Arrival in Phnom Penh

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Against my better judgment we decide to pull off the road and take a look. Coincidentally, when we pull of the road, we just happen to stop right in front of a mechanic. After we look at the engine for a few moments, I notice a gap where the muffler attaches to the manifold. I put my hand next to it and I can feel the hot air blowing out. Luckily it is just a minor thing and we won’t have need of the mechanic who is now sitting in front of his shop staring at us. We decide to keep going. We can still drive without any problems it just makes talking difficult as it is quite loud. I figure I can get it fixed early tomorrow morning in Phnom Penh.

We hop back in the jeep and hit the road again. We arrive in Phnom Penh around 6:30 without any further incident. Our first stop is the in-laws house to drop off the crab. After dropping off the crab and making some quick introductions, we head off to find a hostel while promising to be back in time for dinner. It’s gonna to be a crab feast tonight!

We decide to stay at Happy Guesthouse #11. I usually stay there when I am in Phnom Penh for nostalgic reasons. It’s the same place I used to stay when I would travel to Cambodia years ago as a backpacker. Well sort of, you see it used to be located on this big beautiful lake and it had a huge deck built out over the water. It was the best place to unwind after a long hot day in Phnom Penh. You could kick back, pop open a beer and light up a joint while watching the sun set over the water. Unfortunately the Cambodian Government, being as corrupt as always, sold the lake to a Chinese development t company who decided to fill it in with sand. They had plans to build a mall and some apartments in the center of the city where the lake used to be. They proceeded to forcefully remove all the families living in and around the lake, including guesthouses, homes, and shacks. There were mass protests, a few people were injured or jailed, some houses were flooded, and that was it. The lake was gone, people were pissed, but nobody important cared. That was three years ago.

Now the land sits empty, a big dirt field in the middle of the city; no malls, no apartments, just a big empty lot of sand.

Anyways, since then, Happy Guesthouse #11 has moved downtown. It’s not the same and I must admit, I don’t like the place nearly as much. I guess it truly was all about the lake. I still stay there when I am in Phnom Penh because I like the owners and the people that work there are all really friendly. I always have conversations with the owner’s daughter. She seemed like just a child when I first started coming here 8 years ago. Now she is 22 and in college. I must be getting old.

I will admit that even though I stay there, it has become over priced and isn’t really worth it anymore. The rooms are dingy which is usually fine, in fact they have always been grimy, but they used to be grimy and cost $2 or $3. Now they charge $12 or $15. They still have a cool lounge area to hang out and meet people, but for $19 you can get a nice room in another hotel with clean bathrooms, a tv, and even a refrigerator. For $25 you can get a really nice room in a hotel located in a cool part of the town which also has a cool lounge area for meeting other travelers. Maybe I just have a little more money these days or I am getting older and want to stay in nicer places, but for $15 vs. $25, I am getting closer and closer to staying in the nice places. It’s just an extra $5 or $10. When I have my girlfriend or friends with me, I usually opt for the nicer place.

Not tonight though. This is supposed to be an adventure and it’s not an adventure unless you are uncomfortable and worried for your health and your life right?

After arriving at the hostel, there is some problem getting a room with AC for me. I live without AC in Sihanoukville, but Phnom Penh is hot and loud. So opening the windows just makes it harder to sleep. Dime and Ellia head up to their room to take a shower and change before dinner while I just wait downstairs as they clean my room and try to get it ready.

It’s not long before its time to head back for dinner and my room is still not ready. I decide to just head out dusty and dirty from the road trip. I will shower after dinner I guess.

We head back over to Socheata’s house where there are plates and plates of crab waiting for us. A couple of cold beers to wash it down and we are wiped out. It feels like it has been a long day.



On the way home from dinner we make plans for the next morning. Dima needs to pick up his passport at the Russian Embassy, Ellia wants to go to the market to buy some gifts for his daughter, and I need to take the jeep in to get fixed. Tomorrow will be a long drive and we need to get on the road as early as we can in case there are problems along the way. Our goal is to get everything done and be on the road by 10:00am. It would be great to leave earlier, but I just don’t think it is possible, unfortunately everybody I have spoken to says we need to leave earlier in order to get to Sen Monoram before nightfall.

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Comments

[Mommy Gail]

And so the journey is on its way...
I think is it so wonderful to see you traveling throughout the country with new friends and well some things don't change..a broken jeep...thank you for the wonderful story... love mom