Started off the day by visiting Wat Phnom Pagoda, situated near the city centre. It's on top of an artificial hill, and we had to pay $1-2 per pax to climb the hill. Where we stopped, there's a tree filled with hanging bats, all basking under the sorching sun. Never knew bats loved the sun that much.
We quickly moved on to the National Museum, which we didn't enter cos both of us weren't fond of looking at artifacts (from the experience we had at Taipei's National Palace Museum). The exterior was nice though. Very reddish, very classy. However, there weren't many tourists around as well. If I'm not mistaken, entrance fee about $5-$10.
What we wanted to check out, was the Royal Palace, and that we did, because of the other attractions inside. However, it wasn't cheap, about $6.25 for tourists. Locals could enter at a cheaper rate, from what I observed with a huge group of locals having a "special" queue.
The structures were similar, only difference lies in their colors. At Wat Phnom, they were pink, at the National Museum, they were red, but at the Royal Palace, they were golden/yellow. The flying angels, which my dear was so fond of looked the most prestigious at the Royal Palace.
The next section was where the Sliver Pagoda stood. When I first heard of it, I expected to see a Sliver Pagoda, literally. Well, it seems that the Pagoda had sliver tilings, but other than that, it wasn't as "silvery" as I had imagined.
We even had to give a miss for the Elephant Terrace (I think that's the name, similar to Siem Reap) and it was only at the 3rd and final main area, that we could take as much time as we want - the walkway, the entrance and exit for the palace. It's not just a door but an entire walkway of exhibits along the way. There were a couple of interesting Buddha nature (flowers) fused structures and there was even a "live demonstration" of a lady knitting Khmer scarves.
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It was lunch time when we reached the Genocide Museum, and was told that there was no food inside. Therefore we went to a nearby home stall to feast on the local foods. We decided to settle for local "zhi cha" with seemingly plain dishes. In general, they were quite salty but tasty and the water they poured for us had bits of leaf fibers in them. We were so paranoid we left the water pretty much untouched, though I did try a few gulps of it... tasted... leafy, raw, and sandy, groundy (if that word even exist). Was very cheap though, don't think we paid anymore than $5.
Even as I type the post now, and viewing the photos, it would still send a shiver down my spine... I shan't describe too much about it, but to give you a general idea of the place, apart from what I've mentioned, there's 3 main blocks over there - one for the high officials near the "back" entrance where we came from (more spacious and lotsa torture devices over there), one which I can't remember, and the last where the brick and wood cells were. If my memory doesn't fail me, the one with the brick and wood cells had barbed wires surrounding the entire building. It was also the place where they were more things to read about, the tyrants responsible for the massacre and few remaining survivors of the nightmare. I believe that block was supposed to be the "first" block and that our route was in reversed order.
Phew* I survived subjecting myself to take a trip down memory lane because if given a choice, I would gladly leave the sick memories of the Khmer Massacre behind at the Genocide Museum. I shall quickly move on a lighter, happier part of our trip there... the Russian Market!!
It was there that we also chanced upon the "Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh". At least that's what the store owner claimed. It was an unexpected encounter, because we did include it in our itinerary but totally forgot about it since I hardly referred to our itinerary during our stay there. The shop owner, with a ever smiling face and an amicable tone, even has a facebook account and decorated his shop with flags of other countries. What I liked about the shop is that we could even ask for a one time refill with no extra charge! The condensed milk was "gao gao" (very thick) and the service, if you call it that, was excellent. His daughter cum assistant was always on the ball. It's a small cosy shop in the middle of the Russian Market and there's also another stall selling the "Best Khmer Coffee" or so it claimed.
After which, we returned to our hotel room to put our barang barang down before heading out to Sisowath Quay again. This time, we decided to take another route, and turned up at the other end of the Quay. Took a romantic couple-ly stroll along the Quay and we settled our dinner at the Phnom Penh Night Market yet again. French guy was still there, roads were equally as busy but we tried a different stall. However, I thought the previous day's food was nicer.
I figured that we could take a "shortcut" back to our hotel, which we did. We passed by the shopping mall near to our hotel which was still opened, and we had dessert at Swenson's! However, the quality of the food wasn't quite up to standards and the ice cream felt like those cheap ice creams (ice bits). My dear had waffles, wasn't that great either. Despite her ecstatic facial expression, the meal "costs" us more than just $$$, for the next few days, it made dear queasy. It was a great experience overall, having to chill out at a "Malaysian type shopping mall" at such an hour, in a foreign country and not worrying about how to get back to our hotel room because it was all just within walking distance.