Phnom Penh

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So my next part of the trip to Cambodia wasn't quite as comfortable, not only was the slow boat full but it had a different layout all together... two benches running along each side, wooden and hard. I fortunately had my book to hand but unfortunately I finished it before my arrival. I finally arrived on land and stretched vigorously... but we were then transported quickly onto mini buses in order to reach the city. I did have a few places in mind of where I wanted to stay but I ended up getting off at the first guesthouse that some (including a couple of people I met) had booked... this turned out to be fine, it was a little different from what I had in Vietnam... very small room! but I still had a TV... actually the largest I have seen in a long time... and a bathroom for $7/$8. Plus there was a really good social area downstairs in the restaurant... many people would just chill out down there and watch one of the many pirate DVDs they continuously played.

It was weird at first to be in another country, especially coming from Vietnam as I loved it there and was used to the culture and set up. I wouldn't say I felt lost in Cambodia but I did have to get used to it a little... they have a saying over here... same same but different... and that is what it was like. On my first day I had to find out where was good to eat... I didn't know how to spot good cheap food stalls like I could in Vietnam, and there also wasn't as many ATMs to hand so you couldn't spot them as yo walked down the street... you had to look for them. A lot of this however was due to my location, I wasn't in the main part of the city but rather near the river where all the nicer and expensive hotels were... although the Royal Palace was a few minutes walk so it did have it's benefits. There were also a lot more cars on the road than in the Vietnam Cities and bigger roads... I found this strange as I thought that Cambodia was poorer.

So on my first day like I do on many of my first days, I walked around to get my bearings... well I tried. There were a few things stopping me... firstly the map of Phnom Penh is very detailed, showing many many small roads and in reality the street signs to these and even some of the bigger roads were nowhere to be seen. Secondly I didn't know what direction I should walk... I tried one way but I took me nowhere and this plays well into the third reason... it was damn hot!! hotter than Saigon and only five hours away in a north west direction. So I ended up getting a tuk tuk to take me to get a new memory card for my camera (which was my first mission) then take me to the Royal Palace (I couldn't go here without a camera). In the cue I bumped into a couple of Aussies I met in Hue, Vietnam. Unfortunately I was wearing a vest and had to go and change it for a t-shirt. But I met them inside later. The Palace though was amazing and such a contrast to the architecture I witnessed in Vietnam... I wasn't inspired by the Chinese, very different and refreshing. Everything was covered in gold and was immaculate... it was huge and clean which was helped by the fact that it was busy so didn't have the scattered effect and the blurred moving colours of people in my background. I even managed to get down to some Palace music on the way out... I was checking a small little section near the exit and was invited by two boys to play as I watched them (I was the only one there, it wasn't like there was a crowd or something). I played a metal drum instrument and a wooden xylophone... I had no idea what I was playing but if the other two stopped for a while I would have probably found my rhythm... but instead they were drowning out my bad sounds with sweet Cambodian music.

I've heard so many dodgy stories about Cambodia and especially Phnom Penh, and although I didn't venture far out into many parts of the city apart from when I was heading to places, I found it to be a nice place... the people were generally friendly and even though the tuk tuk drivers don't stop asking you if you want a ride, they are usually smiling and having a laugh with you.

During the day the heat is devastating so it is a welcome change every night when the heavens open and the sky pours heavily onto the ground. In England it rains all day and if it was a hot day before the rain there probably won't another hot and sunny day for a while... but here the extreme heat of the day returns daily. But also unlike England when it rains it always rain hard... I was walking home one night and it started to rain, I had about a 20 minute walk and it was getting heavier. But instead of getting a tuk tuk back I happily got soaked while enjoying a spectacular lightning show on the river front... one of the bonuses of my location now! Another advantage of my location was that it was right next to a hotel in which there was a tennis court... so the next day I signed up to play and luckily they had the added bonus of having a live in coach to hire. It was a little more expensive than I had in mind but I have to keep up with my 'play once in every country' schedule. It was 10am and already hot and we played on a mock clay court which I wasn't too familiar with but got to grips with eventually. The guy I played with was good... he plays everyday and had played since the age of eight so he should be good, although for playing so may years of his life I felt he should of been a little better. He did beat me quite convincingly however. In an attempt to save a little of my money I challenged him to a game and if I won I would only have to pay the court hire and not his... as you know this did not happen but it gave me a goal to aim for. Annoyingly at the end of the match just like the one I had in Hue... I was drenched in sweat and he had only a few beads to show, climate change is a bitch!

That day after the match (and recovery) I was going to have a productive day. I met an American girl the night before in my guesthouse who was traveling alone so we made plans to spend the day together going round to some different sights. We traveled all day with our own tuk tuk driver, our first point of call was to the Genocide Museum aka S21. This used to be a school but was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and used as a prison. It was quite a weird experience to be walk though these buildings where people were tortured and killed, all this sad history and I was at the centre of it all. Although this was quite an emotional ordeal to see the rooms in which people were kept and the rooms in which people were tortured, I actually found this place to be very informative... I didn't know much about the khmer Rouge before... their ideals and beliefs etc... but this place gave a lot of clear information about the whole period when they were in power... I basically learned a lot... a lot of depressing facts. We then went to the killing fields, a place where Cambodians were brought to be killed. There is not much here and S21 has a much deeper impact on people but it was interesting to see. There were open graves everywhere... which were already excavated. There was signs up detailing what was here and there and we just walked round taking in the whole environment.

We ended the day going to Wat Phnom, one of the main temples in the city (we had to end on the happier elements of the city). It was in a small park and up some steps, sheltering it from view of the city. It was alright nothing impressive... but what was cool was that in this park was an elephant and loads of monkeys... the elephant was being handled but the monkeys were all over the shop, which was a weird phenomenon to be had in the city... well from my eyes anyway. We finished the night by going out for a drink and some food with the two Aussies (just up the road from me, I should have walked that way to begin with)... it was pretty funny when we were sitting outside at a nice bar when all of a sudden the power went off which was shortly accompanied by some strong gushing dusty wind... the bar girls responded by bringing out some candles and we responded by covering our beer glasses with beer mats... it was happy hour, we were not going to leave!! on the way back we sat by the river for a while enjoying the ambiance (which seemed like a local favorite due to the numbers there)... this was another plus for my riverside location, it turned out it wasn't so bad after all. But the next day I was to leave by bus to Siem Reap... it was just a short stop in Phnom Penh.

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Photos

Mixing in with the locals
Very hot in Phnom Penh as you can tell from my attractive wet t-shirt

Comments

[Grannie]

At last
I had you stuck somewhere betwen Nam and Thailand so very pleased to hear the next instalment of the travel saga. We all have travel envy here!