Phnom Penh

Our moto-driving friends gave us a free lift to the bus in the morning, and Kris hooked us up with his friend, a tuk-tuk driver, to look after us in Phnom Penh.

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We were pretty happy that the bus ride was much faster and much smoother than our last bus ride.

Upon our arrival in Phnom Penh, it was difficult to leave the bus as the door was crowded with tuk-tuk drivers competing with each other to gain the business of the bus passengers. Tee was standing amongst them, holding up a page with all our names on it, written in large print in blue texta. He took us to the Guest House where he works, and we checked in to the mid-range rooms – room with a private ensuite – for $4 per night.

We love Phnom Penh! French and Cambodian architecture and foo
lots of wonderful food, everything so cheap… Its amazing! A vegetarian meal – that comes with a free beer(!) – for $1.25!!

Jay and Justin had a shave at the Barber, we went to the National Museum, the Royal Palace, and we met a friendly Kiwi traveller called Billy.

At the park we saw an elephant called Sambo and an old monkey with a little pigtail in his hair.

Also at the park however, the begging kids were different, they weren’t prepared with persistence, English language skills and a knowledge of the market – they asked us for our bottles of water and when we gave them, they ran. A completely different kind of poverty in these parts.

And in the evening had a whole street full of tuk-tuk drivers calling out the standard “tuk-tuk, sir?”, but then followed by “Smoke Pot? Opium?” and they held out small bags…!! No secrecy or discretion at all, we couldn’t believe it.