Blog : Phnom Penh again(!)

After yet another horrific night bus, without sleeper seats or the toilet that we paid extra for and with the customary loud music playing all the way through the night, we all arrived rather grumpy and ruffled to Phnom Penh. We didn't have anywhere booked to stay so started looking through the lonely planet and found a couple of places we liked the sound of and we got a tuktuk driver to take us there after some fierce negotiating on the price. We've found that at particularly touristy location the prices you get are ridiculously high, especially in Phnom Penh where any journey anywhere in the city per tuktuk is meant to be $2, this p****started of asking for $6 and was swiftly put on his place by all o us at once! We must have driven around five or six hostels that either didn't have space for us or were really really grotty and the girls had said they wanted to stay somewhere nice on their last night so in the end we ended up stumping up the cash and checking into a pretty nice hotel, which was $50 per room, which included breakfast and the use of the hotel pool, which we'd worked out would cost $8 and $5 respectively per person then it made the room feel ok value, at essentially $12 each! By the time we'd checked in and everything it was near 8am and having been up most of the night we were all pretty hungry and took full opportunity of being the first people up to raid the free all you can eat buffet breakfast with fruits, cereals, uh-mazing croissants, baked beans, omelettes cooked in front of you and loads of bacon and sausage for the other girls. Literally we went to town, I think I had four plates full!! We were going to nap afterwards but it felt like a shame to waste the sunshine so we all lay on the loungers dipping in and out of the tiny shallow but refreshing pool and in and out of the shade. Kate spent the morning looking at an online job application and I treated myself and sat and read a magazine in between blogging! I think the girls enjoyed being able to catch some rays on their last days as although we've been out in the sun a lot they hasn't had an awful lot of tanning time and no one ever wants to go home from
holiday the same colour they came out!

In the afternoon once we were feeling a bit more human we went to the Russian market again and Lora and Alice had their nails done at the same place we had the first time we were in Phnom Penh. Lora got the Cambodia flag like I had on my toes which looked good. We wanted around the market and the girls were amazed at everything being sold. They picked up some bits and bobs for themselves and as presents and I managed to stock up for India buying another t shirt, a lemon yellow floaty number in cooling cotton and a maxi dress which I can also wear as a skirt for leg covering purposes (i hate practical shopping, feeling the material and deciding if it'll make you sweat or whether a neckline is to low and mean your asking for an Indian raping :/ I can't wait to get home and just do normal shopping!) We spent quite a lot of time in the Russian market and although most of the stall lady's won't bargain with you, there are lots of interesting things to look at and handcrafted nicknack bits to coo over.

On the girls last night we wanted to do something special, so we got ready in posh frocks - the last time we could wear them before sending all our nice clothes and hair straighteners etc home before India - and went to the Raffles hotel Elephant Bar happy hour for cocktails and nibbles. I had a Kamikaze which was nice but i had absolutely no idea what was in it! and we were given free vegetable crisps with salad, dried banana and wasabi peas, all of which were nice but better for being free!! It was fun to do something completely different and see how the other half live and it was surprisingly a lot cheaper than we'd thought thanks to the happy hour offer! It was funny though because we all sat bolt upright in our chairs and spoke without swearing or being too loud - being in such a posh place meant we were very conscious of not looking like backpackers!! We'd been to the cash point on the way to Raffles and neither Kate nor I wanted to carry all of the cash or our cards so we quickly nipped back to the hotel to drop it all off to our safe. Back at our hotel, the Tea House, we found that there was a magazine launch event happening in the reception area an there were lots of Asian fashiony and modely people milling around. After scoffing a load of the free spring rolls and oh so naughty chocolate brownies we had a flick through the magazine which looked to be the Cambodian version of Vogue - F magazine it was called. we enjoyed having a free glass of wine or two and people watching but with so many people all around, hot camera lights, virtually no fans and being pretty much outside i got very hot very quickly and whatever I've said about feeling embarrassed about having to mop sweat off my face tomes it by about 100 to get how i felt doing it with a napkin in front of all these glossy and stick thin beautiful women :( and i was the fat sweaty pig in the corner guzzling the free food :/

We went for dinner later at the Friends restaurant Al, Kate and I had been to first time round in Phnom Penh - the cafe which employs street children and the disadvantaged and teaches them how to cook and about the service industry and aims to give them a better way of life. The food was incredible, it was all tapas sized servings so we ordered a load just for the table, courgette and cheddar frittas (beeeeeaaautiiffuullll!!) sweet potato curried fries, roasted veg spring rolls, hummus wantons, fish cakes and more. It was absolutely delish and a really nice evening, i think the girls were quite blown away with the food and the launch event as it was all they could talk about!! We wanted to go and try and find a lively bar for a drink afterwards and had heard the riverside was cool but we didn't really know where. Alice went and asked another group of westerners she could see whilst the rest of us literally laid our head on the table in a food coma and tiredness stupor! I have to admit heading out feeling like that was really not what I felt like doing, with my hair all stick the other back of my neck and the bottom of my pony tail looking as though I'd just dunked it in water and feeling dog tiered from no good 8h sleep in the last ten or so nights. But I thought of be able to pep myself up so in the next bar that the western group had recommended I guzzled down coca cola to wake me up. The girls all had a cocktail and we played a couple of games of cards to try an wake our brains up. Lora and Alice went for a walk up and down the street to see if they could find anywhere with a crowd average age less than the current 45 years old but no luck... We cut out losses and headed home. I was absolutely exhausted but thanks to the coke my brain was awake and alert and I knew having drunk caffeine at that time of night I wouldn't be sleeping for a while so I sat outside the room and had a nice chat with both home and B. It was heaven to speak to him after not being able to for the last week or so thanks to busy schedules, s*** timings and other stuff so to have a good long convo was great!

We were up early the next morning, and scoffed a bit of buffet breakfast again before heading out to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, which LP recommends. It was sooo hot but we all had to be modestly and respectfully dressed so I had my new lemon yellow Tshirt on with shorts and a maxi skirt fashioned out of Lora's pashmina quickly on the roadside over the top. The Palace was incredible with amazing oriental architecture and beautifully landscaped gardens. I really enjoyed looking at all all of the detail and I felt a really strong affinity with the country that morning, vowing to be inspired by the oriental style and to come back one day and visit Cambodia again. The afternoon was spent chilling by the pool, packing and sorting out my backpack, working out what I would be sending home with Lora and what I would be keeping for India... She was very kind and let me borrow lots of her stuff, pj bottoms which I can wear as trousers, trainers so I could throw my ripped ones out, all of her toiletries, a micro towel and more! Big thank you Lor for letting me have your bits and pieces and for taking my other stuff home!

In the afternoon Lora, Alice and I headed over to the Central Market, to pick up any last souvineer-y bits that the girls might have wanted. It was very different to the other market, selling a huge variety of stuff and strangely with aircon! It was interesting to walk around and funny to show them the food section of the market, in particular the meat area, which wasn't as bad as the Sapa, Vietnam market where there was a dog head on display, but certainly it wasn't a fragrant place to spend too much time in! We got fresh fruit smoothies made by a lovely lady at a tiny fruit stall and she happily nattered away to us in Khmer as though we understood every word! My passion fruit one was delish - I like it quite bitter though and so Alice who ordered the same was quite as impressed a d had a bit of a screwed up face whilst drinking it!

Once all packed we headed to a restaurant called Karma on the riverside, which was number four or something on tripadvisor and was ok. I had fish and ginger sauce and the sauce was a really weird jelly texture and had noodles in the sauce. I didn't realise like it do I had to scrape the sauce off and put everything on my rice plate. The girls had the most delish looking amok curry as will just to rub it in! We played a couple of games of cards and each had a cocktail as it was happy hour - my new fave cocktail is a Tom Collins... Nom nom nom! Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and we were waving goodbye to the girls. Kate an I were both very sad to say goodbye to Alice and Lora and there was lots of love shared at the bottom of the escalator to security! I really hoped lot had had a good holiday and feels a bit relaxed before heading back to work on Monday. I loved having her out her, it was so nice to natter about everyone at home and to hear any news or stories about our friends... We've all had such a blast in Cambodia. Fitting soooo much in over two weeks, cities, temples, islands, jungles, trekking, black tourism sports, the work!! I've had a great time and am now hoping for the same in Laos. Goodbye Cambodia and lovely Khmer people!!