Phnom Pehn - Cambodia
6/6/05
Battambang has not much to offer and the only thing we were really interested was the boat trip to get there, so we left at 7:30 A.M. in a bus for Phnom Pehn.
The trip took four hours and the road was much better than the one from Poipet to Siem Reap.
We were the only tourists in the bus and oddly all the other passengers were teenagers.
We stopped on the way in a place where women were selling again grilled bugs, but also lotus seeds. Angie tried them (of course) and they tasted like raw green peas. Here are two of the numerous sellers.
Phnom Pehn is not an easy place for the tourist. When we got of the bus the hotel hawkers were almost fighting among them to get us as clients. They grab you by the arm in all directions, it is quite annoying.
Angie and I knew already where we wanted to go and just ignored all the hawkers walking away on our own. We left on foot and a guy followed us for at least two blocks insisting hard to carry our backpack.
After we finally checked in the hotel and had some rest, we left to visit the capital of Cambodia.
The city is big and crowded with French-like houses and large boulevards.
The traffic is crazy and some of the crossing boulevards don't have traffic lights, thus crossing it becomes a real challenge.
They cross it though by osmosis process. Hundreds and hundreds of small motorbikes (honda dream and alike) cross each other but nobody ever stops, it is miracle that we did not see any car crash.
While wandering around in this pleasant city, we found a very modern Mall that sells Ipods and big screen TVs at 10,000 US dollars. I don't know who is buying all this, since the average income of a Cambodian is 20 US dollars a month.
In the mall we also found out that there is no ATM in the whole country where you can withdraw money from a foreigner account. The first ATM of the whole country got installed in this mall a few months earlier, but it only works with the debit card of the local bank. An explanation was hanging next to the ATM to tell people the purpose of an ATM.
Luckily, it is possible to get a cash advance in dollars from a credit card at Canadian bank, otherwise we would have been in trouble.
For dinner we went to a restaurant that had only a continental menu, but Angie wanted to have Cambodian food. When Angie asked about that to the waitress she offered to Angie the food her family was eating, but not available in the menu.
Angie entered their kitchen and chose a couple of different things and came back to the table. That was a really authentic Cambodian dinner. I was happy with spaghetti. Angie also wanted to try Amok which is a typical Cambodian dish, fish cooked with herbs in coconut meal. The girl said she doesn't serve that dish but would cook it specially for Angie if desired, but for the next evening and we agreed to come back to try some more authentic food.
6/7/05
Angie started the day with some local food again. Even though Cambodian would only eat for dessert. She had an odd yogurt with corn and red beans. She enjoyed it! :D
Our first stop of the day was the Royal Palace with the silver pagoda. Both are located within the same walled grounds just off the river front. The Royal palace was built in 1866, and many of other buildings and shrines were added in the following decades. The name of Silver Pagoda comes from its silver tiles. They cover the all floor surface and weight one kilogram each.
There are also many golden and silver buddhas with precious stones inside the pagoda.
After that we walked along one of the four rivers of Phnom Penh where we met many monks walking around with umbrellas.
Our next destination was Phnom Wat. On the way we stooped in a French bookstore to exchange a book. Across the street there was a magnificent building which actually was the post office. There were many Internet cafes with Wi-Fi and the latest flat screens. It is quite strange to see these new technologies in the cities of Cambodia while the countryside still lives so basically with even no water supply or garbage collection.
The temple was crowded with pilgrims. We then headed to the mall to get some money. From the top floor of the mall there is a great view of the city.
We then stopped at the Central Market in an art-deco type building, which by the way is one of the landmarks of Phnom Penh. Its dome ranks among the largest in the world.
There again they were selling bugs and in front of a grasshopper seller, we met a Cambodian guy, that was one of the people that was in the boat that got rescued by the French Red Cross and stayed then in France. It was his first time back in Cambodia and confessed us, that even though he used to eat lots of bugs during the war, he can't do it anymore.
We then hired a tuk-tuk who took us to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21.
Prior to 1975, the building used to be a high school. When the Khmer Rouge came to power it was converted into the S-21 prison and interrogation facility. The building now serves as a museum, a memorial and a testament to the madness of the Khmer Rouge regime.
The prisoners were kept in very small cells and shackled with chains. Thousands of people were tortured there and then driven to a field outside of Phnom Penh where they were executed. The Khmer took pictures of all the victims and the photos are exposed in the Museum. Lots of people were really young and some were even kids. Around 12,000 were killed while only 7 survived.
After such a depressing museum we walked back to the hotel. We crossed some poor neighborhood. Red dust was flying around since the streets were not paved. The people were really friendly. Here is a typical Cambodian woman with the Krama, the traditional piece of cloth that woman use to cover their head.
Guys were pulling wooden cart and selling ice that they were cutting of a bigger ice bars. This is a legacy from the French which, during the colonization time, opened several "ice factories" with a water treatment systems. Cambodian people still use them.
In the evening we went back to the restaurant where Angie ate Amok. The family of the girl had already eaten but the girl kept for Angie a nice portion. It was really good and it could not be more authentic. It is really amazing how friendly and devoted the South-East Asian people are.
Battambang has not much to offer and the only thing we were really interested was the boat trip to get there, so we left at 7:30 A.M. in a bus for Phnom Pehn.
The trip took four hours and the road was much better than the one from Poipet to Siem Reap.
We were the only tourists in the bus and oddly all the other passengers were teenagers.
We stopped on the way in a place where women were selling again grilled bugs, but also lotus seeds. Angie tried them (of course) and they tasted like raw green peas. Here are two of the numerous sellers.
Phnom Pehn is not an easy place for the tourist. When we got of the bus the hotel hawkers were almost fighting among them to get us as clients. They grab you by the arm in all directions, it is quite annoying.
Angie and I knew already where we wanted to go and just ignored all the hawkers walking away on our own. We left on foot and a guy followed us for at least two blocks insisting hard to carry our backpack.
After we finally checked in the hotel and had some rest, we left to visit the capital of Cambodia.
The city is big and crowded with French-like houses and large boulevards.
The traffic is crazy and some of the crossing boulevards don't have traffic lights, thus crossing it becomes a real challenge.
They cross it though by osmosis process. Hundreds and hundreds of small motorbikes (honda dream and alike) cross each other but nobody ever stops, it is miracle that we did not see any car crash.
While wandering around in this pleasant city, we found a very modern Mall that sells Ipods and big screen TVs at 10,000 US dollars. I don't know who is buying all this, since the average income of a Cambodian is 20 US dollars a month.
In the mall we also found out that there is no ATM in the whole country where you can withdraw money from a foreigner account. The first ATM of the whole country got installed in this mall a few months earlier, but it only works with the debit card of the local bank. An explanation was hanging next to the ATM to tell people the purpose of an ATM.
Luckily, it is possible to get a cash advance in dollars from a credit card at Canadian bank, otherwise we would have been in trouble.
For dinner we went to a restaurant that had only a continental menu, but Angie wanted to have Cambodian food. When Angie asked about that to the waitress she offered to Angie the food her family was eating, but not available in the menu.
Angie entered their kitchen and chose a couple of different things and came back to the table. That was a really authentic Cambodian dinner. I was happy with spaghetti. Angie also wanted to try Amok which is a typical Cambodian dish, fish cooked with herbs in coconut meal. The girl said she doesn't serve that dish but would cook it specially for Angie if desired, but for the next evening and we agreed to come back to try some more authentic food.
6/7/05
Angie started the day with some local food again. Even though Cambodian would only eat for dessert. She had an odd yogurt with corn and red beans. She enjoyed it! :D
Our first stop of the day was the Royal Palace with the silver pagoda. Both are located within the same walled grounds just off the river front. The Royal palace was built in 1866, and many of other buildings and shrines were added in the following decades. The name of Silver Pagoda comes from its silver tiles. They cover the all floor surface and weight one kilogram each.
There are also many golden and silver buddhas with precious stones inside the pagoda.
After that we walked along one of the four rivers of Phnom Penh where we met many monks walking around with umbrellas.
Our next destination was Phnom Wat. On the way we stooped in a French bookstore to exchange a book. Across the street there was a magnificent building which actually was the post office. There were many Internet cafes with Wi-Fi and the latest flat screens. It is quite strange to see these new technologies in the cities of Cambodia while the countryside still lives so basically with even no water supply or garbage collection.
The temple was crowded with pilgrims. We then headed to the mall to get some money. From the top floor of the mall there is a great view of the city.
We then stopped at the Central Market in an art-deco type building, which by the way is one of the landmarks of Phnom Penh. Its dome ranks among the largest in the world.
There again they were selling bugs and in front of a grasshopper seller, we met a Cambodian guy, that was one of the people that was in the boat that got rescued by the French Red Cross and stayed then in France. It was his first time back in Cambodia and confessed us, that even though he used to eat lots of bugs during the war, he can't do it anymore.
We then hired a tuk-tuk who took us to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21.
Prior to 1975, the building used to be a high school. When the Khmer Rouge came to power it was converted into the S-21 prison and interrogation facility. The building now serves as a museum, a memorial and a testament to the madness of the Khmer Rouge regime.
The prisoners were kept in very small cells and shackled with chains. Thousands of people were tortured there and then driven to a field outside of Phnom Penh where they were executed. The Khmer took pictures of all the victims and the photos are exposed in the Museum. Lots of people were really young and some were even kids. Around 12,000 were killed while only 7 survived.
After such a depressing museum we walked back to the hotel. We crossed some poor neighborhood. Red dust was flying around since the streets were not paved. The people were really friendly. Here is a typical Cambodian woman with the Krama, the traditional piece of cloth that woman use to cover their head.
Guys were pulling wooden cart and selling ice that they were cutting of a bigger ice bars. This is a legacy from the French which, during the colonization time, opened several "ice factories" with a water treatment systems. Cambodian people still use them.
In the evening we went back to the restaurant where Angie ate Amok. The family of the girl had already eaten but the girl kept for Angie a nice portion. It was really good and it could not be more authentic. It is really amazing how friendly and devoted the South-East Asian people are.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 8:20 AM
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