Due to decades of strife and civil war, Cambodia’s infrastructure is weak and far behind the standards of its Southeast Asia neighbors. Port, air, roadway, and railway infrastructure are all poor, but plans are underway to renovate and modernize them all.

While Cambodia only has three airports that offer regular commercial flights, the country serves as an excellent base within Asia. Located smack-dab in the center of Southeast Asia, Cambodia offers you easy and cheap flights to Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Laos (each for about US$30). All these countries can be reached by bus, as well, for about US$15.

Conveniences Westerners are used to including golf courses, shopping malls, and high-quality international schools are springing up throughout the country with increasing regularity.

Recently whole swathes of Phnom Penh have been redeveloped, old French-colonial buildings are being restored, and magnificent public spaces—first conceived by the French city planners— are again opening up. Phnom Penh’s long, snaking riverfront has been completely revitalized. It was a lengthy, troubled enterprise but the result is worth it. The project has created a vast, welcoming community area… and again revealed the ingenuity of the city’s colonial planners.

At least in Phnom Penh, the road infrastructure has been massively improved and most of the key thoroughfares now are in decent shape. Traffic gets heavy on the main routes at rush hour, but is still far lighter than what you would find in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, or Yangon.