The ride to Phnom Penh from Seim Reap was long but provided some interesting country side. Got into town after dark and found a cheapish room at Okay guesthouse a busy establishment with a hot and stuffy restaurant, that constantly showed DVD to unadventurous travellers
Went out that evening and was surprised to see that the city was more expensive than Siem Reap with restaurants along the river front charging western prices…..after an hour of searching for a cheap meal hung my head in defeat and walked back to the guest house to eat a cheap burger and fries and watch Tarintino on the big screen……
Next day explored the city more with Neilo the Italian who I was sharing a room with, we walked to the lake area ( actually more like a flooded landfill site in dry season, see photo ) there were some cool guest houses along the shores though most had been knocked down during recent re development. Found an all you can eat thali in a cheap restaurant that looked a bit more like a brothel than a eatery. The food was good though and you got a free water and beer with the Thali for three US dollars…By the time we walked back to the guesthouse in the afternoon it was hot as hell. Neilo was a pretty heavy set guy and very Italian ,so spent most of his time walking round bare-chested in the sun. The site of his large stomach sweating in the afternoon heat was a reason for extreme merriment, pointing and laughing to nearly every local we passed …had to admit it was pretty damn funny by the end and found it hard not to join in with the jest.
Next day we went to the Killing fields ( see photo ) and detention centre museum where Pol Pot’s government had tortured and murdered tens of thousands of Cambodians during the late seventies….pretty harrowing stuff! Spent a full afternoon between both sites and then came back to the guest house to chill out, wasn’t much to do in the evenings and seemed to be spending most of my time sleeping or listening to Lord Of The Rings on Audio book while trying to save money. That night had a few games of pool at the guest house over the road with Neilo who was heading south the morning after. I liked the place so much decided to stay there the evening after while I sorted my transport to Laos out.
Said goodbye to Neilo the next day, was an interesting travel partner with an unusual past but it did feel good to be striding out on my own again after travelling with other people for a couple of weeks. I spent the afternoon wandering around town and chilling by the river. That evening went out for dinner at the infamous Phnom Penh Pizza ( those who know Dan Evans may be familiar with the story) The waiter asked how happy I wanted the pizza to be…..I told him ecstatic……
After dinner wandered around on the riverfront and watched the locals doing mass aerobics and dance routines along the concrete banks, really surreal. Later ran into a Russian guy who had been my neighbour in Kho Chang and spent some time hanging out on a bench near the mass dancers. After went back to the hotel and relaxed in my own room with en suite bathroom ( first good room in ages was really splashing out at 5 dollars a night ) had to be up at 6am the following morning to get an all day bus ride in to Laos, however slept soundly following my meal earlier…….
So Cambodia was short and sweet, had a interesting time in both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in terms of the historical context. Felt like I was just getting to enjoy the country then it was time to go, it definitely had a very different feel to Thailand would like to come back in future and stay longer …. Next stop Laos
No comments:
Post a Comment