Arrival into Phnom Penh on the $5 bus trip from Kep- approx 3.5 to 4 hours. Songka Bus company and the driver didn’t spend the whole time on the horn, so all good.
Tuk Tuk to Hotel 252, a $2 trip, most trips around Phnom Penh are $2. A huge cement wall and large wooden gate hide the hotel from the muddy and potholed street. But on opening the gate it truly is an osasis! A gorgeous pool and huts to sit in and pool side bar (no not a swim up bar,tracy) greet us, mmmmm looking set for a few days here! All for $50 a night, l certainly think so.
Huge spacious rooms. This will now be my PP home!
We grab and map and go off walking to orientate ourselves as we are a fair distance from the Riverside. After ending up at the Olympic Stadium, it was clear we had zigged instead of zagged, so trudged back! A few iced coffee’s along route got us going again! Back to the hotel for a swim and off again to the Riverside, which is possibly a half hour walk or a $2 Tuk Tuk ride.
Stop off at the Foreign Correspondent Club for our first cocktail, great views, then a lovely meal of Lok Lak and our second cocktail in a restaurant with wicker chairs! Clearly we had too many drinks and we come across Shrek and Fiona! Stroll along the Riverside and you see the Khmers doing their nightly exercise, a local hunk with a massive Amp turned up to full blast and doing his aerobics! A group of young people practicing their dancing, men playing soccer with a small rattan ball or doing that heel flip thing with a shuttle cock. All very entertaining until it rains! Within 30 seconds not a trace of anyone, just us dumb tourists standing their watching the locals bolt in the rain!
We catch a Tuk Tuk back as it is pelting down and we are now drenched!!!
Day Two- nothing but shopping! Russian Market and Central Market, Street 240 and Street 178, think l bought something in every sheltered workshop! Sharing the love and giving back a little and l encourage you all that visit here to do the same.
A swim and back to Riverside for dinner, but a quieter night, l am exhausted from all the walking!
Goodbye PP, see you next time.
