Monday 15 Aug 2011. Phnom Penh
The sky is grey and showery. It's the rainy season, apparently. We have arranged for the tuk tuk guy who sent me to the hotel to tour us around a few places. Penya arrives at Frangipani and we work out an itinerary:- Russian Market, Chisor Mountain Wat, Prasat Taprom Tonle Bati Wat and Cultural Heritage and both are in Dist. 2 some 55km away.
Do you like our ride in Phnom Penh?
We have a tour around Russian Market which is a little chaotic and ordinary. Why is it called Russian Market? I have no idea. I buy a Cambodia scarf to shield the heat and sun when I am at Angkor Wat.
The trip to Dist. 2 is treacherous and long mainly due to the stop start journey as a result of the rain and the vehicular traffic. The road up to the mountain is also not paved making the journey tough. It took us some 3 hours to get there. Wow!
We make the best of our warm beer - I did not finish mine
A typical Khmer country side house
Along the way thunder storms and rains prevail and we wisely make a pit stop at a road side "restaurant". We have Angkor and Penya has a coke. We are concerned and not use their ice cubes provided and so we have warm beer. Ha ha. Part of the fun of being in a new place for the first time.....
At Chisor Mountain
Jatna our unofficial "tour guide"
Probably the good thing about going up to the Wat is we have to climb 412 steps up, according to our "guide" Jatna. I stop counting after 100+ steps and instead, take short rests before resuming our climb. It shows how unfit I am and I somewhat regret having put on the pounds since January this year. Jatna's 14 years old and she earns a couple of bucks accompanying us whether we like it or not. I do not mind her presence. She's a little darling and speaks quite good English. She goes to a local high school and is in Grade 9.
The Wat was built in the 1500's and up on the mountain we can sort of see Phnom Penh, some river I cannot remember its name and Thailand, which I cannot identify.
In hindsight I would not have gone to these places because they are so far away on a tuk tuk ride and we can pretty much see more in Siem Reap.
Chaotic set up
We make our way back to PP and track to see more worthwhile sights:- The Killing Fields, The Genocide Museum and Tuol Sleng S21 Torture Center.
These places are well worth the tourism dollars as they tell vividly of a dark age (1975-1979) when the Cambodia people suffered greatly under the Pol Pot Regime of the Khmer Rouge. All the sufferings and gruesome things that KR inflicted on more than 3 million people are on display. So much pain, so much anguish, so much was lost in those years. No one, least of them us tourists will understand the depth of the horror and pain.......
Mata Kuching Plant in the Killing Fields
For dinner tonight we choose to go to Khmer Surin Restaurant. The restaurant setting is very Balinese/Malayish/Thaish; well-suited for the western tourist market.
We just love the environment. The food turns out to be just ok. We have:-
1. Amok
2. Pineapple pork
3. Spicy steam fish
4. Khmer chicken curry
5. Khmer salad
6. Mango sticky rice
7. Bou Loy (just like the Malaysian Bo2 Cha2)
All for a paltry $26.
Do you like our ride in Phnom Penh?
We have a tour around Russian Market which is a little chaotic and ordinary. Why is it called Russian Market? I have no idea. I buy a Cambodia scarf to shield the heat and sun when I am at Angkor Wat.
The trip to Dist. 2 is treacherous and long mainly due to the stop start journey as a result of the rain and the vehicular traffic. The road up to the mountain is also not paved making the journey tough. It took us some 3 hours to get there. Wow!
We make the best of our warm beer - I did not finish mine
A typical Khmer country side house
Along the way thunder storms and rains prevail and we wisely make a pit stop at a road side "restaurant". We have Angkor and Penya has a coke. We are concerned and not use their ice cubes provided and so we have warm beer. Ha ha. Part of the fun of being in a new place for the first time.....
At Chisor Mountain
Jatna our unofficial "tour guide"
Probably the good thing about going up to the Wat is we have to climb 412 steps up, according to our "guide" Jatna. I stop counting after 100+ steps and instead, take short rests before resuming our climb. It shows how unfit I am and I somewhat regret having put on the pounds since January this year. Jatna's 14 years old and she earns a couple of bucks accompanying us whether we like it or not. I do not mind her presence. She's a little darling and speaks quite good English. She goes to a local high school and is in Grade 9.
The Wat was built in the 1500's and up on the mountain we can sort of see Phnom Penh, some river I cannot remember its name and Thailand, which I cannot identify.
In hindsight I would not have gone to these places because they are so far away on a tuk tuk ride and we can pretty much see more in Siem Reap.
Chaotic set up
We make our way back to PP and track to see more worthwhile sights:- The Killing Fields, The Genocide Museum and Tuol Sleng S21 Torture Center.
These places are well worth the tourism dollars as they tell vividly of a dark age (1975-1979) when the Cambodia people suffered greatly under the Pol Pot Regime of the Khmer Rouge. All the sufferings and gruesome things that KR inflicted on more than 3 million people are on display. So much pain, so much anguish, so much was lost in those years. No one, least of them us tourists will understand the depth of the horror and pain.......
Mata Kuching Plant in the Killing Fields
For dinner tonight we choose to go to Khmer Surin Restaurant. The restaurant setting is very Balinese/Malayish/Thaish; well-suited for the western tourist market.
We just love the environment. The food turns out to be just ok. We have:-
1. Amok
2. Pineapple pork
3. Spicy steam fish
4. Khmer chicken curry
5. Khmer salad
6. Mango sticky rice
7. Bou Loy (just like the Malaysian Bo2 Cha2)
All for a paltry $26.
2 comments:
There is so much of pain and sadness involved in the history of Cambodia.... on the lighter side, I like your scarf... hehehe
me too... only $4
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