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Published: January 1st 2019
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The sun was finally shining again this morning. After enjoying a good breakfast we hired a couple of kayaks from our hotel and went for a paddle around the ‘Green Cathedral’.
This short route takes just over an hour and goes off the main river and round a loop of narrow waterways overhung with palms. It was good fun, although it was noticeable that large areas where being cleared. Apparently it’s being prepared for more, large scale, Chinese construction. It seems like they’re destroying all the pretty places!
Returning from our paddle I enjoyed a swim before changing, packing and checking out.
We got a tuk tuk into town, dropped our bags at the bus station, and went for a walk along the river front. There’s a bridge into town which appears to have been rebuilt a couple of times and consists of 3 different construction types. It’s very odd.
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch before returning to the bus station and getting the coach to Phnom Phen.
The coach was a much better experience than the mini van. We went with the more expensive Giant Ibis and got a safe driver. The other advantage of a coach is
that I couldn’t see what the other traffic was doing in front of us - ignorance is definitely bliss in this case. My only slight disappointment was that there were no snacks provided as promised on the ticket.
The bus station in Phnom Penh is an easy walk to our hotel so we checked in and dumped our bags before looking for some dinner. Unfortunately the traffic into the city was awful so we arrived after 7pm instead of the expected 6pm. There aren’t many restaurants near our hotel, at least not at prices we’re prepared to pay, and so we ended up in a local place, sitting on tables on the pavement next to a main road. None of the menu was in English but the staff understood us and explained we had a choice of soup or BBQ. We picked a BBQ.
First thing to arrive was our gas BBQ. Then a pile of plates arrived containing raw prawns, beef kidneys and what we think was beef steaks. Finally we got some salad and sauces.
I proceeded to incinerate our food, in the hope we wouldn’t get food poisoning. It tasted fine but there wasn’t as much
as we’d have liked and it was a little odd without bread or rice. I’m also unconvinced by kidneys where you can still quite clearly see the anatomy. Stephen has now banned me from trying more food without an English translation in the menu! To be fair, given some of the things we’ve seen for sale on the street food stalls that may be for the best...
Our evening finished with desert and a drink on the roof of our hotel. The views across the river are beautiful and there’s a tiny garden to sit in so it was very pleasant.
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