Photo Tags (in order of upload) [Public Bus ] [Houses in Cambodia ] [My room in Phnom Penh ] [The Buddah inside Lady Penh's temple] [The whole family of 12? in a tuk tuk] [The lotus flower seller] [Snack time (tarantula, waterbugs, silkworms, crickets, lotus seeds)] [The Russian Market] [The monument at the killing fields]
At 8 we all met in the lobby with our bags to walk down 1/2 a block and get on the "public" bus, had about 50 people on it, but orderly in seats and mostly foreigners, not too uncomfortable.
Two hours to the border, where we went through departure stamping for Vietnam, Visa application (taken care of by the bus staff, yeah) and arrival stamping in Cambodia. The border on the Cambodian side was LINED with Casinos, though apparently only foreigners are allowed to gamble in them. Then stopped at a restaurant for lunch, horrible food. :( No one seemed to like their choices. I ate the cold breakfast (meat stuffed pastry, and cake roll) that had been provided by the bus and I hadn't wanted earlier since my pork spring rolls were gross. Some sort of herb that was really unpleasant, and the pork was just gristle and fat. Ugh.
Another 3 hours after the lunch stop, along roads with rice fields and few houses or people on either side, and much, much less traffic than in Vietnam we reached the Phnom Penh bus "station" a parking lot filled with cars and carts and market stalls. :) PP is a city, but "same same but different" than the others we have seen so far. Many more cars for one, and fewer people. The population of the whole country is only 15 million. Up from 4 million in the 70's. Over 50% of them are under 18 years of age. Les than 8% are over 60. The people here are darker skinned than elsewhere, and it is much hotter.
Took a private bus the 10 min or so to the hotel where we checked in.
Nice room, sunshine coming through the window and a fun tan and white checker bathroom, :) After an hour we met to do a tour of the city, took tuk-tuk's to the temple the cities named for and saw a statue of lady penh. :) Pretty temple on the hill. Then a look at the unification monument? (keep forgetting what it is called, it was tall and pointy) for sunset. Actually was a bit of one too, we haven't seen many this trip. There was a large family taking xmas pictures, about 7 kids in santa hats posing in front of the palm trees. After the photos they all piled into a tuktuk. I think the total was 7 kids, 4 adults and 1 baby in a smallish Tuk Tuk. :)
After sunset we took tuktuk's to the park where we watched lots of different groups of people dancing to music "exercise classes" that were amusing to watch. Some big groups, some smaller. We then walked along the wall to the royal palace till we got to the FCC bar where we climbed 3 flights of stairs to the upstairs bar area and watched the city (and river) go by. Had a local Cambodian beer and tried fried tarantula legs (very much like soft shell crab), crickets(crunchy flavored), and silkworms(oh EW, they are squishy). Wasn't brave enough to try the waterbugs that Long got, though the lotus fruit tasted like peas. (he bought the bugs at a street stall and brought hem up to the bar with us, where we were thankful for the drinks to wash down the taste (and mental issues of eating bugs, for me at least).
After our "snack" and drink we walked to a nearish by place for dinner. I got Khmer Curry (red curry) with chicken, rice, and a pot of hot tea. Curry was pretty good, tea was bland. Oh well. At one point everyone piled out of the restaurant to see the lunar eclipse. :D Then back to the hotel for me.
Day 23, Phnom Penh, Cambodia: [free morning] Woke really early and watched a movie before meeting J for breakfast at 8:30. We walked down the block and randomly picked a place, I think she saw a latte sign. ;) It was ok. I got a cheese omelet with toast and pineapple juice. Omlet was coated with pepper so I only ate a tiny bit and the bread was dry but J's eggs and bacon seemed decent and she liked her Latte. Oh and the pineapple juice was fantastic.
After breakfast we got a tuktuk and headed to the Russian Market. A BIG low roofed building STUFFED with shops in rows 4-8 feet apart. Mostly junk, and way more expensive than expected, not much interesting. Lots of silk scarves but not the best color selection. I found my "cambodia" box though. It's a small (ish) black metal toucan. Didn't manage to find one in Vietnam, guess that means I need to go back. :P
After about an hour wandering through the market J and I were tired of bargaining and pushy shopkeepers (though WAAAAY less than Hoi An or Saigon, they at least didn't grab you) so we took a tuktuk to "street 178" which was supposed to be the "art street" in the guidebook. There were a bunch of shops with cookie cutter paintings in them, one real art gallery, and a bunch of neat clothing shops. We walked along it towards the water, stopping about 12:30 for lunch at a place that smelled good. I got Tamarind Fish, which was fried crispy small slices of boneless white fish with a dipping sauce, could detect no tamarind, but still pretty tasty. Also got an Avocado Shake. Just couldn't resist trying it. It tasted like green mango more than avocado but was actually really good, I may order that again.
Then back to the hotel to meet the group and go on our included tour of S-21 and the killing fields. Whee? The Khmer Rouge were pretty horrid. Lots of deaths. Of the population of 7million, 3 million were killed or missing or died of starvation during their rule. Our guide was 6-10yrs old when they were in power and had a personal grudge, made it interesting and not particularly in a good way. The killing fields were smaller and more peaceful than I was expecting. As horrid as it was, bones and teeth and clothing bits everywhere, there was still a peaceful stillness to it.
Back to the hotel for an hour then all of us met up to go see Cambodian kick boxing! Long got us ring side seats. (it's outside) and it was fun. We stayed and watched 2 fights then headed to dinner. Dinner at a special Orphanage run place. Pricy but pretty tasty. I got {beef in penut curry} and it was at about my max for spicy. Just a few chunks of tough beef in the cury, no veg, but good flavor. Long got Beef with red ants, sorry, I was a wus and didn't taste it, enough bugs for me this trip so far. After dinner we all went back to the hotel then J, D and I walked to the Night market, which was totally not worth it, just more stalls of cheap junk, and western style clothing like the russian market earlier. Then we walked back to the hotel.
Next, onwards to the Homestay!
No comments:
Post a Comment