Phnom Penh, 12/12/11-12/14/11

We were going to arrive to Phnom Penh in the evening, and it's not a small town, so we decided to be responsible, and look into the guide book for recommendations on accommodation.  They mentioned one particular place that seemed to fit our most important need in Asia - it was called "immaculately clean".  So we called ahead, and made sure there was a room waiting for us.  In fact it did, but as it turned out while it was clean, it was not very new, and the bathroom constantly smelled like stale water.  The window from the room was facing the back of the front desk, and not the street.  The guesthouse itself was located next to a busy bus station, and a local market, and there was literally nothing to do around there for at least a mile or two.  Even the tuk-tuk driver was wondering why we were going there instead of some place next to the river where all the rest of the tourists were.  But despite all this the room was acceptible, and cheap, so we stayed there for the first couple of nights.  As we were walking around town the next morning, we found another place to stay (well, it was suggested to us by Yasha and Yulia), and moved there for the 3rd night.  It was more expensive, but saved us money on tuk-tuk rides.

The first impression of Cambodia and Phnom Penh - the people are nicer, and less pushy than in Vietnam.  For example the tuk-tuk drivers only ask you once if you require their services, and when you tell them that you don't, they don't proceed on asking you where you are going still hoping to change your mind.  Second striking impression is the poverty.  There are a lot of beggars, and a lot of them are children.  It feels wrong to sit in a nice cafe drinking your $2 coffee while there are dozens of beggars, some of whom are disabled, asking you for whatever pennies you can spare.  There are also a lot of scams often including small children.  For example they might ask you to buy them food from a convenience store near by.  Shortly after they are going to return the food back to the store for a smaller price...

We spent the first full day in Phnom Penh walking around the city's major tourist sites.  We visited the Independence Monument, the Royal Palace, and the Phnom Wat.  

At Phnom Wat we witnessed a monkey steal a kid's juice box.  Monkeys just live there, stealing food wherever possible - mostly from the vendors, tourists, and little kids.

In the afternoon we discovered the Blue Pumpkin cafe that helped us catch up on our blog tremendously.  It had very comfortable couches, great food (including awesome baked goods), and the internet connection.  

On our second full day we climbed a 6 story mall for some arial shots, and visited the Russian market.  I read somewhere that the market was called "Russian" because it sold a lot of fake brand items, and Russians would go there to shop for them.

 

I can't say we found a lot of Russians there, or "good quality" fake goods, but we did find a t-shirt that had exactly the statement I'd mentioned I wanted on my shirt: "No tuk-tuk".  See, even though each tuk-tuk asks you only once whether you want to employ his services, the number of the tuk-tuks is insane. So we had to say "No, thanks" at least 10 times a minute when we were walking around town.  I told Julie that I was going to take a picture with the first tuk-tuk who offered us a ride with me wearing the t-shirt:

On the 3rd day we took a bus to Siem Reap to the one of the most well-known religious sites in the world.

2011.12.11 Phnom Penh