As I always like to say, 4:30AM came rather quickly. I got my stuff together, (my pack is pretty empty and light now) and waited downstairs for the taxi. Like in the past, they came on time and I was on the way to the airport by 5:02AM.
I checked in, went through security and as the x-ray man said to his helper, "this bag needs check", I hit myself on the head and realized I didn't take my Swiss Army knife out of my day pack which I carry on and put it in my checked bag. Needless to say, this led to confiscation of my knife and a little extra security check of my bags and my person. I was slightly pissed at myself as this was the knife I bought at the border in Malaysia and have been using it regularly for a myriad of tasks. Oh well.
I boarded Bangkok Airways Flight # 920 to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Please, do not let Bangkok Airways cater your next affair.
Once on the ground, after only one hour of fly time, I got my ön-the-spot-Tourist-Visa and was out of the airport in no time. I found a taxi and told Sophan, the driver, to take me to "The Riverview Hotel" which I saw in Lonely Planet. For some reason, I let him talk me out of it and went to the hotel that he recommended, Morakat Hotel. I also hired him for the day to drive me around and take me to some of the sights. We went to the hotel, it seemed ok, in a slightly seedy area, and just a few blocks from the Central Market. I got a room with air con, threw my bags down and went with Sophan to start my day.
Our first stop was TUOL SLENG MUSEUM. While there, I learned a lot about what went on under the Khmer Rouge and was horrified beyond belief. I can only compare my feelings while walking around the museum as similar to the ones I had when I visited Anne Franks House or Dachau. Obviously, those 2 having a little more meaning to me but this was equally as disturbing. Read the blog post entitled "PHNOM PENH - an educational post" for a little more information.
At the museum, I met Patsy, an Englishwoman who now lives and teaches in Sri Lanka. We walked around the museum together with Sophan giving us as much detail as he knew. His English is pretty good. The people who do speak English here seem to speak better than the Thai who do. Of course, that just may be a generalization with no real facts to back it up.
I invited her to hop in the car with us to our next stop, "The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek", which we know just as "The Killing Fields". After all, I had paid for the car for the day and she was at the mercy of local taxí's, motos, and cyclo's.
We drove about 25 minutes and finally arrived in the rural surroundings of "The Killing Fields". I hired a tour guide as there is little description of what you are looking at and without his guidance, I was not aware that wherever I walked, I was walking on massive graves. Once again, disturbing and emotionally draining. More on this on the educational post of the day.
After this moving experience, he took us to the Russian Market where I neither met any Russians or saw any Russian products but nonetheless, it was a pretty big, crowded, hot, "ïndoor" market with lots of stuff lined up on small, dark, daunting rows and rows of vendors. As you move from row to row, it gets darker, the rows narrower, and the products change. All the apparel is grouped in one section of multipe rows, all the wood carvings in another row(s) textiles in another, silver in another, musical instruments in another, car parts in another, tools in another, stationery goods in another, etc. etc. etc. Apparently, it's called the Russian Market because it's where the Russians shopped during the 1980's. There are few Russians left in Phnom Penh at this point in time.
Patsy and I had lunch at "Jars of Clay", a small cafe that serves up coffees, and "light and tasy bites like wraps and salads". It was great to eat some western food for a change.
On the way back to the center of town, we had to drop Patsy off at California Hotel, one of the hotels / guesthouses I was contemplating from Lonely Planet. Once we got there, I realized I made a huge mistake and needed to move to the river in the morning. I said goodbye to Patsy and made a plan to meet back at her hotel for dinner at 7:30P. This gave me an hour and a half to relax, unwind, and decompress from the days events - of which I did none.
Back at Morakat, I dropped off some bags of purchases from the day, and walked over to the Central Market or otherwiswe known as the dark-yellow Art Deco Psar Thmei. "The central domed hall resembles a Babylonian temple and some claim it ranks as one of the largest domes in the world. It has 4 wings filled with stalls selling gold and silver jewelery, antique coins, fake name-brand watches, clothing and lots of other crap. All around the main building are stalls selling scarves, stationery, household items, sarongs, flowers, second-hand clothes (usually from the US or Europe), and of course, a "fresh food" section. I walked around for as long as I could take it and then walked back to Morakat and showered for dinner.
I met Patsy at her hotel and had a drink. We walked around to some other hotels that line the river and I found a great place called "Mikey's". It was way more than I wanted to spend, but talked them down to $25 and paid a night in advance. I was excited to get out of Morakat and get to the river in the AM. My room has a great balcony overlooking the river and it seems like a great scene in the open lobby bar with tables lining the bar and out on the sidewalk.
We had dinner at a Khmer restaurant, which was very similar to Thai Food, chatted the night away and called it a night.
