Phnom Penh

My flight from KL to Phnom Penh was uneventful; we landed down in Phnom Penh's resort like airport around 930 morning local time and breezed out from the arrival hall unhindered. I was rather surprised that there were not much touts ambushing us at the exit door, and hence we took a tuk-tuk and head towards our hotel. 

Known as Paris of the east, Phnom Penh still has some of its French colonial buildings but the city is rapidly being modernised with the mushrooming of new buildings scattered in the city. The area around Sisowath Quay still thrives as the tourist hub, with rows of bars,  restaurants, "fish doctor" masseur kiosks, travel agencies and cheap hotels lining along the riverside. Our tuk-tuk ultimately brought us to this lovely H Hotel that we booked online, which is located at one of the small alleys off Sisowath Quay.

It doesn't seem very impressive from the outside with the high walls, but the moment you stepped in the ambience is wonderful. We had our welcome drinks while awaiting for our rooms to be made up; we arrived pretty earlier than expected so I did not fault them for not having our rooms prepared. The rooms were spacious, cosy and very clean! Although it was a bit way above my budget but I had no regrets!

We rested for an hour (more like flipping through the tv channels and rummaging through the cabinets), and headed out for our first adventure! 

Unfortunately for us, the Royal Palace has a lunch break hiatus, hence we took a detour for lunch at a restaurant that serves Khmer food. Again, the shops and restaurants here took great length decorating their premises that I could not resist the temptation to just stop by and have a look. Nonetheless, I eventually found out that I have no affinity for Khmer food (except for amok!), hence to me that lunch was just mediocre. 

After dwindling for 2 hours in that restaurant, we headed for the royal palace. Well, Cambodia's royal palace isn't as grand as Thailand's, yet somehow it is more harmonious in its layout and rather easy to navigate through. There is no way one would get lost! 

While I was lost looking for the silver pagoda (of which I thought it was constructed entirely by pure silver!), I eventually realised that its just the floor tiles that are made of silver. What a misnomer! 

We finished touring the Royal Palace in just an hour's time and made our way towards the National Museum, which is just a stone's throw opposite the palace. There's nothing much to see in there except for sculptures and statues and ruins. It was there that I grasped the concept of "lingga" and "yoni" in the Khmer's Hindu-Buddhist culture; it's something similar to the oriental concept of  "yin" and "yang", just that they are represented by genitalia. LOL. 

Our next destination was Wat Phnom, or "temple on the hill", almost a kilo away from the royal palace. It's just a small buddhist temple on a mount with no tourist significance, but the locals do gather here for prayers due to its historical significance. 

We walked along Sisowath Quay heading back to our hotel, scouting for potential eating outlets for the night. We barged into a night market, full of vendors selling clothing, mobile phone accessories and street food, made a quick tour in it before resuming our walk back.

Fortunately, just opposite our hotel were a few stalls selling local food. I wasn't sure what to order, but the stall owner just made something decent and edible for me, which was quite sumptious. I wanted to try the Cambodian Fried Chicken, but somehow I hesitated and opted for dessert elsewhere in another shop.

We were somehow exhausted with all the walking, hence we ended the night pretty young, preparing ourselves for another hectic day ahead!