The Pavilion Phnom Penh

Hi again. We took the Mekong Express bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, took about 6 hours but had air conditioning, toilet and a bit of legroom so didn't seem too bad. We prayed the whole way that our stomachs would handle the ride so we were pretty lucky! I slept for most of the way, they had Mr Bean playing on the tv, between that and tragic Cambodian soap operas and Karaoke type music channels the locals were at least kept happy. The drive was pretty much one long straight road passing by ...

Phnom Penh feels like a big city with very busy streets, similar to Delhi but with less use of the car horn and almost no hassle apart from the odd Tuk Tuk asking if you want to go any where. The hotel was a little gem, lovely grounds with a pool and more great staff, also the location turn out to be great, away from the tacky tourist area but next to some major sights (and it had Internet PC's so I could catch up on the blog). Although we were here for 3 nights we only had 2 full days due to...

Day 12... Phnom Penh, Cambodia Today, on our way to Cambodia! Even with a Lonely Planet in hand, I still wasn't sure what to expect from this new country. We were up later this morning, planning on trying out the Arabic restaurant just downstairs from the hotel. By noon, we had enjoyed an absolutely fabulous brunch (fresh out of the oven flatbread!), piled our bags into a taxi, and were on out way to the airport. The flight to Phnom Penh would be a little over an hour. One thing we've noticed...

Day 13 Today is my birthday. Waking up in Cambodia... pretty cool. As the days have passed and the trip has progressed, we've started a pattern of beginning our days later and later. Today was no exception. We rolled out of bed around 9:30am, and by the time we were ready to make our way out into the city, we had done some internet surfing and blogging, and had gotten a bite at the resort's restaurant. Imagine this: FRESH passionfruit juice, rolls with passionfruit jam, and fresh pineapple an...

Day 14. Today, was cooking class day! Early start, and we were out of the hotel and walking to class by 8:30am. By the time all the students had arrived, it was 9:30am, and we were zooming along by tuk-tuk to the local markets. We were dropped off in the middle of an open-air market, selling everything you could ever want to cook. Similar to the market in Bangkok, everything was bustling... people were buzzing around, produce sellers were weighing out foods and collecting money.... fish were ...

Wow, Tough day here. Anyone who knows a little about the Khmer Rouge and the history of the Pol Pot regime could probobly imaging. We say the palace... it was.... okay. We also went on to the S-21 which was a prison set up to interrogate and kill people who were considered bad for the new way of life. (Anyone who was too educated, could speak another language, had forieng contacts.) Them and their families were killed in unspeakable ways. The museum was really, really tough. It was basically ...

The bus ride from Siem Reap to PP was a lot longer than we anticipated. It's 320 km but took us nearly six hours. The bus and crew of three were excellent,: the bus with frilly curtains, plastic flowers and Cambodia's equivalent of Benny Hill on the TV made us feel very much at home! The crew were very attentive providing drinks, snacks and lots of very helpful tourist info along the route. But the road appeared endless, narrowing to a single lane in places, without tarmac, and very busy as w...

Check out the beautiful hotels Asia and I stayed in once we made it back to Phnom Penh...swimming pool was a requirement - had to bounce around to hotels that had availability, so we stayed in a different hotel each night!

The Blue Lime - gorgeous pool in lush garden; "modern minimalist" rooms with concrete furniture. I know, sounds uncomfortable, but the coolness of the concrete was inviting and the beds were perfect! The splash of colors from the Thai silk curtains, pillows and bed ...

Hi Guys Sorry for the delay in entries, Cambodia is not necessarily geared for the internet - having said that, they have some technologies we don't and they're are 3rd world country. Well, those of you who know Aaron, know that he is a fussy eater - and when we arrived at Phnom Penh, all I could think was..."oh jesus, he's not going to eat for a week!" Phnom Penh was a huge culture shock for both of us - it's really really dirty - and busy - oh my god! - these guys don't have a road code I w...