Cocktails, Buses and Relaxation in Phnom Penh

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We were up bright and early to head to Phnom Penh on the local bus. We got picked up by the bus company in a mini bus and then spend then next half hour going around and around in circles as they tried to find another hotel... Eventually they couldnt find it so they took us to the bus station.. it left us wondering about the poor people that had been waiting for the bus to pick them up! lol



We jumped on the bus (it was a new service between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and for $9 you not only got a bus trip, but free wifi on the bus and water and a snack! Bargain). About 10 minutes into the journey the bus broke down on the side of the road and we wondered just how long it was going to take us .... we watched a tiny boy about 13 years old jump on the top of the bus trying to fix whatever had gone wrong and after about 20 minutes we were off again.. never boring in Asia! Luckily for us, the bus didnt break down and we arrived in Phnom Penh about 5 hours later...



We made our way to Blue Lime where I have stayed previously and were disappointed to see that they had put us in a small pokey room on the ground floor with a double bed. I asked them for twin beds and showed them our email correspondence. They eventually agreed to give us a different room on the top floor (the same one I stayed in previously) but charged us extra. Pretty rude considering it was their mistake... Unfortunately there was building works next door that banged and crashed from 6am to late... and the pigeon problem in the roof had got worse since my previous stay... the pigeons would walk around above our bed scratching and making a racked from sunrise!



Unfortunately due to the building works next door, they had also closed down one side of the pool where the sunbeds were! So much for relaxing by the pool and getting a tan... we were even more disappointed on day two when they shut the whole pool down due to a chemical imbalance in the water or something! They offered free use of one of the sister hotel pools so we decided to take advantage of that.. more on that later...



After settling in to the hotel we decided to head to a place I had heard about for a feed but when we got there it was shut down and the tuktuk wanted a fortune to take us back... so we decided to walk back along the river... We eventually found a bar called Touk overlooking the river. It was 3 or 4 stories high and had a big balcony all around to overlook the river and people watch... and as a bonus it had dirt cheap strong cocktails. We spent the afternoon there people watching and had a meal before heading back to the hotel...



The following morning we got up and hired a tuktuk to take us to the Killing Fields and s21 Genocide Musuem... We started at s21 then headed to the Killing Fields.. it was a long dusty polluted journey out there. At the Killing Fields we hired the audio tour and with our headphones on we walked around the Fields and listened to the audio tour. Great idea and something I hadnt done on previous trips. Very sad and very sobering. Once we finished we went back to the hotel (to discover the pool was out of order) so decided to head to the sister hotel for a swim and something to eat...



When we got to the sister hotel we were told we werent allowed to swim in the main pool and they pointed to a dirty little pool nearby with no sun... we told them we wanted to eat too and eventually convinced them to let us in the main pool area. They took us directly to the restaurant and the staff were really rude.. by the end of lunch we were over it and decided to leave instead of hang by their pool... We couldnt have been made to feel any less welcome and we were less than impressed considering it was the sister hotel and it was 'their' idea to allow guests of Blue Lime use their facilities. We headed back to Touk Bar for drinks and then headed back to the hotel after dinner.



The following day we headed to the Russian Markets and spent the first half hour driving around trying to exchange cash... An impossible task with the banks refusing to exchange our Australian money! Very frustrating.. We eventually found a money exchanger near the markets then spent a couple of hours shopping in the Markets... Afterwards we had lunch at The Sisters of Cambodia restaurant... a charity restaurant that takes in girls that have been part of the sex slave trade and trains them.. they have a beautician business, a little souviener store and the restaurant... After eating we decided we needed some pool time so we researched and found a hotel that allowed outside guests for a small fee. We ended up at Hotel Cambodiana and while I can't remember the exact price, it was less than $20 each and we got towels and drink service at the pool.... it was awesome with no shade and plenty of sun!



After we were all sunned out we headed back to Touk Bar for the third night running for dinner and drinks.. it was time to move on to Vietnam the next morning and we had an early bus! That night when we got back to the hotel we decided to put on some face masks... then spent the next 10 minutes taking stupid photos of ourselves with the masks on! God we had some laughs on this trip....



I almost forgot to tell the story of the massage parlour in Siem Reap ... it should have been in the last blog! Soooo I will tell the story now.. always up for a laugh at my own expense... So while in Siem Reap I convinced Lynn to try out a foot massage after her last disasterous neck massage!



We headed into a tiny massage place and before I sat down I decided that i needed to go to the toilet. I asked for the toilet and the girl took me out across the road to their other business... It wasnt until I was half way thought my number 1 that I realised there was no toilet paper.. In a panic (I am so not a drip dryer!) I took off my underwear and used it to wipe myself.... when I got back to the massage parlour for my foot massage I realised that i had a short skirt on and no underwear! I turned to Lynn in complete panic and was like "Um I have no underwear on". She completely lost it and had no idea why I had no underwear on! The next hour was extremely uncomfortable as I tried to stratigically place my bag between my legs to hide the fact.... On the way back to the hotel we laughed and laughed as I told her my story as to how I came to have no underwear on...



As we walked up the steps to the first floor I accidentally let slip a 'fluff' and we completely lost it... we were walking down the hallway towards our room with our legs crossed and tears running down our faces... I was laughing so hard that I ended up collapsing against the wall and had a little bit of an accident.... which in turn made Lynn lose the plot.. by the time we made it through the front door of our room, Lynn was on the floor wetting herself (literally).... Our fun was not made for old chicks with weak bladders at all! lol



Anyway that is Phnom Penh done and dusted... See you in Vietnam (I really need to finish these blogs before I fly to India in 2.5 weeks!!!!)



Reet xx

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Comments

[Lynn]

LSHIPAL
Lol...u didn\'t do a little fluff, u did a rip roaring fart. I loved Cambodia & we need to do it again :-)

[D MJ Binkley]

Phnom Penh
Always good to have a 13 year old mechanic. It was good they had a sister hotel you could move to.