Phnom Penh, a captivating, crazy, Cambodian capital.

---

Sunday 9th July, its going now folks!!!!

So last night we booked our bus. Whenever someone starts talking to you over here the usual spiel is "Hello, how are you? Where you from" Then we answer, thinking that we may have met a genuine person making making genuine converstion. Then they always come out with "So where you go? You wanna bus" Always trying to sell you something.

So we got taken to the bus station by the guy from our hotel that we had booked it through, obviously so he could get his commission. We were then on our way and off to the capital.
The bus was red hot all the way for 6 or so hours, quite uncomfortable. But halfway we made a very interesting stop.
Back home if you are travelling up the A1 or M1, you may call off at the McDonalds or Welcome break for a stop. But today we stopped off at some roadside cafe, that looked ok inside. But outside there were people selling fried Tarantulas, massive fried Beetles and other insects it was crazy!! There were also the usual limbless people walking round begging for money. This is very sad to see and you have to be quite strong when you see them.

THEN THE TIME CAME!!! We had arrived!!! and smack bang in the centre, very dissorientated! but ready for battle. As soon as we pulled up into the bus station our bus was immediately surrounded by taxi drivers, tuk tuk drivers, that always try and catch your eye for your buiness and hotel touts shoving their cards up at the windows. Me, Melissa, Kylie and John had agreed a plan to head down to a guesthouse on foot at the other end of town.
As soon as the doors on the bus opened we were swarmed! We got our bags and set off walking leaving a trail of touts in our wake, some still following us for a good couple of hundred metres or so! Even down the streets we were getting constantly asked the same questions.
Melissa and Kylie found us a nice hotel for 5$ after some pretty hard looking.

And we were surprised in our first impressions of Phnom Penh. We were both expecting a run down city, full of beggers lining the streets but what we got was far from it. As we later went to the riverside for some food, which is very nice, we saw lots of people and families sat around eating on the parks, playing games and having fun with the Royal Palace as a backdrop, all very pleasant. Then 10 minutes later, as we were sat having tea we got the other side of things. Children coming up to us selling books, flowers and papers that are obviously being pimped, and beggers asking for money.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN 4 or 5 people on one motorbike? A motorbike carrying a fridge? Well we have!! Our transport home for the night was a carriage attached to a motorbike that made for a pleasant ride home for some TV and relaxation.

---

Photos

Fried tarantula?
A couple infront of us bought a live one and had it on the bus. They said it was to keep it fresh!

Comments

[Nisha]

Hey guys - they were great pics while i was eating my chicken salad sandwiches!!