We spent a few days in Phnom Penh arranging our visa and transport for Vietnam. We stayed in Europe guesthouse, which is in 136th street (lots of Sexy Sex bars here - no trouble at all, though). Great place, $17 per night, great staff - really smiley - who arranged everything we needed. Phnom Penh (Penh Hill) is on the Tonle Sap river, we were in the Riverside area at Sisowath Quay which has a wide promenade away from the traffic and bustle. We did a few touristy things, the Royal Palace for $6.50 each, a lot of this is out of bounds to tourists. There is a throne room, an exhibition room of some royal tat and the silver pagoda, which houses silverware gifted to the current King, his father King Sihanouk and his grandfather. King Sihanouk died in October 2012. His reign was a complex one, which spanned French colonial rule, independence in 1953, democratic rule and the despotic leadership of the Khmer Rouge. Probably best to Google it if you are interested as it would take too long to catalogue here. He has abdicated, been deposed, been exiled, been Prime Minister, been Head of State as King and as Prince and as a puppet Head of State under the Khmer Rouge.
We have also visited Wat Phnom, a temple on the hill, Wat Ounalom, the night market and the central market all of which you can see in our latest photo album. We booked a boat trip for $17 each, allegedly taking us on a slow-ish 5 hour trip (as opposed to the $24 each tourist speed boat 2 hour trip) from just outside Phnom Penh to Chau Doc across the Vietnam border. We hoped this would afford Paul some great photo opportunities. It's never what they say in the brochure though is it? - hee hee! The minivan picked us up at 7:30 to take us to the ferry terminal just outside Phnom Penh ... except it didn't quite work out that way ... we were taken on a three hour minivan ride to the Cambodia / Vietnam border, checked through and taken to the tourist speed boat for an hour and 45 minute trip to Chau Doc. Ah well ... Paul said it was great for photos anyway.