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Published: March 20th 2010
Phnom Penh
Drive from the airport - on the way into the city to my hotel - The Golden Gate Hotel. The plane trip over to Hong Kong was suprisingly really quick. The flight was smooth except for a few turbulence which is expected. I love Cathay Pacific, best airline I've flown with so far. Much more leg room and I love the entertainment options. You have a personal screen with a remote/game console and there are over 50 movies to choose from. You have the new releases as well as some oldies but goodies. Then you have over 50 TV shows and also over 100 games to play. SICK!!!!....Man I can fly for days and days and just watch movies & shows... LOL.... Thus why I didnt sleep much.
The stop over in Hong Kong was 4.5hrs...(LONG!!!!)... I slept for about an hour on the waiting chairs. Then I was on DragonAir on the way to Cambodia. We arrived into Phnom Penh 1030hrs local time. The airport is really small. It was really weird coz you have to apply for a visa for entry which is USD$20.00 and because I didnt have a picture to put on my visa I had to pay a USD$2.00 penalty... and they took a web pic of me...WTF... heheheh...
The view from the
plane of Cambodia is beautiful... all landscapes with thousands of rice fields. You can also sadly see where the slum areas are seperated to the "city"
The weather today is 31degrees.....hot right !! But I'm use to this heat and I actually can handle this heat more than the heat in Sydney.
A driver from Golden Gate Hotel where I'm staying at met me at the airport. His not very talkative. All he said was Hi, How are you? Can I help you with your bag... And then Thank you.. That was it. So the 20min or so drive was in silence. I really wish he gave me some kind of commentary. Wow Phnom Penh is so simliar to Manila... not much of a culture shock. The major mode of transport is Tuk Tuk, Motor Bike and Push Bikes. Its amazing seeing little 5 year olds in their school uniform on their push bike along with the normal traffic... AND with NO HELMET!!!.. What DA!!!.. Like Manila, there are no lanes and people beep at each other to overtake (hello... use your blinker lights !!!..) Oh and another thing, at their traffic lights there is a countdown timer.
So each light is for 59seconds then it counts down til zero and then changes colours. How cool is dat!!! You know that you only wait max 1min at each traffic light.
The traffic, noise & air pollution is not as bad as it is in Manila. But the beeping sounds are very familiar. If your filo you would know what I'm talking about.
So I arrived at my hotel, The Golden Gate Hotel... very very very very standard, tiny room but neat and clean and the staff are very friendly. And internet usage USD$1.00 for 1 hour... hell yeah!!!...
After I refreshened up I headed my way to face the city. Just like in Thailand you get harassed by every single Tuk Tuk driver.... "Miss.. Tuk Tuk here... where you go"... Miss... over here cheaper Tuk Tuk" . Its really tiring having to always shake your head and say no.
I didnt wanna take a Tuk Tuk just yet as I wanted to enjoy a leisurely walk. It amazes me how much this city is so much like Manila... even crossing the road is a huge challenge... But I did it ...several times!!!.. LOLzzz... its
actually safer to cross the roads here than in Manila or in Sydney. Coz they dont speed here and they got no insurance to pay for a tourist they've just ran over. They also have so many small street stalls selling BBQ chicken, corn, peanuts ...etc...And sadly.. lots of beggers and people living on the street.
After a few km's of walking, I hailed down a Tuk Tuk and made my way over the the Central Market. Its a market located in a air-con shopping centre. Its haven!!!.. Similar to Manila and Bangkok... Each floor is dedicated to a product... so there is a floor for just jewellery, make up and beauty products, then another floor for just womens clothing, a floor for technology and a floor with all pirated DVD's... oooo now thats my haven.. LOLzz... They sell TV Show box sets for USD$1.50... hell yeah I'll be back.
They also have a gaming floor with all video games and they have a Rollerblading rink. I sat down there for awhile watching these kids do amazing tricks. And it was cute watching young 'high school' couples meet up for a date. They also have 4D ghost rides...
ummm no Thank you.
Didn't buy anything (YET)... Their foodcourt is funny too coz you need to buy food vouchers in order to buy food. So in front of the food court there is a cash counter where you exchange cash for food vouchers. USD$1 = 4000 riel food vouchers. A meal costs between 7000 - 9000 riel... so about USD$2.00.. cheap as!!!
All I wanted was a fresh coconut drink which was 4000riel.. it was so refreshing... mmmm
I then left the market and walked around a bit more. A foreign man then approached me and asked if I speak english.. funny enough we both from Australia. Poor man, he was on a bus from Siem Reap and unfortunately he fell asleep and when he awoke into Phnom Penh all his bags were gone... this is very common !!!... He asked for a some money just to call home and I gave him USD$2.00 which is more than enough. He Thanked me so much and went along his way. I pray that he'll be okay. That is the worst thing that can happen to anyone.
I visited the temple Wat Phnom... stunning !!!... I went into
the temple totally forgetting to take off my hat when a little old man told me off... OOPPPSSS.... my bad.
I apologise if some of the things I said doesnt make sense. Its 6pm here and I just came back from dinner. Went to a nice restaurant down the road. Total dinner cost me $8.00 .. i had a small pizza (which I didnt end up finishing), 2 Singha beers and a bottle of water.. How cheap is that aye.. They have happy hour which a beer cost 75cents, spirits $1.50 and a cocktail at $2.50. OMG!!!... As I was sitting enjoying my dinner I noticed alot of "white" and "african" people that I think are locals or long stay tourists coz they are driving their own motorbikes and/or cars. Oh and they let dogs in the restaurant too.. how cool is dat. This one lady had a huge german shepard with her while she sipped on a few cocktails.
Got an early start tomorrow... i'm heading off to Wat Opot orphanage... Woo Hoo!!!
Sorry guys I wont be loading up any pics until I get home... As I dont want to put the memory stick into
these computers just in case.
Bye for now...
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Jo Candelaria
non-member comment
Hi Ruth! Nice to hear that you have arrived safely. I'm so excite to hear all your adventures. Keep up the post. It's awesome doing blogs. I totally love it. I started doing mine not to long ago as well. It helps me to remember all the fantastic things that I have done coz I tend to forget. Take care. Miss ya and love you heaps. Hope you have time ti check my blog out too...