First Day in Cambodia

Trip Start Oct 14, 2007
1
2
17
Trip End Dec 04, 2007


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Cambodia  ,
Monday, October 15, 2007

Left Singapore this morning and flew to Phnom Penh. What an amazing contrast  to the manicured and tidy Singapore.The fringes of  Phnom Penh are lush but overgrown. The mainroads are good but many side roads are muddy tracks. There seem to be no firm road rules, more guidelines you follow if you feel like it. There are two sides of the road but it seems if you feel like driving on the "wrong side" that's OK. Our taxi from the airport drove on the wrong side of the road and none of the other motorists seemed to care, they just moved out of the way! City intersections are interesting. Traffic lights are few and far in between. Three extremely busy roads can converge and cars/bikes from all directions slow down a little but barrel through regardless without hitting anyone else.
We arrived at our hotel without major incident, booked in then decided to explore. The good news is that we are near to the central markets, bad news is that crossing the roads is more an act of blind faith than any recognisable social system Central Market
Central Market
 . It takes a bit of getting used to but we are becoming better at just stepping off the kerb and trusting the traffic weaves around you allowing you to reach your destination.
The central markets are huge and well worth a look. They are quite relaxed with a good proportion of the sales people asleep, and only the odd request to look in a stall.
The biggest pressure to spend comes from the Tuk-tuk drivers. Step out from the safety of the market or hotel and they are onto you to spend on tours. We eventually gave in and agreed to a day trip for tomorrow, Killing Fields etc. We agreed to US$11 for the day. According to our book that is too much and we should've bargained. Oh well, $11 for the 2 of us for an all day tour sounds OK to me.
Reading back over this entry it may sound like we are finding things a bit grim. On the contrary, we find the seemingly chaotic bustle, the colour and the energy of Phnom Penh fascinating and look forward to our next 2 days of exploration. It is exciting to finally be here and once we adjust our body clocks it will be all systems go.
Slideshow Print this entry Phnom Penh hotels