Phnom Penh - Cambodia

June 27th - 30th, 2016

Arriving at the end of a day's bus journey we quickly agreed a price with a tuk tuk driver and were taken through the dusty streets to our hotel just across the road from Wat Botum Park...a large expanse of concrete around which vendors gather in the evenings selling food and people go to join in aerobics classes after the heat of the day has passed. We had plenty of time here to look around, which was lucky because the heat didn't allow us to go anywhere very quickly!

Our first day we decided to find a supermarket to buy some bits for subsequent breakfasts and lunches and on the way found ourselves drawn to a little hotel that was selling reasonably priced coffee and the chance to relax next to their pretty swimming pool. They must have brewed the coffee especially for us as it took a long time to arrive and we were the only people there, we didn't mind though as it was pleasant to sit out of the sun and when it came, the coffee, in enormous mugs, wasn't too bad! Afterwards we found the supermarket and bought some bits before moving on to a little cafe I'd read about that did dumplings...we very much enjoyed our lunch here and vowed to come back the next day too as it was so cheap and tasty.

After dropping our shopping back at the hotel we went to see the Independence Monument which is set in the middle of the road at the tip of a very long, narrow park between the busy lanes of traffic. We then walked by the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda (which we couldn't see as it was inside the walls and you had to pay to go in), the National Museum fronted by a rather unkempt park area, Wat Ounalom which we luckily saw from the back so no one tried to charge us anything, Kandal Market full of money changers and lots of produce stalls in a very unsanitary street and finally on to Central Market which is housed in a rather grand pavilion type building and is full of the usual touristy type things as well as more produce, meat and fish. After escaping the confines of the oppressive market we were relieved to walk back via the riverfront, which so long as you don't get too close to the edge where you can see the filth of the water, is actually quite pretty. The park in front of the Royal Palace comes alive late afternoon with families picnicking and children running around and people selling cupfuls of steamed snails and various meat skewers. Once back at the hotel we ate our dinner of baguettes with pate and veg before getting ready to go out dancing. We had found out from some people at the festival in Vietnam that there was a salsa club here so we went along and had a nice, although very humid, night's dancing before retiring to bed.

The next day, having seen most of the interesting sights already, we decided to take the long walk to the so called Russian Market 5km away as we had read that it was particularly interesting and much less touristy than any others. It was a swelteringly hot day and we were in no good mood by the time we had dodged a million scooters and tuk tuks to get there, only to find that it really was nothing special after all! The only slight variation to the norm was that one section of the market was given over wholly to mechanical parts of all descriptions...though mostly scooter parts, which made for something different to look at. On the way back from the market it started to get really windy and we walked along practically blind due to the immense amount of dust and grit blown up in the air and into our eyes. Luckily we were still able to find the dumpling place for lunch, unluckily it started to rain before we'd finished and we had a long soggy walk back to the hotel where we pretty much hibernated for the rest of the day.

In the morning we were picked up by minivan and taken to an area near to the central market where all the buses congregate and were able to get on board our rather spacious bus to travel to Siem Reap for our next adventure!