Day 11 - Another early start with a 7am minivan to the capital Phnom Penh. A bit apprehensive after yesterday's journey and the roads would be worse as it was raining. Again the van was full but we had paid for 3 seats to give us just a little extra room which basically means they only put 3 people on the 3 seats in back row instead of the usual 4. Still a squash but better than it could have been!
Not a bad journey to be honest, we did stop halfway to get some food. The driver just pulled up at a roadside eatery an everyone piled out. Us two and the other traveller on the van had no idea what to do so just stood there for 30 minutes looking lost.
Back on the van we headed off. A large section of the road just before Phnom Penh had been washed away in the recent floods so some of the journey was really bumpy but at least we were doing the appropriate speed! Got chatting to the German girl who was travelling alone and she had siblings and friends in Bath, Liverpool and Manchester. Arrived in Phnom Penh at around midday and it was absolutely manic, cars, mopeds and buses coming from every direction. We got dropped off somewhere which didn't really resemble a bus station, just a sort of place where random vehicles stopped just off the main road. As soon as we came to a halt, tuk tuk drivers were hassling us and the other girl. Ignoring them to get to our bags as quick as possible I thought they would have for the message. The three of us congregated away from the bus to try and figure out where we were going. After trying to haggle a price for 2 drop offs it didn't really work as we were going in opposite directions. We wished each other luck and jumped in one tuk tuk who then proceeded to try and sell us city tours, day trips, half day trips, the list was endless. Hoping we'd got the message across we wanted 'The 252' on Street 252 we headed off into the manic traffic. A couple of very near misses later, we arrived at the hotel. A really nice place, could be described as a sanctuary away from the chaos outside the walls.
It was belting down with rain, which was actually quite a nice relief from the intense heat of the last week, so we had lunch at the hotel as it was easier and we were both starving. A quick bite to eat and out into the streets and luckily it had stopped raining. After a bit of wandering we found a nice cafe to have a drink and come up with a plan. Plan concocted, we set off for the riverside which is where the majority of the tourists stay. Wandered past the Independence monument and the Royal Palace to the river front and then headed for Blue Pumpkin a cafe overlooking the river. Another smoothie down we jumped in a tuk tuk back to the hotel. We had decided we wanted to take in a Cambodian show in the evening so booked some tickets through the hotel. Showered and ready we got a tuk tuk to the national museum where the show was. It was a traditional Cambodian opera with traditional dance which was about a love triangle between 2 peasants and a prince. Mosquito heaven as it was outside. We walked to a restaurant called 'Friends' which is a place that has given underprivileged children a chance in life by giving them culinary skills and they run the place.......no room so must be popular. We then decided to wander down to the front which is packed with restaurants but we didn't think it would a problem as it was 20:30 but a lot of places were rammed. We stumbled across Le Croisette, a pasta place where we had a nice meal and a beerlao somehow. A bit of haggling for the tuk tuk as two of them were vying for the business (the winning one was kitted out with monkeys and vines!) and it was back to the hotel and some air conditioning.