We were picked up by a minibus at our villa, after which, they fetched several more tourists before stopping at a roadside near the river. There, we had to hop onto another larger coach bus, which surprisingly had a handful of tourists (by tourists, I mean Caucasians) traveling on it as well. Seats weren't that bad, but the toilet in the coach was horrid.
There was a bucket of water just beside the cubicle, which stank real bad and, based on my cow sense, the water should be for flushing. However, based on my common sense, the water would have been contaminated by splashes of urine and was probably infested with bad bacteria and there was no way I would dive my hand into the water. So, like the others who went before me, I didn't flush the toilet bowl...
I knew it would have been disgusting, but didn't know it was that bad. I had initially held back, but after that one loo trip, I came back all pale and told my dear she doesn't want to use the toilet.
We tried to sleep as much and as fast as we could so that we time would fly by. Stopped by a eating house along the way which was our pee stop as well (similar to a Genting trip). Toilet was equally as disgusting, at least there's a bigger space to move around. It's just 1 stop, but there were other short and abrupt stops along the way, however, one has to do it "in the bushes". Factually, it's not the bushes, but along the roadside where privacy and flashing of your modesty would be your main concerns.. even though the locals didn't really care.
Enuff of the grueling trip, when we alighted at the bus station, we were once again hounded by irritating Tuk Tuk drivers. They were very aggressive, and waited at the entrance of the coach, like eagles hawking down on innocent mice. Had to push them aside to get our luggage. No one bothered to help us take the luggage out (cos the guy who was supposed to do it left someone else's luggage in the coach when they pit stopped along the way and had to alight the bus and return it to the owner, which left only the driver behind).
There was a little boy pulling out a few luggages (don''t know where he popped out from) but left the rest inside. A lucky Tuk Tuk driver (whose name I can't rem) chatted us up in English and we decided to engage him. He later helped us to dig (yup, literally dig from the luggage compartment cos it was in all the way to the back) our luggage and we, I experienced the most "pissing" moment of my trip there. My dear's bag was infested with ant-like insects. They were like tiny red ants, reminded me of termites and were gang-banging my dear's luggage. It was the most "I want to strangle all the locals" moment for me.
Kept beating the bag to chase all the ants out but there were some who hitched a ride back with us to the hotel room. We decided to engage the Tuk Tuk driver for our stay in Phnom Penh, which wasn't that long in the first place. He wasn't the best of Tuk Tuk drivers (best was the one from MotherHome, or should I use future tense?), but wasn't the worst either (worst being the donkey who sent us to the Airport on our last day there).
When we checked in at Bolyna Palace Hotel, the staff weren't too friendly or helpful and a couple of them couldn't speak English. There was this shit-face guy who gave us such a condescending look I wanted to just gorge his eyes out. But lucky for him, I'm too civilized to do that ^^.
We didn't get much help from the hotel staff when we asked for help to make a phone call over to Reef Resort, the hotel which we would be staying in Sihanoukville because we wanted to spend an additional day in Phnom Penh, just so that we could check out more tourists hotspots such as the Genocide Museum.
They sent us on a wild goose chase by equipping us with a black and white, badly drawn, cluttered map and we finally ended up asking for directions from a local cafe. We were told that there was a phone call service shop across the road, we just need to pay them and they would make the call for us, and a Swedish (I think) Professor who was chilling out at the cafe decided to lend us a hand, phone.
Managed to call the resort to push back a day and to cut a day at MotherHome Guesthouse and chatted with him for a while. That was how we managed to know about his profession and how strongly he feels for the locals. A nice guy, I would say. One of the few in the "jungle" out there.
It was around late afternoon. We dropped by The Central Market and a nearby shopping mall (you won't miss it) before navigating our way to Sisowath Quay (3 km strip along west bank of Tonle Sap River). The Central Market is a must stop place because of it's golden architecture. The structure reminded me a mosque's architecture somewhat, and the interior looked better than it's exterior. From the outside, Central Market, or Phsar Thmey looked like a golden mosque, and from the inside, like a treasure cave glowing with gold bars. The way the structure is, allows the sunlight to seep into the market place under, which creates this soothing and peaceful glow to the interior, like a mood light.
We had dinner at the nearby shopping mall (Sorya something something), at some KFC-like fast food by the name of "BBWorld". The food wasn't that cheap but was pretty decent, taste-wise. As for what's there at Sisowath Quay, there's yet another pub street (lined with pubs) and a night market there as well.
I was initially skeptical, but I think there's some truths behind his words. Well, worth a shot, for those of you considering to visit Phnom Penh, since it's much nearer to the buzzing night life. Our hotel was near Central Market, but it closes pretty early, around 5.30 - 6pm. Thankfully, the shopping mall closes quite late, around 10pm I think.
It's also a place with street buskers, one in particular which is highly memorable is a skit performed by a group of teenagers (boys and girls). It was rather intense, with seemingly real fights and great acting. Weird and disturbing storyline though, about some "chick" dominating over guys.
After the street play, they suddenly turned to hip hop dancing. Drastic but an eye-opening change. Betcha didn't know there were child hip-hoppers in Cambodia as well.
And of course, the infamous con-ers lurks there. There was a guy selling drinks who stopped by, even though I rejected him, he said down and pretended to have a small chat with me. After chatting for 5 mins, he brought out his range of can drinks. I decided to buy one from him to get him off my back and lo and behold, when I bought a can drink, he asked me to buy another can drink FOR him!!! f you're wondering what in the world am I talking about, or if you think there's a typo error, think again! That's how "cheap" it is over there. He's asking me to buy a can drink for him from him. Aweeeessssoommmeeee.... weirdest request I've heard in my entire life. Which by then I had no qualms about upright rejecting him. If he were to persist, I would have thrown my shoe at him (then again, I would have lost my shoe).
It wasn't over, after drinking about 1/2 of the can drink, a kid came to me and begged me to give her my can drink. Jesussss.... And so you have it, they really know how to "recycle" their products.
Actually, I'm not even sure if this incident happened on this day or the next, but either way, it DID happen.
Back to a happier memory.
The Phnom Penh Night Market was a local entertainment spot which was filled with stalls selling souvenirs, clothes, shoes, bags, and a food square where locals could sit on rattan mats lined on the floor to enjoy their meals. It was quite an intimate experience.
There's also a French guy selling crepes at the entrance of the night market which drew a huge part of the crowd. What's there to see? Nothing. I've no idea why everyone's so intrigued by a French guy making crepes (his method is nothing special and there isn't even any flashy showmanship) and because I was trying to feel like a local, I stood there with my dear for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out the reason for his "popularity".
Unquestionably, we tried the food over at the food square. They sold mainly "Yong Tau Foo"-style meals, where we get to pick from a variety of ingredients and veges. We could also choose fried mee, kuay tiao or even bee tai bak (my favourite). They served a plate of complementary raw veges (which I didn't really like) with our fried quail, crab sticks, mushroom, pig ears and fried bee tai bak. Yummy! One of the better deals we got over there. The soya bean drink over there was good stuff as well. A must-try!
One of the few "shorter" days we spent cos of the bus ride, but nonetheless, Phnom Penh was a great pit-stop before Sihanoukville.
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