Danang To Ho Chi Minh To Phnom Penh
Done at Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, it was time to hop to my next destination: Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Oh don't worry about that city name, it's actually very easy to pronounce!
How do they say that?
Locals pronounce Phnom as Pnom [no vowel sound between 'P' and 'nom'] dropping any "h" sound. Technique: start saying "nom" with pursed lips - the "p" will come out!
To my ears, locals pronounce Penh also without any "h" sound anywhere. And, they utter the 'e' in Pen with a very short and guttural "u" (like in burn), not "e" nor even "i".
For many children, it's even pronounced like "puyn" with just a very faint "y" sound.
Easy di ba? Hahaha! Anyway...
How to fly from Danang to Phnom Penh?
Except for a daily flight to Siem Reap, there are no direct flights from Da Nang to all of Cambodia, and it did not match my planned route and/or departure/arrival times.
Besides, there are (at most) only 3 daily flights from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh - so it becomes even more difficult trying for a same-day connection from Da Nang. Da!
But there are many ways - if you know how to find flights. Do you?
Ah, especially for international flights, what most people do not realize is that, some places are best reached by not searching at specific airlines' websites. Google lang!
Just search "Danang to Phnom Penh" instead of looking for "what are the airlines of Vietnam" and "what are the airlines of Cambodia" hoping you'll connect their flights!
On this trip, I didn't have to find what are the airliners of Vietnam and Cambodia. I just searched "Danang to Phnom Penh". Google gave me various combinations and most convenient for me was Vietnam Air to HCM then Qatar Airways to PNH. Yes, ganun!
You might wonder how did Qatar Airways get involved here, eh that is a middle eastern airline, when I was just traveling w/in Southeast Asia? That's another interesting topic!
The 5th Freedom Of The Air. But let's talk about that later! Meanwhile...
My itinerary became the yellow arrows on this map, instead of the white arrows.
I flew domestically from Da Nang (DAD) to Ho Chi Minh or Saigon (SGN) on Vietnam Airlines, then boarded an international flight to Phnom Penh (PNH) by Qatar Airways.
These were flights #5 and #6 in my opening article for this circle trip.
Of course, as you can see the blue pins on the map above, I could have been crazily creative by flying from Danang to those places first, then transfer into Phnom Penh.
But I chose this route (yellow arrows), for my own comfort and convenience!
For those who do not know yet by the way, one can of course make a land trip from Vietnam to Cambodia. It is just 6 hours from HCM to PNH. But not for me this time.
How much does it cost?
Long land trips here, are in fact more expensive than flights. FYI, my DAD-SGN flight on Vietnam Air was only USD32.8 and SGN-PNH on Qatar Airways was just USD53.
Imagine that, 2 flights, 1 domestic and 1 international, on 2 full service flag carriers (meaning NOT budget airlines), yet it cost me only about PHP4700! Mahal sa Pinas!
So let's talk about the sights and scenes on those two flights.
In my next two stories!
How do they say that?
Locals pronounce Phnom as Pnom [no vowel sound between 'P' and 'nom'] dropping any "h" sound. Technique: start saying "nom" with pursed lips - the "p" will come out!
To my ears, locals pronounce Penh also without any "h" sound anywhere. And, they utter the 'e' in Pen with a very short and guttural "u" (like in burn), not "e" nor even "i".
For many children, it's even pronounced like "puyn" with just a very faint "y" sound.
Easy di ba? Hahaha! Anyway...
How to fly from Danang to Phnom Penh?
Except for a daily flight to Siem Reap, there are no direct flights from Da Nang to all of Cambodia, and it did not match my planned route and/or departure/arrival times.
Besides, there are (at most) only 3 daily flights from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh - so it becomes even more difficult trying for a same-day connection from Da Nang. Da!
But there are many ways - if you know how to find flights. Do you?
Ah, especially for international flights, what most people do not realize is that, some places are best reached by not searching at specific airlines' websites. Google lang!
Just search "Danang to Phnom Penh" instead of looking for "what are the airlines of Vietnam" and "what are the airlines of Cambodia" hoping you'll connect their flights!
On this trip, I didn't have to find what are the airliners of Vietnam and Cambodia. I just searched "Danang to Phnom Penh". Google gave me various combinations and most convenient for me was Vietnam Air to HCM then Qatar Airways to PNH. Yes, ganun!
You might wonder how did Qatar Airways get involved here, eh that is a middle eastern airline, when I was just traveling w/in Southeast Asia? That's another interesting topic!
The 5th Freedom Of The Air. But let's talk about that later! Meanwhile...
My itinerary became the yellow arrows on this map, instead of the white arrows.
These were flights #5 and #6 in my opening article for this circle trip.
Of course, as you can see the blue pins on the map above, I could have been crazily creative by flying from Danang to those places first, then transfer into Phnom Penh.
But I chose this route (yellow arrows), for my own comfort and convenience!
For those who do not know yet by the way, one can of course make a land trip from Vietnam to Cambodia. It is just 6 hours from HCM to PNH. But not for me this time.
How much does it cost?
Long land trips here, are in fact more expensive than flights. FYI, my DAD-SGN flight on Vietnam Air was only USD32.8 and SGN-PNH on Qatar Airways was just USD53.
Imagine that, 2 flights, 1 domestic and 1 international, on 2 full service flag carriers (meaning NOT budget airlines), yet it cost me only about PHP4700! Mahal sa Pinas!
So let's talk about the sights and scenes on those two flights.
In my next two stories!
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