Cambodia

Plates white with blue letters (may look plain white through the blur); government vehicles = green plates

Gen3 cars: stubby 3-ridge antenna car OR striped white car (white stripe left, yellow right)

The striped white car is unique to Cambodia (Bangladesh's striped car looks slightly different). The stubby antenna resembles Latin-American cars (MX/CO/EC/BR) - theirs have a diagonally coiled ridge instead of three ridges.

Bangladesh: Check Khmer vs Bengali script to confirm.

Drives on the right

Vietnam: Latin script w/ heavy diacritics → Vietnam.

Laos: Lao script (Thai-like) → Laos; Khmer is far more intricate.

Thailand: Left-hand traffic → Thailand.

Khmer script - very distinct, intricate curvy letters (font-dependent)

Thailand: Left-hand traffic + tiny circles in letters → Thailand.

Laos: Simplified look + Lao context (yellow regular plates) → Laos.

Poles: concrete ladder poles (indents like a ladder) + round concrete poles w/ small holes (rarely wooden)

Vietnam: Vietnamese diacritics → Vietnam.

Thailand: Square pinhole poles → Thailand.

Common bollards: stone w/ red-white stripes or red top + white base (reflector in the red part); some are road/region-specific

Road markers: stone, white base + rounded red top - road number on the narrow side, town+distance on the main side

Chevrons black with yellow arrows (rare; bollards often used instead)

All other SE-Asian countries use the reverse scheme (yellow with black arrows) - black chevrons in SEA mean Cambodia.

Yellow middle lines (dashed/solid); outer lines rare, white when present; many roads unpaved

Thailand: Left-hand traffic + Thai script → Thailand.

Wooden stilt houses with vertical plank walls, double/triple roofs; walls dark red-brown / light blue / ochre, details painted bright blue; tiled orange/red roofs w/ ridge ornaments or metal roofs

Majority Buddhist - decorative temples + Buddhist flags (Thailand/Laos temples look similar)

Beer ads everywhere: Angkor, Anchor, 'Cambodia Beer'; blue CPP party signs (often three men side by side)

Shitcam exists (wide circular blur, brownish) - also in India/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka/Nepal; here only in the southwestern half

Coverage limited - mostly around Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang

Central plain = flat cultivated farmland w/ villages; northeast = uncultivated, natural, slightly hilly; southwest = hills & low mountains, dense inland forest, populated coast

White sandy soil → SE of Phnom Penh + around the city; near the Thai border: mountain ridge to the north + red soil (flat roads below the abrupt drop-off)

Rubber plantations (thin trunks, taps, neat rows): belt NE of Phnom Penh (Roads 7/71), around Ban Lung + Road 78, around Pech Sreada (dry-season look + very orange soil)

Bilingual signs with Chinese writing are common

Bollard spotlights: black-white bollards ONLY on Road 48 (Tatai↔Road 4 - Thai-style, verify country first!); unique triangular red-striped bollards on Road 4 (Angk Snuol↔Preah Sihanouk, esp. after Kirirom), a Ream-NP offroad + Preah Monivong NP

Road spotlights (SW): Road 48→Kiri Sakor under construction (one paved side, red soil); jungle offroads NE of Road 48 (red soil, dense jungle, hilly - eastern lookalikes have browner soil); Phnum Samkos: overcast + big distant mountains, brown unpaved roads, wild green; Road 4 has a wide red-brown shoulder (lighter near Phnom Penh); oil palms only on Road 4 north of Preah Nob

Highland plateau: white rocky soil + stunted windswept dark-green bushes - very recognisable

Road spotlights (N/E): Road 41 SW of Phnom Penh - wide grey gravelly surface, runs NNE, flat farmland w/ distant hills (angle is key); Roads 6/5 (Siem Reap→Sisophon→Battambang): unique 3-beam poles w/ one-sided hanging insulators + indented bases (west of Sisophon: insulators both sides); Road 76 south = overcast, dark crisp asphalt, outer lines, jungle hills; Road 76 north (Lumphat↔Mayura) = wide unpaved brown, semi-open jungle, skies clear toward the north

Massive Khmer temple complex N of Siem Reap - dark weathered stone, extensive trekker coverage (huge presence in the official map)