Pnomh Penh, Cambodia

  Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

We arrived in Pnomh Penh after a 6 hour bus journey including border crossing from Vietnam. We checked into a place called the Okay Guesthouse, which was recommended to us by 2 girls we met on the beach in Nha Trang. One of the first things we noticed about Cambodia was that all prices were in US Dollar (even things like tuk-tuk journeys) but the good thing we realised was that the ATM's dispense in Dollars too so that made life really easy. When we got to the guesthouse it bucketed down for about 2 hours so we were just sitting in the room watching telly. I looked out the window and there were locals showering in the rain, no messing, bar of soap in one hand, sponge in the other - thats how heavy it was raining. When we finally left the hotel half the streets in the city were impassable as they were flooded, it was over a foot high in places. We later found out that the weather would be pretty bad for the next few days as a result of the Typhoon off the coast of the Philippines that caused the ferry to capsize the other day.
Had a quiet night that night, nobody was out due to the floods, so we just had dinner and went home early to watch telly. The next morning we stumbled upon an Irish Bar called the Green Vespa and had the best breakfast since leaving home - Imported English Bacon & Sausage, Imported Irish Black Pudding, Heinz Beans, 2 fried eggs, tea and toast. Happy Days!

S-21 Prison

Cell in S-21

After that, we walked (well I waddled - stuffed!) to the Russian Market. The place was full of robbed stuff from the factories around Pnomh Penh - Abercrobie & Fitch, Holister, Adidas, Puma, GAP etc. There was also loads of dodgy electronics - iPods, Memory Cards, PSP's, DVD's and CD's. Some of the DVD's they had on sale aren't even out in Hollywood yet! If I was going back to Ireland the next day I would have spent a fortune!
After the market we went to the first of the 2 "not nice but have to see" sights in Pnomh Penh. It was the Tuol Sleng Genoside Museum more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge's S-21 Prison operated by Pol Pot and his regime. We watched a video there about the things that happened in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge - it was disgusting. We spent a few hours walking around the prison, looking at the cells, the pictures of the torturing, peoples accounts of what happened etc. It really was an eye opener and the fact that it happened less than 30 years ago made the place even more eerie.
That evening we met the girls from Wexford and Carlow in a sports bar called Gym Bar. It was a great bar with big TV's all over the place, a pool table and every sport imaginable on the televisions. The owner of the place, a chap from Adelaide, knew we were Irish and put 2fm on the radio! Afterwards we met the Dutch couple we've been bumping into all over the place to watch the Holland Vs Russia game. About 30 or 40 Dutch showed up and it was a great atmosphere. Pity about the result for the Dutch but it was a great game. Extra time meant we didn't get back to the hotel til 5am.

Royal Palace Buildings

Biggest Execution Pit

The next afternoon we went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda but Lydia wasn't allowed in coz she was dressed like a western hussy! No sleeves on her top, imagine such disrespect! So we went walking around the town and found another market, the Central Market, wasn't as good as the Russian Market. Now, since we arrived in Cambodia we've been reading about all the weird things they eat - bugs and insects and the like so I set off trying to find some. Didn't find any in that market but I set myself a goal to find some before I left Pnomh Penh. Met the Irish girls in the Gym Bar again that night and the owner put the GAA on the radio for the Wexford girls. Then he found the RTE.ie live streaming site and we all watched the Dublin Vs Wexford hurling game. I got a bit of abuse at the final whistle but I told them to come back to me after the football final next month!
On Monday morning we went to the second of the "not nice but have to see" sights in Pnomh Penh. This time it was the Killing Fields, where the prisoners of S-21 were taken to be executed and thrown into mass graves. The place really is eerie, in a lot of places there are bones sticking up out of the ground and the victims clothes are still scattered all over the place.
When we got over the shock of the Killing Fields we went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. This time Lydia wore a t-shirt and we got in. It was nice to see the Palace and Pagoda but not worth its $6 entrance fee. After the Palace and Pagoda we hit the jackpot - 2 big stall filled with all sorts of lovely stuff like - chicken fetuses, deep fried baby frogs, snakes, cockroaches, grasshoppers, huge spiders etc. I decided to go for a snake on a stick - looked like the best of a bad bunch. I think the photos describe best how it tasted! We had a quiet night on Monday night and checked out of the hotel the next morning to make our way to the beach - Sihanoukville, four hours away. 

Snake on a Stick

Chewy!

 

Snake on a stick - Never Again!