Blogs from Phnom Penh, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 197

From the Tuol Sleng Prison Nightmare and extreme poverty on the streets to nice hotels, good food and prices near European standard you find the opposits in this city. We arrived in the night, looking for a hotel. Yesterday the Tuol Sleng Prison, there are no words and no photos about this cruelty. Today we are visiting the palace and the silver pagoda. Tomorrow we will head on to Siem Riep. Von Chau Doc sind wir nach dem Besuch einer Floating Fish Farm mit dem Boot zur Grenze gefahren. Der Aufbruch war um 7 h. Wir haben auf dem Boot etwas Schlaf nachgeholt, da wir in dem Hotel vor Hitze nicht schlafen konnten. Die Grenzformalitaeten waren gut organisiert. Das naechste Boot, ein langes, schmales Holzboot hat uns dann weitere 4 Stunden bis in die Naehe von ... read more

jessi: Just appreciate this everyone, cos there's no way we'll be writing in here this often for the next 4/5 weeks! got up earlier today the sights of the city. we did our own walking tour. sounds awesesome hey. you should have seen us by the end. i had more sweat on my back than i've ever sweated in my life (check out the photo lauren, you'd be impressed!!). and our legs are still recovering from the 5 flights of stairs at our hotel in ho chi minh. aside from that, we got to see more of the street life than we would normally. saw the museum. i've always loved buddhas, and this was some SERIOUS buddha-idge. we saw the palace thing which was good. except we weren't allowed in any of the buildings. darcie: so ... read more

I relaxed away the week on board "The Kandika"--Muoy and Kinh's elegant catamaran. The boat sails prominently on the Tonle Sap river, with banks that are milling with foreigners and locals alike. Muoy, Krishna, and I took a tuk-tuk to the Royal Pavilion where Goran picked us up with a dingy and apologized in English to some visibly angry fishermen. Muoy and Kinh are working to make the boat a business where groups of people can rent it out to take sunset sails. Puthy, a trusted friend and young entrepreneur is helping with the marketing. The boat will be unlike the other boats that cling to the shore with their loud bars. "The Kandika"--meaning ''opening flower?"--will sail away from the shore to observe the bustling life of Sisowath Quay from a quieter perspective. Muoy, Goran, ... read more

Hello again, What can I say about Phnom Penh?! It was an eye-opener like I could never have imagined... One of my first comments when I arrived back into Bangkok this morning was "I cant believe how clean Bangkok is" - for those who know Bangkok that is a pretty big statement but Phnom Penh was filthy beyond your imagination. As you already know we arrived in Phnom Penh around 2pm and went straight to the guesthouse. The Billabong guesthouse is run by another Aussie and the place was great value. We had some lunch there (Chicken Bacon Cheese Burgers - which rocked!) and spent the afternoon by the pool. We needed some relaxation! Around 6pm I took off to find an internet cafe.... It was my first experience in Phnom Penh and at 6pm at ... read more

I began my last Phnom Penh blog with the intention of doing a full entry for the Cambodian capital. However, after discussing the Genocide Museum including any other Phnom Penh details seemed out of place. In this brief blog I intend to summarise my other experiences. After the Genocide Museum I instucted my driver, Ny, to head straight for the Royal Palace. The contrast between the Royal Palace and the Genocide Museum could not really be more stark. Do a Google image search "Throne Hall Royal Palace Phnom Penh" to see what I mean. (I refused to pay the photo tax they looked to levy at the gate. Moreover, I didn't feel I could do the palace justice.) The contrast, the early afternoon heat and the onset of Diarrhea made the walk around the Royal Palace ... read more