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Published: February 21st 2008
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For all you lovers out there, a blog surrounded with hearts, kisses and little bit of love.
We arrived in Phnom Penh on the day before Valentines day after being dropped off by our tour company at a hotel that they suggest we stay in. No, No No we have booked a far cheaper place around the corner that was suggested to us by our Halong Bay buddies, Darren and Amanda. We took a Tuk Tuk (Not east to say with these teeth) over to our hotel, the Okay guesthouse and were pleasantly surprised with our room and accommodation. A lovely stately room with black teak furniture and amenities that we are becoming used too.
As we had arrived in a fresh new country with empty bellies with thought that a quick jaunt around the town picking up some local fodder would be the best thing to do. We had been talking to fellow travellers along the way (some people that had not washed for a while) and all of them had given Cambodia the thumbs up so our expectations were high.
With map's of the city and the lonely planet in hand (jee whiz we fit into
this culture like a glove) we headed towards the river front where it seemed that the restaurants would be placed. The whole vibe of the place was slightly different to Vietnam but the common scents of urine, garbage and raw dirt echoed around the nostrils and the easily recognised sound of men clearing their throats and spitting it onto the street made us feel like we were not too far away Vietnam.
After walking past the local night market on our way to the river front we were confronted by what I can only describe as the weirdest and perhaps most stomach churning sight that I have ever seen, only closely beaten by the volume of belly fluff that Frank can produce daily. We were encouraged by the toothless market seller to come and sample her wears, it was about eight trays of what can only be described as fried bugs, roaches, beetles (you don't see Lennon on TV much these days'), spiders, large worms. It was pretty much all of the bugs that you would never want to encounter alive or dead and these guy's eat them, not because they have a dwindling celebrity careers and they want
more pages in OK magazine but because they like the taste. As we did not want to spoil our appetites for our meal we decided to give it a miss, we had the guts to do so, I want to stress that.
We carefully selected our restaurant by sitting in the nearest cafe with empty seats lining the pavement, I have learnt very early on in mine and Emma's relationship that if bellies are empty then the mood is short. I am sure that most people are similar.
It was at this point that our cockroach count improved and another little blighter crawled it's way behind Emma's chair, a little squeal of delight was let out by the travelling Dr Lady and we swapped seats. See chivalry is not dead, a lesson to all you non-modern me out there.
Cambodia was an open book until that meal but we very quickly realised that the divide between rich and poor in this country is massive. Incomprehensible to be honest. I don't want to dwell on the negatives too much but over the next thirty minutes of sitting at the table eating we met over twenty different street kids,
some clothed, some not. These guys ranged from the age of three up to maybe fourteen but all of them pain stakingly poor. They would beg for money but would glad fully accept your empty drinks can or if you gave them the scraps from you plate. We were sat there with full bellies, spending our money on things that did not even register on our financial scale above a packet of chewing gum if we were back in the UK. It was heartbreaking, if offered a plane ticket out of that situation there and then I would have accepted it gratefully. But it was not only the poverty that kicks you in the lower regions but also the fact that a couple of yards away on the road is some of the most expensive cars I have ever seen (not as nice as the purple peril), some costing $200,000 and all driven by the Cambodian elite. There is plenty of money here but only a few people have it and they are dam sure that there will be no sharing.
On the way back to the hotel we got freaked out by some more insects but managed to
get into the Okay and after a good night sleep we were ready to give Phnom Penh another chance. Our mission today was to get rid of some clothes as we were carrying far too much weight in the rucksacks. I can assure you that Emms was getting very bored of my constant gripes and moans about the weight. So after selecting some items (Stuart's items = one pair of shorts , Emm's items = more underwear and vest tops that you can shake a stick at. She is going to kill me when she reads this. Ouch, she just gave me a dead arm). A very funny experience was had in the local post office but we managed to shed 11 kilos and we are now far more mobile.
The lonely planet suggested that we look at a restaurant named Friends, it was owned by a western guy and all the employers there we previous street kids who had turned their life around and were given the tools to enter into employment with five star hotels etc. What a place, a shining star in an abyss of darkness. We arrived to be greeted with the most beautiful atmosphere
and service, the food was out of this world. I would go back to Phnom Penh just to eat here. I have to add at this point we are not just eating the whole time on our travels, we are doing other stuff and there is no obsession with food - anyone for noodles.
A couple of beers that night and we were ready for bed.....OK it was Valentines day as well so maybe a kiss and a cuddle but that's all you are getting on the blog. Did you know that the hot weather give's you a headache, most days. I didn't, a piece of new news for me.
We woke up the next morning and did a few of the tourist sights, museums, monuments all of the general things, most of them built around the same time Jen' school days. Lunch approached and we blessed with another stunning meal in a traditional Khmer restaurant. The food was wonderful and the eatery scene in Phnom Penh was beginning to win us over. Our objective that day was to see the bat's that escape from the national museum at dusk and by all accounts are a fantastic sight.
We picked our watering hole carefully with a direct view onto the bell tower and the viewing began...........still viewing............here batty bat bats......three bats. Not even the large ones at that. However for each spent watching we did consume a couple of cold ones so perhaps the bats came out when one of us was at the bar. You don't think that David Attenborough has this problem. Throughout the evening we were joined by an Aussie couple that lived out there and life stories we swapped. Well what they really did was scare the living daylights out of us with stories of torture about various future destinations on our trip. Funnily enough the trip back to the hotel was much quicker, still past the fried bugs though.
Well there you go, we boarded the bus for Siem Reap the next day and the temples awaited. Phom Penh was different but life lessons were definitely learnt, we are a very fortunate pair.
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