Even in Cambodia, They Are Trying to Find Me a Man!!

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Today was going to one of these days where I would just while away the hours. There are not that many things to see in Phnom Penh and I had pretty much seen everything that I truly had had my heart set on. The only thing missing was a trip to the market so I had made arrangements with Jin, my tuk tuk driver. He let me know that the Central Market, which is often an attraction due to the large domed building, was actually taking place outside due to the fact that the building itself was being renovated ... well with his grasp of the English language it was more something along the lines of "you know they clean, they sweep, they paint ... ". I was a little disappointed because I would have loved to see this building but truly not the end of the world.

So we headed to the Russian Market. (Just a side note for Anik ... I know that you are very concerned with my delicate constitution and my ease of getting malaria but I would like to put your mind at ease ... my hotel is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Centre of Entomology, Something Else and Malaria Control). See they have it under control!

First the market was a little lacking due to the fact that many of the vendors had extended their Khmer New Year to the weekend. I knew that I could potentially be affected by the fact that there was a public holiday so this was no big surprise really. I have bought a few souvenirs so far and I seem to have a new scarf addiction and at about $1 or $ 2 each, I can't help myself! I did manage to buy myself (and actually bargain down to about half the price ... the poor lady kept saying "you know lady, I need to make small profit") the tackiest of souvenirs but that I love love love love. It is this laminated frame that looks like a Tintin book cover where Tintin is in a tuk tuk heading to the Angkor Wats and it says Tintin au Cambodge. They also had Tintin en Thailande but it was him sitting in front of four strippers ... which is stupid because we all know that Tintin is gay, not that there's anything wrong with that! The market is crowded, chaotic and essentially an attack on all of your senses (and at times made me wish I was Jana with no sense of smell!!!). That is one of the things that has truly hit me about Phnom Penh (despite the enormous billboards touting Help Keep Phnom Penh Clean) is that it is quite grimy in places and with grime comes that lovely lovely smell.

We then headed to the Sorya Shopping Centre which is this large modern shopping centre where you can find everything and anything. This had been listed in my guide in terms of its food court as a good place to get Khmer food. Mmmmm ... I decided to stick to a mango shake when I saw that parts of the menues included fried body parts to a pig and chicken that I did not know you could fry up with rice. Mmm nothing like sauteed pig intestines to get you going in the morning. And I am taking care of my stomach today so that tomorrow I can start my three-day pho marathon! So as I sat there sitting drinking my mango shake and just doing some people watching (although at this point it felt more like people were watching me ... I must not be very Khmer looking ... but I was wearing my krama and everything!)

At one point I noticed that there were two guys sitting at the next table, one about my age and the other probably in his early 20's. So the conversation started out with the "lady where you from" and of couse when you say Canada, the automatic reply is "oh Canadaaaaaa ... very far, very big, very cold, yes?" Yes yes ... very cold. So I don't know what exactly I asked the older one but he proceeded to tell me that he was from Michigan ... uh? He was very obviously Khmer and had a very thick accent so Michigan was not exactly the answer I was anticipating which must have shown in my face (I so could never play poker!) because he proceeded to tell me that he worked for GM and that he would go to Windsor once in a while. So it was not surprising because I have been asked so many times now that the conversation eventually landed on ... "you come alone, you not have husband, you not have babies" ... Jin my tuk tuk driver asked me the same thing ... although when I said that I did not have babies he did ask me about 10 minutes later if I wanted to go see the orphanage ... mmmm no thank you! Anyways, so I continued my conversation with the two and the older one at one point started on the fact that he had this "friend" ... "you seem like nice girl" ... I mean I'm not as lucky as Anik and was not wooed with the promise of more horses at home but .... hehehehe that is still funny three years later, I swear!

So at this point, I decided to just go back to the hotel and then head back out for a walk. It is still about 38C today but I realized that I had not walked to anywhere since being in Cambodia. I was overdue. So I headed towards the Independence Monument and stopped in at a small wat along the way. I am not quite sure what it is called because it is actually not even identified in the Lonely Planet guide and all of the signs were in Khmer. I then continued down the street to the Buddha Factory which is exactly that, a place where they make Buddha statues and the like. This was kind of listed in the Other section of the guide and I was intrigued. First of all, you can't miss it because right outside there are about 100 spirit houses of different shapes, colours and sizes. It didn't look like I should be going in but you just put on your best dazed and confused look and hope for the best. I saw this woman near the entrance and asked "okay to see?" and she waved me in ... The place is essentially all of these little shacks similar to when you are at the market with the only difference being that these are filled with different Buddhas and statues. These are the more modern ... bright gold paint, bright red lips ... a little on the tacky side but interesting to see nonetheless. I continued aimlessly walking around stopping in for another fruit shake and just soaking in this last little bit of Phnom Penh.

So now I am back at the hotel. I stopped at the Lucky Supermarket and grabbed a huge tray of cut mangoes (for a whopping 21 cents) which comes with this small packet of sugar and chilis. My new favorite thing ... I am sad to report that I have not seen one mangosteen to save my life which was something I was SO looking forward to on this trip. Maybe in Vietnam???

So I have made arrangements for the tuk tuk to take me back to the airport and by tonight I will be safely tucked away at the Bi Saigon Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

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