Phnom Penh

---

Phnom Penh is known as the pearl of South East Asia, it seems quite fitting, it is lustrous and reflective of a melting pot of different cultures and businesses. We had a ball!

Our good friend Louise has been living here for about 2 years, so was a great wealth of local knowledge, advice and excellent company. We started our Sunday with a late breakfast with Lou and a friend followed by some pool time and a rainy trip to the beautiful palace complex. A stunning assortment of pavilions, stupa and monuments with amazing icons, art and artefacts on display. Dodging the rain made our tour a little round about but still lovely.

Dinner with Lou was at a little dumpling shop.... Ah...maz...ing! As usual Elsie had the full tour of the kitchen, noodle making stand (so cool to watch) and BBQ, you can imagine how good she smelled! Monday we overslept and made good use of the hotel pool before heading to a little Indonesian place full of expat business people for lunch.

We also did a tour of the 1960s architecture of the city via tuk tuk with a local architect guide. What a different way to see parts of a city you may never otherwise go. It was so much fun to experience a housing project (100 houses built to be naturally cooled), university (the French department) and sports stadium, all still in use (sort of). I especially loved seeing the different sport practice at the stadium, including the latest exercise craze dancing in unison at the top of the amphitheatre.

And then it was time for dinner again!! This time the beautiful romdeng restaurant where disadvantaged street kids are taught English and hospitality skills. Romdeng specialises in traditional Khmer food including insects, we just had to give crispy tarantula a try! Arnee declined to taste, initially, but after Louise and I ate ours and Agus reached out for a second leg Arnee gave it a try, swiftly followed by a slug of beer. The spiders were actually pretty tasty, the dipping sauce was excellent, everything else was spectacular.

---