Phnom Penh - Day 1

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This trip is started out bit differently to my other adventures. I usually try to arrange my flights so that I land in my destination city late afternoon. Giving me enough time to get to my hotel, have a shower, and then maybe head out to do a bit of exploring before dinner and crash out for the night. This time however, my flight left late Friday night and I arrived in Phnom Phen late Saturday morning. Check in isn't until 2 so I could only drop my bags at the hotel and then head out to explore the city still covered in the grime of a day's travel. No matter, I had 2 goals 1) find an ATM to pull out some Cambodian reels and 2) find a place to taste test the local beer and maybe have a spot of lunch

I left the hotel and turned left down street 148 because I could see some kind of market down the road. Markets need cash which means ATM'S, so that's a good place to start. Nope, this was definitly a locals market, no street food although there was plenty of food on the street. Huge slabs of red meat lying out in baskets (no fridge displays here) and huge platters of seafood lying on a bed of melting ice. I am not a fan of seafood at the best of times, and these kinds of markets are a long way short of that. But I digress , I made it to the other end of the market with no ATM in site and no tasty lunch. A search of the surrounding streaks yielded 4 ATM's, only dispensing USD which I have. No local currency. I did manage to find a bar that was happy to sell me a local beer for US$2. I gave them a fiver and got 12,000 Riels back. Yeah thats not disconcerting. Apparently it is common here. They quote prices in USD, but the dont have the change so you get reils back. A quick calc on my XE app revealed the exchange was reasonable, but I am notb liking this tradition. I need me some reils!

I walked back down 148 street to my hotel and was very pleased to realise it hadn't moved. I was hailed by a tuk tuk driver, not uncmmon considering about half a dozen of them had tried to capture my attention as I walked down the street. He had seen me getting a few happy snaps (of course) and advised me to be careful taking photos here. The n'ere do wells see you put your camera or phone back in your bag. They then fly past on their bikes and try to snatch the bag. So stick to the footpaths, which to be honest, is a lot harder than it sounds. The footpaths are crowded with vendors and parked bikes and cars and tables from the little restaurants. I'm constantly stepping out on the street to walk as there is simply no way through the clutter. The traffic is the typical Asian city bedlam. So far I've done pretty well navigating traffic. I'm applying the Bali rule, it I'm in front, they can see me and its their responsibility to stop.

My civically minded tuk tuk driver then asked me if I wanted to take a tour. I'm not interested in tours today but he was quite happy to chat about my plans and offer his services to take me out to a couple of sites I want to see that are outside of Phnom Penh. We connected via whatsapp so I can make more arrangements with him later when I decide on what I want to do. Now this may seem odd, but it was a welcome difference from the next half dozen tut tuk drivers that hailed me and started trying to sell their tour services. They will not take no for an answer. They just keep going on and on. The word no just seems to be an invitation to show me more flash cards of more sites. "10 dollar, 10 dollar. Only an hour. Come! I show you." It's rude but I just have to turn and walk away. I beat one back just outside the royal palace, but then 10 minutes later as I was walking back to the hotel he crossed my path again and offered tot ake me back tot the hotel. I declined because it was only a block awayand while airport may have looked like crap I was quite capable

It is worth noting, the way back to the hotel meant I had done a big loop of the neighbourhood. I think I checked out at least a dozen ATM's, all of them only dispensing USD. The one I did find that gave out Reils...2 doors down from my hotel, if only I had turned right instead of left I would have found it. Right next to the beer and pizza place which would have been awesome for lunch. Accomplishing both goals for the afternoon in just a few short steps

I checked into the hotel and had the greatest shower ever. 20 hours of travel dust and 4 hours of Phnom Penh swear washed away. I unpacked a bit,wrote a bit, read a bit. Making decisions on three hours of sleep is quite hard. Eventually I headed back out to the beer and pizza place for dinner. It's on a main road. Next to the Mekong River. By dinner time the pace had really picked up. The people watching wax excellent. There was the usual array of motorbike drivers, mostly with two or more passengers. I will commend the Cambodians for their commitment to safety. A lot more long sleeves and pants onnbikes here. Although that commitment didn't extend to footwear or children. Everyone I. Thongs and sandals. Babies in arms, toddlers squished between Mum and dad as the rode down the street. they also love a sidecar here. Not for people, for transport of goods. I saw quite a few motorbikes with a food stall set up as a side car. Think food truck, but without the truck part.

Across the road there is a park that runs along the Mekong river. There seemed to be some kind of public dancercize class going on. When I sat down there was a group of about 10 people bopping away. When I left the restaurant, the group had grown to about 30. Different folks but still rockin it out. It was quite entertaining. There were a few restaurant boats floating down the river. I had heard about these. I will give one a try while I'm here. They were lit up like Christmas trees. The whole esplanade was alive with folks, exercising, walking their dogs, dancing. Its a great social space. Although how they have the desire to exercise in this heat is beyond me

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