Day 57 - Sunday, April 10 - Phnom Penh

Had a great night sleep in my room with air con at Morokot and woke up in time for my 8:30AM pick up. I had arranged with Sophan to bring me to Micky's for $3. Little did I know, but any of the tuk tuk's out front of Morokot would have taken me for $2. Once again, oh well.

I got to Micky's, my room was waiting for me, and its clearly a lot nicer than Morokot. I watched some TV in the room until it was time to venture out in the Cambodian streets to see what great smells and sights awaited me today. I got all caught up with the royal wedding, papal funeral and even learned that MG/ROVER filed Chapter 11 after over 100 years in business. This was the 2nd or 3rd time in 2 months I've seen TV.

Walked and walked and walked, popping in and out of shops, temples, and "mini-marts" for the occasional rehydration exercise as it was oppressively hot, humid, and very little breeze to evaporate the sweat that was pouring off of my body. Oh, how I missed the days of traveling in the city. I've gotten so used to being a vegetable on a hammock with an ocean to jump in and out of that I almost forgot how invigorating it was to lose 3 liters of water an hour in this intense heat. By the way, the "3 liters" is an estimate as I read that the average person can lose 1 liter an hour when in locations where the heat is at least 15-20 degrees warmer than what they are used to and I am clearly not "average".

I went to some Western joint for lunch and had a vegetarian pizza and it was pretty tasty. The riverfront is "westernized" a bit but as soon as you venture to other parts of Phnom Penh, there is Cambodia staring you in the face again. After lunch, I walked to the National Museum and was in and out in less than 30 minutes (and that was including time I spent taking some pictures of the gardens). The museum is housed in a pretty spectacular building but the exhibits are not as great. That is, of course, if your thing is seeing the eight-armed statue of Vishnu from the 6th or 7th century AD. If pottery and bronzes dating from the pre-Angkorian periods of Funan and Chenla (4th to 9th centuries) are your thing, then I advise you to book your tickets to Phnom Penh now!

From there, I walked a little further to the Royal Palace to find out that it's closed from 12-2PM. I walked around some great boulevards of Phnom Penh and saw some great slices of life of locals going about their Sunday. It was just as if they were sitting in their homes eating bagels and lox and reading "The New York Times". I wandered more and went back to the Palace to find out I didn't pass the drss code. Apparently, farangs dripping sweat in tank tops and shorts were not acceptable to visit the Royal Palace. I decided to bail on the palace for today and go tomorrow morning at 7:30A or 8:00A with a pair of pants and a shirt before it get's too hot.

Soooooo, back on my feet to walk around some more. By the way, the annoying thing here are the numerous methods of transport and the locals who drive them. I think I mentioned this already, but the 4 common modes of transport are taxi, tuk tuk, motorbike and cyclo. It is IMPOSSIBLE to walk more than 2.4 feet without someone asking you if you need a mode of transport. If you say "NO", you can be 100% certain that there is another driver lurking in his shadow who will ask you the same question who may even be asking if you need the same mode of transport that you just turned down. I think I say "no, thank you" at least 35,654 times a day here.

From the palace, I took a tuk tuk to one of the "backpacker strips" called Boeng Kak along the eastern shore of Lake Boeng Kak to check out the way I'm SUPPOSED to be seeing Phnom Penh because a room on the river is not how I am thinking most "backpackers" see the city. Well, I was right. This place was the slums of slums and I finally got to see how the poor local Cambodians live as they too are living in huts along the mosquito infested lake, some of them with just a mere tarp hung across 4 poles as protection from the elements. Most of the guesthouses are built on wooden platforms over the lake, a seriously polluted body of water that no matter how many beers you have, should NOT be entered. The common areas of most of these places are pretty cool and social, but the whole area is pretty gross. I was beginning to feel slightly guilty that I wasn't staying there but got over it pretty quickly. HOWEVER, this is the area where I would be staying if I wanted to stay at my $3-$5 a night budget. From there, I walked further and came across the Raffles Le Royal Hotel which was just a 5-10 minute walk away from the drek I just came from. This hotel is absolutely amazing and being that I am a chameleon, I was able to go in, transform myself from backpacker mode to 5-star hotel mode, and fit right in. I had a glass of lime juice for $3.50 which came on a silver platter with a bowl of cashews dipped in sugar on the side. I was told that part of "The Killing Fields" was set at the hotel but shot in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Anyway, back on the feet again, I came across Wat Phnom which is set on top of a 27m-high tree covered knoll and the only "hill" in town. It is surrounded by a pretty park and was a good Kodak Moment with a giant pagoda sitting on the very top of the hill. For some reason, I wasn't allowed to climb the steps to the top of the hill - I think someone of importance was up there - who knows, it may have been Tin Tin as he seems to be the most important and famous person here in Cambodia.

I then hired a cyclo for an hour to drive me around parts of the city I haven't seen yet and although they travel very slowly, it was relaxing and a good time was had by all (well, me). A cyclo is a bicycle that's outfitted with a little one-man seat (sort of like a little cart) in front so the bicycle driver is in back of you and he peddles you around. After the hour, he dropped me back at the hotel, I had a refreshing drink at the bar, and contemplated sitting right at the bar all night and not moving.

That's exactly what I did. I made friends with some other travelers who follow the "mid-range places to stay" section of Lonely Planet. At one point, we went down the street to FCC (Foreign Correspondent's Club) for a drink as it's a "definitive drinking hole for tourists and expats alike" and then back to Mikey's.

Across from Mikey's, along the riverfront, the evening was underway as it seems that the locals love to just hang out, sing, dance, sell stuff, and loiter all night in the hot, humid, sweaty air. Mind you, some of these people don't have a home to go home to but I think the majority of them do.

Shortly after midnight, I made my way upstairs and went to bed. The palace was awaiting me with my acceptable attire.