Day 6

Day something 6/10/09

I sent an sms to Gambo yesterday when he asked how we were enjoying the trip. I will share my reply to him

“Its dirty, smelly, incredibly overcrowded, hot as hell, the people are beautiful, the food is great & we are having a ball”.

I lot of people describe Cambodia as the best place they have ever been. I would have to say it is so far not my favourite place. But I may change my mind as the trip goes on.

As in any Asian country, there are lots of palaces, temples and here, ruins to see. These are not things Marty & I are keen to see a lot of as we have seen so many they all eventually blend into one another and “seen one temple, palace, pagoda you’ve seen them all”, so here in Phom Penh there is not a lot else to see.  

However as I said to Gambo, the people are beautiful & the food is great.

Yesterday we hired a tuk tuk and went to the Central Market, a huge normally undercover structure that unfortunately is being renovated, so a lot of it is not open. However some sections are and a lot of the markets have been moved outside. When we got there I likened the place to what I thought India would look like, really really dirty & overcrowded, but not as smelly as the Russian market that we went to a couple of days ago. The Russian Market had some of the most evil smells we had ever come across & so we only stayed there a matter of minutes.

We found a couple of bargains at the central market and after the usual haggling (haven’t lost my touch) got them for the price I was willing to pay. Had a look around for a while, then made our way out. As I said before, their isn’t much here that appeals to us in the way of shopping.

We then found what I think is the only or at least the largest shopping mall, (no not interested in shopping, just the air conditioning) and made our way to the top to get a fantastic view of the city. As you will see in the pics, it is huge. The people are so poor, there are a lot of beggars, particularly children, but you are encouraged not to give to them as it apparently encourages them to continue begging. But although poor, they are friendly and we have not yet felt unsafe, I couldn’t say whether they are happy or not, that is a presumption I wouldn’t like to make especially based on the language barrier.

Back into another Tuk Tuk, this time to the ferry. At Edvin (the hotel owner) suggestions, we paid 800 riel (about 7 cents) to catch the ferry across the Mekong to a small village. The photos give the best description, but I will say, that this is my type of fun, going by local transport to a place were there aren’t any other tourists & seeing the locals in their own environment. Marty was feeling a bit unsafe (for exactly the same reason I was enjoying it) so we didn’t stay long. A young local struck up a conversation with us, and gave us some shade to stand under while we waited for the ferry back.

Back on the other side we  had trouble negotiating a Tuk Tuk, cause they couldn’t work out where we wanted to go, they cant read maps or English, but one little fellow said he knew where to go so off we went.

Of course that was just his way of guaranteeing the $3 fee. He had no idea where we wanted to go, but stopped and asked other locals on the way, and once I had worked out where we were I was able to direct him to our hotel. So we had a very cheap tour of some different areas of PP, and I had fun being lost. 

Yesterday morning Edvin gave me the local newspaper and its headlines were about the floods (floods, what floods), we hadn’t seen any news for a few days, but it turned out that Siem Reap (SR) was flooded and the road to our hotel was one that was flooded. So I emailed the hotel and they replied immediately that they were open for business. So we had a brief idea that we might have to spend another day or two here in PP, but decided we  would move onto to SR. Bus ticket ($9) purchased, hopefully Laundry back before we leave, and we are off to a new place.

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