Almost one week in Phnom Penh..

..and it was way too much time here -- 6 nights! I originally wanted to stay for only 2 nights, but things kept happening. I got in a day after the Water Festival bridge incident, so the city was in mourning, and several tourist sites were closed. It was enough reason for me to extend my stay. Then I found out Rachel and Marin (travelers I met in Laos) were coming in, and Simon was about to arrive; I had even more reason to stay.

There really is not much to do in Phnom Penh, though. The important sites (in my opinion) are the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. I read a little bit about the Khmer Rouge before arriving in Cambodia, but going to these sites gives you a better understanding of what happened and what Cambodians (currently around the ages of at least 40 years old) had experienced, and the horror of genocide. What's really crazy was this all happened in the mid to late 1970s. Really not long ago at all.

The Genocide Museum(S.21) located in the city of Phnom Penh. It used to be a high school, but the Khmer Rouge turned it into a holding pen for prisoners, until they were taken to the Killing Fields, about 40 min from the city. I was definitely feeling somber during the visits to both places. There were a lot of graphic pictures showing types of torture methods and tools used. The Killing Fields are nice and peaceful now, but imagining bodies in the pits was quite disturbing. I felt like I wanted to cry several times. And I had the eeriest feelings while walking through the holding pens in S.21. And all this was on my first day in Phnom Penh.


S.21

Killing Fields

The next several days were really chill, since I took my time. Let's see, I...

- went to check out some markets. The Orussey Market was selling these bad boys.



- walked around the waterfront. It's a nice area, and locals do hang out there, but it's very touristy.



- went to a CouchSurfing Meet Up. That was cool to meet some other travelers and locals in the area. We ended up bar hopping and then dancing to hip hop at the end of the night.



- ate an expensive dessert at the Foreigner's Correspondence Club (FCC). Twice.


Rich Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Figs Tart. You devil, you.

- got my bangs trimmed at a salon. That was fun, since the hair stylist couldn't speak English. They had a look book though, so that made it easier. Telling them to thin the bangs out was a little tough, but they got it right.

- went to tourist sites: Royal Palace, National Museum, and Wat Phnom.


Royal Palace


National Museum


Wat Phnom

- went to Sorya Mall. This place was a trip because there was a rollerblading rink upstairs, some sort of chicken restaurant on every floor (fried, grilled, baked....), a cinema, and a Swensens's Ice Cream shop (not sure why but these are premium ice cream shops in SE Asia. I didn't know of any other shops except in San Francisco).




at one of the chicken restaurants


rollerblades!

- fell in love with mangosteen. Even though it was expensive.



- had some good Cambodian desserts.


herbal jelly, coconut milk, simple syrup, and some sort of fruit.

And that is all about I can remember... It was nice to take my time though. Probably the more relaxing part of my trip. Sometimes you do need a vacation from vacation.

Thanksgiving in Phnom Penh

I am supposed to be in Hong Kong today. Ideally spending Thanksgiving with my Step-Mom; not like Hong Kong celebrates Thanksgiving though. But nope, I decided to extend my stay, and I was by myself in Phnom Penh (PP). PP actually has a wide range of restaurants, from Indian, Malaysian, Italian, French, American, etc. I tried to find an American restaurant that was serving a Turkey dinner, that night, and walked into a place called Freebird (really). With the amount of ex-pats in PP, there were bound to be some Americans celebrating here. Yes, there were some Americans, but nope, no turkey.

So what did I decide to order? Eggs Benedict. It sounded good on the menu, and I love it (usually). But what's the one thing that can really mess up eggs Benedict? The Hollandaise sauce. This is tricky enough to get right in the US, so I don't know why I risked it in PP. It was pretty terrible. The sauce had too much lemon in it...I had to scrape it off the muffin. They kept the poached eggs separate from the Hollandaise sauce and the muffins, but the eggs were too undercooked, so the meal was just one big slimy plate. Excellent bacon though. That was the only saving grace.

Disappointed with my meal, and also not being able to chat it up with anyone at the Freebird, I went to the Foreginer's Correspondance Club (FCC), this western resturant that had great food (sandwiches, salads, pizza), but US prices (sandwich = $7). I had gone there for lunch the day before, and spotted a dessert I really wanted to try-- a rich chocolate tart made of hazelnuts, figs, and chocolate chips, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and candied oranges. After such a bad Thanksgiving meal, I deserved it. Plus, I wasn't ready to go home yet.

I plopped down on a bar stool along the edge of the balcony, overlooking the riverside. That's the good thing about FCC, it's in a great location with a nice, relaxing atmosphere. There were two guys sitting a couple chairs away and they noticed the dessert I ordered. We started to chat and it turned out they were from the US too, one from Boston and one from Carson City. They didin't realize what day it was until I said Happy Thanksgiving. We spent most of the night talking about SE Asia travels (they had been to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) and just the sheer awesomeness of taking a long break to travel. It made me feel good about extending my trip :) They were good company. Glad I didn't have to spend my entire Thanksgiving meal alone.