Phnom Penh - 24th June 2009

Today was a really early morning; 6am! I wanted to see Lucy and Robbie off, and they planned on a 6.30am breakfast and to have left by 7.45am when there bus arrived. By 7am it was already 34 degrees! Which is an incredible heat; I was a bit nervous about what was yet to come. Breakfast was tasty! A sesame bagette with pineapple jam!
It was time for Lucy and Robbie to go, so we hugged goodbye, and I left shortly after, on a moto! I wasn't offered a helmet, which was the only thing making me feel nervous, as I felt completely safe otherwise! It was $2 which is a bit high to be honest, but it was enjoyable, so I didn't bother bartering although if I use motos in the future I think I'll make a bit more effort! He wasn't travelling at ludicrous speeds, or dodging in and out of traffic so I was feeling pretty confident that I wasn't going to get squished on this particular journey!
I was dropped off at Wat Phnom, as requested. I then immediately felt a bit like Lara Croft! I have no idea why! I think it may have been to do with my clothing, having my camera in my combat style trouser's pocket, ready to whip out when needed! There weren't any other whites around and I felt a bit on edge incase of people pouncing on me for money etc, but it wasn't as bad as the guidebooks made out. The Wat itself was trivial, what made it special was the crazy roundabout around it, and all the character of the surrounding area; an elephant was ready for people to ride around the Wat on; she looked pretty content and was being fed bananas! I walked upwards towards the Wat, which was painted beautifully inside. To my surprise, within the space of about 3 metres, I saw a kitten, a dog, and a monkey!! The monkey happened to be scratching her rear end and then proceeding to sniff her fingers; which was curious to watch!! The area had lots of trees and a few small open buildings around. I sat down on one of many stone benches, as I felt I needed to write down all the things that had amazed me, as I was sure I would forget!
There were lots of merchants trying to sell things, and only a small girl approached me trying to sell me water, unfortunatly I already had a lot in my bag, so wasn't in need of any, although it was nice talking to her, she spoke quite good English.
There were three monkeys around by then; two of which started to have sex in various positions! (that was entertaining!!) One of them was trying to open some type of food which looked really clever, and an even cleverer one approached a unsuspecting victim who was carrying a plastic bag, and then ripped it open and stole out of it various things, including the lady's lunch!! She managed to get her water and a few other things back fortunatly for her!
The son of one of the merchants, around the age of 2 or 3 was playing in a cardboard box, and looked like he was having a whale of a time! He looked just like a kitten!
On leaving the temple, I had quite a few people shouting at me ''moto... moto'' in the hope I'd want transport somewhere. I felt quite proud in saying that I was going to walk! It took me a while to cross the very busy roundabout; dodging all the motos, cars, and tuk-tuks!
I walked down a big main road and heard a crash; at first I thought some kind of bomb had gone off, but thankfully it was some kind of demolition going on! It spread dust everywhere though!
I smiled to a fellow white lady traveller who smiled back! It was a bit random! It's weird meeting white people!
I next arrived at the Central Market. The first stall I passed was selling maps and books. I bought the lonely planet guide to Vietnam, for only $3!! Bargain! On opening it, I realised it was a photocopy, although the pictures inside and the outside all looked proper, so the only person losing out is the Lonely Planet people! I happened to pay an interest in one of the stalls; ie. I slowed down slightly near it, and so they tried to sell me various things, and as soons as people saw one vender talking to me the rest tried. They called "ma'am... ma'am!" They were like contagious sheep!! I got a bit bored of "no thanks, no thanks...'' repetitively!! I used the tactic of not looking them in the eyes, so they'd leave me alone, which worked, although I did feel a bit unfriendly! It was a bit random people trying to sell me men's shirts... do I look like the sort of person who would buy men's shirts?!
I found a shop selling Winter melon tea; I'm not sure what drew me to it, but I bought some, and amazingly enough, it was the same drink as I'd fallen in love with in Singapore a few years back! I was reunited :-)
There were less desirable things in the market aswell, such as many dead fish, and some alive fish, which confused me a bit, as they were out of water; I thought fish suffocated when they came into contact with air out of water. There were also live chickens in very crampt cages, and dead chickens looking very recently killed and plucked. One stall had separated the various body parts of the chickens into head, neck, feet etc... It freaked me out a bit so I left the area rather swiftly.
There was an old lady begging, but I didn't give her any money as there were too many people who would have just followed suit in asking for money.
I happened to pass a place selling bus tickets to Ho Chi Minh City, so I booked onto one, costing me $9; it leaves at 6.30am, which is a bit crazy... I maybe should have gone for the 11am one, especially as I'll have to leave here about 6am, and get up even earlier!
On my excursion I passed some people who were sorting through rubbish, probably looking for food or things they could sell.
I then reached Street 147; an amazing street! Lots of artwork on sale including signs made from wood and stone with the letters chisled out. I was tempted by quite a few pieces of art, but I found a lovely shop with a very friendly man who was selling a beautiful painting of an old Wat, elephants, and randomly enough rabbits in the foreground!! It was only $12!! A bargain! He had a little girl, named Lida! She was so cute! She said hello and we kept on smiling at each other, conversation couldn't really go any further than that! I really need to learn some more phrases!
I popped into a cafe for a drink, a refreshing pineapple drink in the Ebony cafe where a proportion of it is given to fund charitable parties.
On my way into the National Museum, a boy with pretty good English was trying to sell me and light green, and looked sort of chinese like. There were various stone works with engravings on, which date from the 5th-14th century and tell the history of the Khmer. There was also various burial sites mentioned, and information on DNA, C14 dating and ''modern'' techniques used to find out information. There was weaponry and a wooden carridge for a boat, as well as a Royal Palanquin. The Cambodians created all their buildings from their wealth which they'd aquired from selling fish which surprised me a bit. In the garden it was very peaceful, apart from being packed with whites! There were fish in the ponds and it all looked very pretty.
On leaving, I got a bit harassed by a tuk-tuk driver who followed me for absolutely ages, I lost him eventually when I went away from the road into a park! Beisde the Tonle Sap I noticed a lone girl also being harassed by a tuk-tuk! So with that in common, conversation started and we walked a bit together. She was from Hong Kong and was going home the following day after her weeks of travelling.
I'd headed to the Grand Palace but it was shut until 2pm, which spoilt my plan a bit. I continued with the rest of my walking tour and saw the Cambodia-Vietnam monument, and the Independence Monument. My feet were killing me by then and so rather than popping into a cafe I decided to get a tuk-tuk, which was a complete waste of time! I'd wanted to go to a place where apparently you can book a day's volunteering with bears as part of a sanctury 'free the bears.co.au' but the address we eventually arrived at was more like a house than anything else. It took us long enough to get there as firstly the driver set off in the wrong direction! and so I had to direct him on how to get to the street! and secondly he ran out of petrol and stalled for ages before sending a random person to get petrol for him!! I got him to take me to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. He got lost on his way here too! It was ridiculous!! Even when he stopped and asked for directions he continued in the wrong direction!! I eventually told him that we were near enough and I'd walk the rest of the way! It would have been quicker to walk, although my feet were glad of the rest!
I ad-libbed my way to the entrance, and went down a few back alleyways to get to the entrance. I felt a bit nervous but thankfully didn't get mugged etc! On my way I got my foot stuck down an unexpected drain with no grating on it, and I fell over! Thankfully not breaking my camera which was in my pocket, or getting squished by a moto! There was a really cute little girl playing on a tuk-tuk so I said hello and she said hello back, but as before conversation beyond that was impossible! Down one of the back streets there was a group of local teenage boys, one of whom shouted something to me. I have no idea what he said, but he shyed away when I turned around and walked towards them! I asked them for directions which they gave! It was really weird going back to them after they'd shouted something! I've no idea of what they said was complementary or horrible or whether they'd just called me white, as I'd initially thought.
I also passed a French man, who gave me directions, and then I could see I was close as there were whites everywhere!! Outside a boy, also very cute, and speaking good English, sold me a drink which I was quite thankful for! A begger then approached me, who looked quite terrifying as his face looked like it had been burnt in an acid attack, his eyes had been affected too, and in a skin crawling way I felt a bit scared; I definetly would have been terrified if I'd met him down an alley!!
The museum cost $3 entrance. It looked a bit like several Miller Academy blocks. It had previously been a high school, but when Khmer Rouge attacked, they turned it into a place of torture, death and imprisonment. I felt sick which was a bit strange. There were many torture rooms with beds in; then a block of 1x1.5m cubicles where prisoners were tied up. There was barbed wire along the balcony area so suicidal prisoners couldn't jump. There were photos of many who had been murdered, some pre-torture, others post-torture. There were stories written of what had happened to people, how they got involved in the Khmer Rouge either as a torturer or as a victim, or as a victims relative. There was also a blood-curdling room full of depictions of the torture and interrogation methods; cutting of fingers etc. There was also a room with skulls, some with no descriptions, and others with details of how the person died. It was truely awful.
I was feeling a bit lazy, and so decided to take a moto up to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. On the way, I witnessed a RTA involving a bike crashing into a moto who both very nearly got squished by a huge car!! I was absolutely boiling by this point. I drank quite a bit of water but didn't feel much better, I think I was just quite hungry by this point. I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast and it was now 3pm. I seemed to be too busy sightseeing to stop, and no cafes had caught my eye especially. Despite costing $6.25, I wasn't that impressed by the RP and SP. It seemed not as amazing as some of the things we'd seen in Bangkok. The outsides looked arty, and so did the insides, lots of Buddhas inside the temples. I seemed to be just going from building to building finding shade and fans!These buildings were kept by the Khmer Rouge so that outsiders couldn't say that they'd destroyed the heart of Cambodia etc. The toilet was good though, worked well and it strangely enough
I then made my way back to the hostel. I seem to find the most interesting things when I'm not going to an exact place and I'm just ad-libbing the route a bit! Firstly I found a shop selling English books, although I resisted the temptation to buy! Then I came across a patchwork shop which mum would have liked! I bought her a wee present from there, and took a picture of a hammock which was quilted, and attached to a metal hammock frame.
Also along the route I found a shop selling small silk geckos, and as Lucy had asked me to keep an eye out for geckos as she collects then I got one. It was quite cute! To my surprise, I then came across a real surprise; The Gecko Collection shop; which sells metal geckos! They are pretty cool! I chose the black one for Lucy, which had a orange robe on it, like a Monk, so it looks more Cambodian than the others. I hope she likes it!
I continued walking and saw quite a cute dog who came up to me, I slowly put out my hand to let her sniff me, but after about a second she did an odd 360 degree turn and I thought she was going to bite me, but then she ran off! She probably did have rabies!
I also passed a school, where lots of children were playing happily, and then I passed a few times, groups of kids on the side of the streets playing with a toy, another group were playing badminton! It was quite nice seeing people relaxing and having fun. It was about 5pm by this time, and the roads were getting pretty hecktick I wasn't sure how much longer it would take me to get back to the hostel. I spotted a cafe which served soya milk, so I thought they might have various other vegan things, although they weren't as versitile as I'd thought. One girl was eyeing me up rather strangely as if she'd seen an alien! I think she must have just thought I was a fussy white. She smiled at the end which made me feel a bit better. I ended up having a iced coffee with soya milk, and then a pizza without the cheese. They were pretty delicious! It cost just over $5 in total. To follow they brought me 4 lychee which were delicious!
Someone passed me in a very stylish pink moto, and later on a couple of nurses were cycling home in their usual nursing outfits with a face mask/surgeons mouth guard on which was rather strange!
I finally made it back to the hostel which I was very relieved about, and it was before dark. I went straight on the internet, and unsurprisingly enough, blogged for around 3 hours!! There was a film on in the background which was set in Cambodia. They have a different film on each night which is quite good, although it can be a bit distracting!