Expectedly Unexpected

Day 1.

We arrived in Phnom Penh International Airport at precisely 4.12pm, after going through immigration and customs, we were greeted with our guide-for-the-next-4-days guide. Instead of hailing a cab, he got us “tuk-tuk”s. A popular mode of transport of locals (and much cheaper than cabs – they only cost USD 15 for one whole day from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.). People in Cambodia surprisingly use a lot of US Dollars to do business. Their official currency is Riel with an approximate exchange of MYR 1 = KHR 1000. Both currencies are accepted in all businesses and bigger businesses like supermarkets and restaurants operate using US Dollars.

Small, cheap, fast and windy! Phnom Penh is probably one of the dustiest cities I’ve ever been to aside from cities that lie near a desert like Beijing. Without the aid of super huge sunglasses that covers 50% of your face, you’ll be constantly blinded by dust particles blown into your eyes on a tuk-tuk. However, with shades to my aid, the ride becomes extremely interesting and fun too!

For dinner, we went to a Thai-Cambodian fusion restaurant. Interesting food too. Kang kung (Malay for a type of vegetable) is called morning glory there. I thought we were going to eat flowers but it ended up to be just an everyday vegetable we have here in Malaysia. Their cheese there is actually miso (a type of fermented bean curd eaten by Chinese and Japanese) and they have A LOT of sour soups. All kinds of appetizing sour soups. They even have banana flower sour soup but unfortunately throughout the 4 days we were there, all the restaurants we went to all ran out of it.

Day 2.

First place of the day isn’t really an attraction we would go to like in every other country. This place is called Choeungek Genocidal Centre.

Cambodia suffers from a very very turbulent past. A group of people called Pot Pol went on a killing spree slaughtering almost 2 million of their own people in fears of a rebellion against them. Men, women and children we killed without mercy. They forced everyone in the capital city into the country side to plant rice and made Phnom Penh literally a ghost town. One of the biggest concentration camps where almost 9000 victims were killed was the site of present day Choeungek. A shrine was erected on the site in memory of the dead.

Next was the second and last genocidal centre we visited is called Toul Sleng. It a high school converted into a torture and slaughter centre.

It’s saddening and heart breaking to read and learn what the Cambodian people had to go through in the past.

Anyway, sad stories aside. Next was the King’s Palace! It HUGE. Our Prime Minister’s new home in Putrajaya is still dwarfed by this palace. Here are a few of the best pictures I’ve got.

The architecture was amazing and the attention to detail was unsurpassed. No matter how close your look there are still more designs and shapes inside the already elaborate design. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the buildings. The throne room was breathtaking. Rolling carpets, bright yellow decorations, detailed paintings on the walls and ceiling and amazing sculptures and furniture.

Next was the Russian Market. A tourist shopping area selling textiles, shoes, bags, perfumes, food of all sorts. I have no idea why it’s called the Russian Market. I don’t see anything related to Russia there. Anyway, everything there is super cheap (provided your bargaining skills aren’t rusty yet). We only had 1 hour and they were closing down at 5 p.m. So we postponed our shopping to the next day.

Day 3.

More shopping at the Russian Market. Shoes, clothes, textiles and more shoes were purchased. After shopping till we dropped, we went to Central Market to shop and drop even more. Another place similar to the Russian Market but this is more for the locals instead of tourists.

After having lunch, we went to Phnom Penh museum. The museum showcased Cambodia’s rich history during the Angkor empire’s rule (mostly stuff that we learnt in history books). Sculptures, statues, carvings, maps, furniture, small artefacts were among those showcased in the museum.

Day 4.

On our last day, we had some time to kill before our flight back to Malaysia at 4 p.m. So we headed to Wat Phnom (Cambodian for Phnom temple). This is the place where the city of Phnom Penh got it’s name from. A girl named Phnom Peng found a wooden Buddha sculpture inside a tree trunk that was washed ashore. She brought it to the very place and built a shrine and temple to honour the Buddha found inside the trunk.

Slowly the towns people began to build their houses around the temple and a millennium later Phnom Penh is what it is today. A bustling city of 2 million people. Those stone serpent like sculptures you see in the pictures are called Nagas. They serve as protection to the temple from bad spirits and auras.

After visiting the temple, we went for a boat ride on Tonle Sap, South East Asia’s largest fresh water lake. It only costs USD 10 to rent a big boat that could accommodate at least 20 people for an hour!

Too cheap to resist.

During the boat trip we get to witness how the river people whom are mostly fishermen or also known as Vietnamese boat people live their lives.

Cute tiny houses that float on water are their houses that they live in. They have dogs too that jump from boat house to boat house playing around.

The boat trip marked the end of our trip and it’s time to pack and go home.

All in all, I found the trip amazing. It’s something very different compared to other trips to other countries like China and Japan which are thoroughly commercialised. We learnt a great deal of their violent history, the amazing Angkor empire that once controlled most of Thailand, tantalizing and tasty food, and lastly their amazingly cheap stuff at their markets. Next trip to Cambodia, Angkor Wat, Siem Riep here I come!