Phnom Penh

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January 22nd 2012

Published: April 24th 2012

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Photo 42

Bloody brilliant Bloody Mary's at Mad Monkey

Arriving in Phnom Penh, we drove down by the waterfront past some amazing buildings silhouetted against the dusk sky, past what appeared to be gringo-ville (the equivalent of Pham Ngu Lao in HCMC) and then got dropped off next to the night market which was just stirring into life. We took a tuk tuk to the hostel which was back out of town the other way so got to see some of the city, a pretty spacious and green place with wide streets and little traffic.

We got to our home for the next few days, Mad Monkey Hostel, set in a quiet residential street where we were given much needed cold water and a warm welcome. We “heads or tails-ed” it for the double room as they only had one available, which Lisa and Ian won, but which in hindsight they wish they’d lost as each night for about 4 hours there was a weird tap, tap, tapping noise right outside their window that kept Lisa up without fail. Getting into the room we were greeted by instructions on how to use the “bum gun” for a cleaner and more satisfying toilet experience, had a quick shower and then

Photo 43

Dinner at Yike! We were so into the food we forgot to take pics of our first Cambodian dinner

headed back downstairs for much needed drinks – beer for Ian and very well-done Bloody Mary’s for the girls - before heading back into town tuk tuk stylies, via Dale and Justin’s super plush hotel so Ian could go off and watch the footie with them at Paddy Rice while the girls went to Yike for dinner and tried some delicious Cambodian food for the first time - Khmer Amok is the speciality so we all had that and a noodle soup. By this point Rhonda was nearly falling asleep in her chair so we went for wander to the night market to try and bring some life back into the old girl. Unfortunately it was more like Wembley market than Camden market with a few food stalls and a bizarre live show slap bang in the middle of it, with presenters entertaining the crowd of, ooooo, about 20. Even though there was generally only tat to be had – a multitude of Angry Birds paraphernalia, Cambodian royalty watches and blingtastic clothes - a few purchases were made and then we moseyed back up the street to find the fellas. Their game had just finished and so we jumped in

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Tuk tuk action

a tuk tuk whose driver kindly said he’d take us to a lively street with lots of bars to choose from…which in reality turned out to be seedy, stripper street…did he not notice the 3 girls in the group?! So instead we went for cocktails in a bar the boys knew before the ladies retired to bed leaving the boys to it.

Monday arrived with a slightly weary Lisa after the tapping window incident (although the bed and sheets were super comfy) and so we woke up later than planned, thinking the girls must have gone out for a wander already. But no, they were feeling just as lazy as us, so we headed downstairs for some yummy brekko, chilled out and chatted, eventually getting out the door at 2pm.

We walked into town, passing the Independence Monument, down wide pedestrianized promenades, in the burning sunshine, heading for the Royal Palace. The traffic was so much less frantic than HCMC and the whole pace of life seemed to be more relaxed. Not being the best map readers, we ended up walking the whole perimeter of the Palace site before finding the entrance, which was of course right where

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we had started. The exterior architecture of the buildings was stunning and so we were quite disappointed once we found the Silver Pagoda, which gets its name due to the fact that the floor is completely made of silver, to find it had been covered up by some old red carpet with only a few small sections visible. We saw the diamond Buddha and a woman weaving which took Lisa and Nina back to their days at the Grail, while Ian and Rhonda wondered about our fascination with this old skool handicraft. On leaving we passed a lady selling all kinds of bugs to devour – snake on a stick, various sizes of crunchy cockroaches, other unknown bettles and bugs - which Nina was tempted to try but ended up bottling out on. The stall lady was a moody old cow anyway and so didn’t deserve our custom. We popped into a wat (monastery temple), just missing the service and then decided it was beer o’clock. We happened upon the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, which Lisa and Rhonda had read about, and thought we should sample a taste of the past. The views from the top were great, looking out over

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Eating area at the night market

the river and opposite side of the bank, which looks like it’s ready for some serious development. Pictures and old newspaper clippings gave us a view into the past when this club was THE place for journalists, correspondents and foreigners living in Phnom Penh before and during the conflicts. However, Nina was not so impressed with the service as the beer and dessert she wanted was not available, but the rest of us enjoyed some grub and beer, watching the sun setting behind the university and flag-lined promenade. (Aptly enough the British flag seemed to be the only one not swaying in the wind whilst the others all proudly flew for their countries). We moved onto the roof top bar at Frangipani for happy hour before tuk tuking back to the hostel for showers, some chill time and more cocktails – this time an excellent lychee-tini for Lisa.

Some general observations we made after our first day in Phnom Penh were how much cleaner, more spacious and calmer this city was compared with Saigon. Drivers followed the rules of the road and the roads themselves were in good condition. The slower pace of life also seemed to make the

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Dale and his manly drink

people a much happier nation – everyone was extremely friendly and helpful, the girls at the hostel especially so, calling Ian “handsome” and Lisa “lovely”, saying that “Monkey loves you” and “misses you” after we’d been gone only a few hours…thinking about it, maybe they were high! The bars and restaurants in the gringo part of town were really well-furnished, with modern and high quality furniture, although the city itself is not overly westernised, with the more colonial and traditional part of town full of beautiful buildings. The food was tasty, Angkor beer refreshing and you pay for everything in US dollars getting change in Cambodian real. The level of English was also much better than in Vietnam, with people having clearer accents – we found out that this is because Cambodian is not a tonal language and so easier for people to learn and pronounce. The written language however has not been Romanised and so is impossible for us westerners to understand. We were loving Cambodia after just one day!

Tuesday came round and we were up earlier for some yummy brekko at the hostel, both traditional Cambodian and Western, in preparation for a day of history and

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Dale can't face the abuse any longer from Justin and Ian

sadness. We had decided to get all the depressing activities done on the same day so off we went with Justin in a tuk tuk to The Killing Fields, about a half an hour drive from the hostel. As we drove out of the city we saw some more traditional Cambodian life with farmers tending their flooded fields and kids running around dusty roads playing with whatever their imagination created for them. The Killing Fields are sites outside of Phnom Penh where the Khmer Rouge regime tortured and killed countless people during its 4-year rule in the 1970’s. The place, although visited by many tourists, had such a poignant air to it, as we wandered around the site, guided by an audio-tour so as not to disturb the peace of this horrendous resting place for over a million souls. I won’t go into detail here as I don’t feel I can do the injustice justice, but will recommend watching the film “The Killing Fields” made in the 80’s or reading “First They Killed My Father” to get an insight into the tragedies that happened there.

After a sobering morning, we rode thoughtfully to our next insightful destination, S21, the

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Yum!

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Located in a former high school, this became the place where The Khmer Rouge imprisoned, interrogated, tortured and killed thousands. Of these, only seven were known to have survived. The buildings are full of images of those imprisoned there, whose fear, despondency and occasional surprising defiance are all too evident in their eyes. The place was even more sombre than The Killing Fields in a way, as you were bombarded with visual memories of the atrocities. It was all too much for us and so we went and had a cold drink while waiting for Ninda.

After an insightful day, we all gathered our thoughts back at the hostel before heading out for some food. Our spirits had been lifted as Jamie had arrived from the south and it was great to see her and for her to meet Ninda. We had seen a prettily decorated place with outdoor seating and an interesting menu the day before and so plumped for that as our dinner choice. We had a large table, in the courtyard, surrounded by fairy lights and had a much-needed beer while perusing the menu. After much deliberation as always, we chose what

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More yum!

we wanted, only to be told “Sorry, finished” for almost every dish we wanted. We realised then that Cambodians must eat early as the place was almost empty and it wasn’t even 9pm. So we were told what we could have and what came was a mixture of good and not so good, but the company was great as were the beers and Bernard (our Belgian friend we’d met in Paraty, Brazil) and Kim (his ex from the States, whose parents are Vietnamese) turned up to polish off the night. They had had a nightmare journey themselves from one of the islands as Kim had left her passport at the hotel and only realised once on the mainland, so had to wait for someone to bring it over for them which obviously added a few extra hours to the journey. It’s comforting to know these hellish things happen to other people as well!! After dinner we tuk tuked into town for some drinks and whilst wandering along, heard someone yelling “Lisa!!” Wondering who Lisa could possibly know in the city, we were surprised to see Rob and Gemma run out of a bar, an English couple that Lisa and Jamie

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Happy happy days

worked with in Saigon. Happy to see each other, we joined forces and found a place that could accommodate us all and was still serving drinks – a small feat in the “early to bed” Cambodian capital. We chatted and caught up, finding out each other’s plans for the next part of the journey before making our way back to our respective hostels ready for an early start the following morning and an onward journey to Siem Reap and the land of Angor Wat.

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