Day 58 - Monday, April 11 - Phnom Penh

My last day in Phnom Penh was spent hanging around and running to see the various miscellaneous sights I wanted to see before heading to Siem Reap. This is an amazing city and you should not listen to those who say there's nothing to see here. Book your tickets and come visit. The beautiful scenery as backdrop against the extreme poverty and filth, is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It rivals Havana.

I booked my boat ticket for tomorrow morning and went to the Royal Palace, dressed appropriately, at 8:00AM. It was already too hot to be wearing pants and a shirt! I walked over to the palace which is just a few minute walk from Mickey's, bought my admission ticket ($3 + $2 to bring a camera in) and started my self-guided tour as there was no way I could have hired a tour guide and been bored to tears for 2 hours as he/she told me of the significance of all the stupas, buddhas, buildings, pagodas, etc. Like with the Museaum, I was in and out in 30 minutes and went right back to the hotel to change. I hung around for a bit in sidewalk cafe of Mickey's and then went for another stroll around the city.

I stumbled back upon Wat Phnom which I now know is just a few minutes from the hotel if taking the direct route and paid $1 admission which allowed me to walk up the hill to the giant pagoda and pray to Buddah.

After I was finished with my business up top, I spent some time at the base of the hill. Although a bit of a circus at times with the beggers, women and children selling drinks, children selling birds in cages that you pay to set the birds free, and an elephant ride around the base of the hill, I had fun. As annoying as it can be, I'm actually finding it hard to be annoyed as they are just trying to make any sort of living they can. Also at the base of the hill amongst the numerous park benches and vendors were at leat 100 monkeys both in the trees and on the ground just hanging about waiting for someone to feed them some scraps of the food and fruit.

On my way back to Mickey's, I took a different route, this time walking through some streets off the beaten path and stumbled across yet another street market along a "park" where the homeless were using a spiget to bathe. There was an family of 5 gathered around a spiget in the center of a grasy field as the mother and father soaped up the kids. I walked over to a street vendor, bought something that looked like a small whole chicken hanging on a hook and brought it over to them. The appreciation in their eyes was priceless and now I don't have to go to temple to atone for my sins next Yom Kippur.

Stopped at Lyon d'Or, a little french cafe on the river, for a quick lunch and ran into a german girl who I've now seen 3 times since I've been here. I now know her name is Eva. We had lunch together and spent a few hours talking and relaxing out of the dangers of the extreme midday heat.

After lunch we walked around a bit, and ended up at Mickey's where I went upstairs for a bit and she sat in the sidewalk restaurant catching up on her journal.

I walked around some more, occasionally picking up a little trinket or 2 from various shops and made my way back to the hotel where I plopped down and napped for a little while. Walking around in this heat all day really gets to you.

I woke up, put on my walking shoes (birks) and ventured out yet again for a light early dinner with Eva. We found what looked like a good Khmer restaurant and had some great chicken curry that was served inside a carved out coconut that was shaved of the outer layer as if it were a jack-o-lantern. I took a picture as it was just as impressive as my meal on Lipe that came in the carved out pineapple and I know Les and Marlow are going to want to see a photo.

From there, we hung out on the riverbank enjoying some people watching and having an occasional chat with english speaking locals. For the most part, I'm finding the Cambodians very friendly and easy to talk to.

We then went to FCC for a few drinks and we headed back to Mickey's to hear some live music. The owner of Mickey's is an American named Doug and he plays great music and books great bands from what I can tell to perform on the little stage in the bar area. By 1AM, it was time for bed as my ride was at 6:30AM to take me to the pier.