We splurged a bit on our accommodation in Phnom Penh - we booked an apartment in a small hotel right on the riverside -Asiban Quay Boutique Hotel, 2 weeks for $808! Spacious, separate bedroom, balcony overlooking the Tonle Sap & Mekong Rivers & the weekend walking street - the only downside was no elevator, therefore 4 flights of stairs! “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”!
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| Balcony view |
I thought that we didn’t do much here but in writing this I realized that we kept pretty busy! We enjoyed our morning coffee watching life on the river - Tonle Sap directly in front of us & it joins the Mekong just a bit to the right of us. River barges hauling sand (we were told it is sold & exported), fishermen, ferries, brightly lit evening cruises & fancy river cruise ships.
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| Fishermen |
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| Fancy cruise ships |
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| Sand barges, full & low in the water and empty & high in the water |
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| Evening cruises |
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| Fancy cruise |
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| Ferries at the dock |
We are situated in a great location with the Royal Palace a 5 minute walk one way, Wat Ounalom Monastery 2 minutes the other way, 7-11 almost next door and a lovely wide riverside walkway for our morning exercise.
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Royal Palace
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| Buddhist Shrine along the walkway |
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| Wat Ounalom Monastery built in 1443 |
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| Even an assortment of exercise equipment |
The area around the Palace has an abundance of sellers offering lotus flowers, incense & candles for offerings, cold drinks, kites, corn for pigeons, food & small birds for release to earn merit.
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| Lotus flowers |
The Chaktomuk Walking street extends well over a kilometre in length, open on weekends, directly below our balcony! Hectic, crowded, noisy with countless stands selling street food delights, souvenirs, clothing, but mainly food! Lots of fun, but tiring!
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| Just starting to set up |
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| View from our balcony |
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| Overhead photo (copied) |
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| Ethnic dancing |
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| Bugs |
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| Big screen showing the street & us - I am wearing a red dress |
General observations & photos - we found food more expensive than Vietnam, different but just as tasty, meals average $4.50 & up (way up in certain areas), they primarily use the US $ after their currency was devalued (we used riels, local money), less motorbikes, way too many Toyota Prius cars, lots of luxury cars, Tuk Tuks & remorques and unfortunately quite a lot of people begging. The other nasty side of Phnom Penh & Cambodia is that it’s a hotspot for scam centres, romance & financial scams, staffed by young men from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, some kept in compounds under lock & key. We saw these men in large numbers with their suitcases along the river, supposedly there was a recent crackdown by the government so many are going home.
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| Tuk Tuks |
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| Remorques |
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| Fish Amok |
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| Poutine, who would think that we would see that on a menu here? |
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| Robin eating poutine with chopsticks! |
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Cambodia draft $1, Khymer whiskey & coke $1.25 at our favorite restaurant Virak, on the “Old white guys street” (easy retirement visas, cheap hotels - lots of old white guys here)
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| Many monks |
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| People sleeping on sidewalks all over, at least the baby has a fan |
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| Delicious curries |
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| Pyjamas out in public, even with high heels |
We spent a couple of hours wandering thru the Central Market, built in 1937, an art deco landmark with a high central dome & many hallways selling anything & everything!
I discovered a large wet market close by so that was my go- to for fresh fruit & flowers. So many kinds of fruit & we tried most!
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| Ice delivery |
We spent a day riding the Hop On, Hop Off bus, seeing the sights.
The evening was spent on an evening riverboat cruise.
On one of our daily walks I spotted a large bird so I followed it to a nearby tree - & wow - a pair of Great Hornbills! They are seen around the Palace area, they are 37-51 inches in height with a wingspan of 59-70 inches! Robin had gone back to the apartment so I called him to come, so down all those stairs that he had just climbed, but it was worth it! We saw them again & Robin was lucky enough to see a juvenile this morning.
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| Juvenile |
We visited the Wat Phnom, built in 1372 on a hill, beautiful but the best part was spotting a huge flock of bats in the trees behind the Wat. We did some research to learn that they are Lyle’s Flying Foxes, fruit eaters with a wingspan of 1.5 metres, the flock measuring into the thousands. We returned the next day hoping to see them leave at dusk, but they weren’t very cooperative - & the trees were very tall so difficult to get photos of them flying. But a remarkable experience to see & hear them.
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| Inside Wat Phnom |
One more touristy thing was the Sosoro Museum, an interesting & unique perspective of Cambodian history of over 2000 years, mainly told thru the use of money.
As usual we take too many photos & feel the need to include them all in the blog, so here’s a few more!
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| Wat Ounalom |
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| 3 Prius, seen everywhere |
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| So many wires! |
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| Tiny stools |
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| A beautiful flower cart |
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| Lots of lovely blooms |
We are off to the island of Koh Rong Sanloem tomorrow, still Living the Dream!
