you can pin your destination on a map or just type in the destination. Sometimes they are useless and a driver will accept your ride but then not move for ages, go off the wrong direction or wait for you in the wrong location (Grab is particularly bad for this but otherwise fine).

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:10 am

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:46 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:19 am
Learn how to speak TUK TUK on the first day. "Turn left" + "Turn right" + "Straight On" + "Stop" will be the most valuable language you will learn. You may know where you are going but just because you jumped in and said "Harry's Bar - Sisowath Quay" and he drove off, do not assume he knows where you are going, he's probably taking an educated guess.

Guide to speaking to drivers.

Hello: Low/ Sok Sabai/ Suas'day
Turn left : Bot Shweng
Turn right: Bot S'dam
Go straight: Dow (muk) trawng
Come back: Mao weng
Stop: Chop
Stop here: Chop tea knee
Stop there: Chop tea noo
Riverside: Mot tonle

If you are giving a destination to a driver vocally note that they don't necessarily know street numbers. They often go by the nearest market or pagoda. Some streets they will know, main ones like Monivong/ Norodom/ Pasteur (51).
As mentioned you are better off getting a Passapp / Grab app and then you can pin your destination on a map or just type in the destination. Sometimes they are useless and a driver will accept your ride but then not move for ages, go off the wrong direction or wait for you in the wrong location (Grab is particularly bad for this but otherwise fine).

@Apparition Once you've learned these words, numbers are next. You're going to need to know the following numbers: 136, 130, 118 and 104.

AndyKK wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:22 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:10 am

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:46 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:19 am
Learn how to speak TUK TUK on the first day. "Turn left" + "Turn right" + "Straight On" + "Stop" will be the most valuable language you will learn. You may know where you are going but just because you jumped in and said "Harry's Bar - Sisowath Quay" and he drove off, do not assume he knows where you are going, he's probably taking an educated guess.

Guide to speaking to drivers.

Hello: Low/ Sok Sabai/ Suas'day
Turn left : Bot Shweng
Turn right: Bot S'dam
Go straight: Dow (muk) trawng
Come back: Mao weng
Stop: Chop
Stop here: Chop tea knee
Stop there: Chop tea noo
Riverside: Mot tonle

If you are giving a destination to a driver vocally note that they don't necessarily know street numbers. They often go by the nearest market or pagoda. Some streets they will know, main ones like Monivong/ Norodom/ Pasteur (51).
As mentioned you are better off getting a Passapp / Grab app and then you can pin your destination on a map or just type in the destination. Sometimes they are useless and a driver will accept your ride but then not move for ages, go off the wrong direction or wait for you in the wrong location (Grab is particularly bad for this but otherwise fine).

@Apparition Once you've learned these words, numbers are next. You're going to need to know the following numbers: 136, 130, 118 and 104.

Do you really need to get a Tuk-Tuk from those streets to the next, or are you just helping out with the economy? Although I suppose you can see much of the street life from a comfortable seat.

Username Taken wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:25 am I thought the most important Khmer language to learn was 'moy tiet'.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:19 am If you live in any city in the UK, you're safety and risk awareness will be well tuned already. If you get so drunk you can hardly walk and are on the streets at 2am, your risks rise greatly. You can be like that at 2pm and you'll be fine. Almost all the trouble happens late at night.

Traffic will be a huge culture shock. When you walk here you will be walking on the street, not the pavement. The pavements are full of parked cars/bikes or pop-up commercial enterprises or the contents of the shop that gets pulled out during opening hours (I am talking about Riverside, but it is true for most urban locations). The pavement is not for your walking convenience, it is valuable commercial space and highly prized. What sporadic pieces of pavement you do walk on will be broken, full of holes and tripping hazards and is akin to an obstacle course - watch where you are going.

Traffic comes from all directions, especially at crossroad junctions, and this can be truly alarming when you try to cross the road at those junctions. Until you get the hang of it (or get mowed down) it is a good practice to walk 20 yards along the road so the traffic generally just comes from just two directions, and then cross the road. If you are downwind of a few beers, it is dark and you are going 3 or 4 blocks to another bar, get a tuk. It will be safer and it keeps the street economy going.

Learn how to speak TUK TUK on the first day. "Turn left" + "Turn right" + "Straight On" + "Stop" will be the most valuable language you will learn. You may know where you are going but just because you jumped in and said "Harry's Bar - Sisowath Quay" and he drove off, do not assume he knows where you are going, he's probably taking an educated guess. He will just drive, and drive, and drive until you tell him otherwise. It is therefore very important to know where you are going yourself and can steer the tuk tuk with your newly learned language skills.

Use Riel. $'s are a pain and if they are damaged, torn or are too worn, they will get refused. $100 bills are the target of the switcheroo racket, particularly in cheapo massage shops. There are numerous threads here about banks paying out fake $100 bills from the ATM and in all cases the money was switched by a local. If you draw out Riel from an ATM you will get lots of lovely 50,000 notes which are $12.50 (£9.25) The are brown and beige, so think of them as 'Tenners'.

Change one of these notes for 10 x 5000 riel notes; these are tuk tuk vouchers. If you are travelling up to 5 blocks don't engage in haggling or price negotiating, he won't really know where you are going and his starting price will be $3. Just stick a 5000 riel note in his hand at the end of your journey and walk away. The fare on Grab or PassApp for such a journey is less than $1 and he will only get 75c of that, so 5000 riel ($1.25) is plenty. Download Grab and PassApp and use it for any journey over 5 or 6 blocks, it will be cheaper than any deal you try and strike. It will be embarrassingly cheap actually.

Have fun...

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:46 am

Doc67 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 9:19 am
Learn how to speak TUK TUK on the first day. "Turn left" + "Turn right" + "Straight On" + "Stop" will be the most valuable language you will learn. You may know where you are going but just because you jumped in and said "Harry's Bar - Sisowath Quay" and he drove off, do not assume he knows where you are going, he's probably taking an educated guess.

Guide to speaking to drivers.

Hello: Low/ Sok Sabai/ Suas'day
Turn left : Bot Shweng
Turn right: Bot S'dam
Go straight: Dow (muk) trawng
Come back: Mao weng
Stop: Chop
Stop here: Chop tea knee
Stop there: Chop tea noo
Riverside: Mot tonle

If you are giving a destination to a driver vocally note that they don't necessarily know street numbers. They often go by the nearest market or pagoda. Some streets they will know, main ones like Monivong/ Norodom/ Pasteur (51).
As mentioned you are better off getting a Passapp / Grab app and then you can pin your destination on a map or just type in the destination. Sometimes they are useless and a driver will accept your ride but then not move for ages, go off the wrong direction or wait for you in the wrong location (Grab is particularly bad for this but otherwise fine).