Cambodia is a country with a surprisingly diverse landscape. Some parts of Cambodia have a dense tropical vegetation whilst other areas have a dry grass and little other flora. Much of the country is covered with a red dirt and indeed, dirt roads are the most common road in Cambodia. Paved Cambodian roads often have a yellow centre line that is either continuous or dashed. Cars in Cambodia drive on the right which is a relative rarity in South-East Asia. From the GeoGuessr relevant countries, only the Philippines, Laos (which has only a small amount of coverage) and Vietnam (which also only has a small amount of coverage) drive on the right. Cambodian houses are unique in that they often have poles elevating them. Angkor beer signs are scattered frequently throughout Cambodia. White stone markers with a red top appear on the sides of some roads. These often have road numbers and distances to the nearest town. Cambodian bollards have the same colour design of red and white. Cambodia has a glut of ‘Cambodian People’s Party’ signs around their country. The signs come in various forms featuring the same blue colour. Many of these signs contain the village and province location in English at the bottom of the sign. The Cambodian language of Khmer has hooks on the ends of almost all of its letters, making it stand out from the other languages in South-East Asia. Angkor beer signs are one of the most common sights throughout Cambodia. On the left of the image, the Cambodian language, featuring symbols with hooked ends, is another tell-tale sign you are in Cambodia. A Cambodian roadside marker. These often have town names and indicate distances to the nearest town. Cambodia has a tropical landscape. Cars drive in the right which contrasts most of South-East Asia which drives on the left. Cars also drive on the right in the Philippines, Laos (which has minimal coverage) and Vietnam (which has minimal coverage). The central and northern parts of Cambodia have a reddish dirt. Dirt roads are very common in Cambodia and much rarer in Thailand. The southern part of Cambodia has white-coloured dirt. Looking at the dirt colour can be a great way to narrow down your Cambodian guess. The Cambodian landscape can be quite diverse looking. Sometimes it is full of densely packed tropical plants whilst other times there is only grass, other types of trees or dirt. Small sections of south-western Cambodia are rather hilly and green. Whilst most roads in Cambodia are dirt, marked bitumen roads will typically have a yellow centre line and white side lines, like Thailand. Many Cambodian houses are elevated on posts. Some homes will have part of the home elevated on posts and the other part of the home on the ground floor. Even more basic houses will often be elevated in Cambodia. Cambodia bollards look a bit like fat matches. They have a white body and red head. Two of the more common types of Cambodian utility pole are pictured. The pole on the left is cylindrical shape with nothing on top whilst the pole on the right has the crucifix style top with two upward pointing ‘pine cone’ objects. Cambodian utility poles may also have a number of indents in them. Much of South-East Asia uses these yellow, diamond-shaped warning signs. Cambodian signs have a white outline. Although dirt roads are more common in Cambodia, paved roads often have some form of yellow central line- sometimes it is dashed and sometimes it is continuous. There are a number of religious temples with coverage in Cambodia. India also has coverage of a number of its religious buildings. The ‘Cambodian People’s Party’ signs are a common fixture in Cambodia. Anything in this shade of blue points to you being in Cambodia. Many of the signs contain the village and province location of the sign written at the bottom of the sign in English. 

Licence plates are white with blue letters. The blue sheen of the letters can be hard to see through the blur, and the plates might appear as plain white.

Plates on government vehicles are green.

Cambodia drives on the right.

Thailand drives on the left, while Laos also drives on the right.

Khmer is the official language of Cambodia. It has its own unique script, which is very distinct and recognizable. In most fonts, letters have an intricate, curvy look. 

Khmer can look fairly different depending on the font used.

The Thai and Lao scripts look similar, but the letters tend to have a less intricate look. However, some simplified Khmer fonts can look a bit like Thai and Lao.

Two types of poles are common: 

Concrete ladder poles (so named because the indents and ridges resemble a ladder).

Round concrete poles with small holes. 

Rarely, you might see simple wooden poles.

You can easily distinguish between Thailand and Cambodia based on the poles. Thailand uses square concrete poles with rows of small pinholes on the sides. Such poles are very uncommon in Cambodia (but not completely absent).

Cambodia has a variety of different bollards. The most common ones are:

A stone bollard with red-and-white stripes.

A stone bollard with a red top and a white base, usually with a reflector in the red part.

Some bollards are unique to a road or region. More details can be found in the region-guessing section.

Cambodian road markers are made of stone, with a white-coloured base and a rounded red top. You will find the road number on the narrow side and a town name with a distance on the main side.

Chevrons in Cambodia are black with yellow arrows. 

Chevrons are somewhat rare. On many occasions, Cambodia prefers to use bollards instead of chevrons to mark curves in the road.

Chevrons in all other Southeast Asian countries have the reverse colour scheme: yellow with black arrows.

Roads have dashed or solid yellow middle road lines. Outer road lines are somewhat rare, but when present, they are solid white.

Thailand uses similar road lines.

Many roads are unpaved. Usually, only main roads and roads in and near urban areas are paved.

Wooden houses on stilts are common. Walls are often made of vertical planks. Many homes have double or triple roofs.

In addition, traditional Cambodian wooden stilt houses tend to have very recognizable colour schemes.

Walls are commonly painted dark red-brown, light blue or an ochre orange.

Doors, windows and other architectural details are often painted bright blue.

More modern houses tend to have a wider variety of colour schemes.

Many traditional homes have tiled orange or red roofs, sometimes with ornaments on the ridges and corners. Corrugated and plain metal roofs are also common.

On other, more modern buildings, you can see a wider variety of roof colours and materials.

The majority of Cambodians are Buddhist. Temples are common throughout the country. Temple architecture is highly decorative, with ornamented roofs. You might also see Buddhist flags.

Thailand and Laos are also majority Buddhist. Temples in these countries can look similar.

You will see a lot of advertisements for the beer brands Angkor, Anchor, and the very creatively named Cambodia Beer.

Throughout the country, you can find distinct blue signs from the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

These signs occasionally feature the likenesses of major party politicians: usually three men side by side.
Road Lines:

Cambodia uses the yellow centre line on their roads.

Road Signs:

These little sign posts are all over the place on major roads and show the distance to the nearest town, road number on the side and kilometre number on the top.

Signs like this are rarer, usually on junctions of major roads.

Cambodia uses the American/Southeast-Asian yellow diamond-shaped warning signs:

Road numbering system:

There are 8 major 1-digit roads in Cambodia, which all go from Phnom Penh to other parts of the country, and are numbered in a clockwise direction. The less major 2-digit roads’ first digit is the 1-digit road they feed to, so for example the road 64 feeds into the 6, and so on, so the 2-digit roads are generally always close to the 1-digit road of their first digit. More info about the Cambodian road numbering system: Cambodia Road Numbering System

Architecture:

Right click on the image, “View Image” for higher resolution.
Houses on stilts are very common because of many flooding areas in the country.


