Between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, I had a few days in Phnom Penh where I really got to see the city and walked the streets.
On my 1st day I got to see the Royal Palace/Silver Pagoda and the National Museum. Nothing spectacular but seeing the many Buddha heads in the national museum did make more sense out of the Angkor temples visit as I tried to mentally picture those heads on those countless headless statues in the temples. Most of these were looted and later recovered. As usual, the Royal palace had a ton of lavish stuff and it’s mind boggling to see all these luxuries not being put to better use for the impoverished people of the kingdom. But sadly that’s quite the norm isn’t it? At the Royal Palace one of the monks (there’re tons everywhere) beckoned me to take a picture of him! Then he asked me to visit his home (twice!), barely a minute after we met. Of course he was joking but my impression of monks has been changed somewhat since my visit to this country. But then again, I probably had an outdated and inaccurate impression of them.
The 2nd day was a day of doing nothing. I just walked and walked and walked…everywhere. Phnom Penh is really not hard to navigate once you get the hang of it. Once you start ignoring the crazy traffic and just cross the roads, the bikes and cars do give way to you. The streets might seem chaotic but they’re actually laid out in a grid. Parallel streets are even-numbered and the adjacent ones are odd-numbered. They’re all in running order but don’t be surprised if you’re standing on St 19 and the next parallel one is St 31. I’ve yet to (and probably will never) figure that out. My favourite streets have gotta be 240 and 178. On 240 you can find some very nice quiet cafes and local handicraft shops, some run by NGOs. ‘The Shop’ is worth a special mention – it offers tired travelers a quiet and shady garden to rest their feet at its bakery cum café. I indulged in a goat cheese and mushroom quiche and ice coffee. Heaven. Definitely going back there before I return home. St 178 is lined with many local art shops so if you wanna get a painting this is the place. I also visited the ChildSafe information centre to find out more about this organisation’s work in governing and supporting local NGOs in child protection policies. Talking to the representative, Mao, confirmed my suspicions about visiting the orphanage so eagerly suggested by the tuk tuk driver at the Okay Guesthouse. There was a poster of the orphanage in the restaurant and from day 1 this guy had been trying to get me to go. I had a niggling feeling that something was not right and although I can’t know for sure, I suspect it’s one of the orphanages involved in orphanage tourism, a real growing problem in Cambodia where tourists are milked for their compassion and their donations don’t directly benefit the kids. Please think twice before you visit any orphanage in Cambodia, or any country for that matter. If you think about it, a few hours’ visit does not really benefit the kids and although they might gain a meal or some candy, they are also at risk of being abused or exploited if left unsupervised.
Ok so anyway, back to my day in PP, I moved on to Camory, a cookie café opened by some SMU students and Cambodians. It is now run by the locals, giving them employment and training. Then my day had to end on a sour note as I stupidly got conned by an a**hole on my way back to the guesthouse. I was taking a 30 min stroll along Sisowat Quay when I saw this Caucasian male walking hurriedly towards me from afar. He was in his 40s or 50s and seemed lost so I stopped when he asked for help, thinking he needed directions. He ended up telling me some cock and bull story about his bag being ripped apart on his bus journey and all his money was gone (in my defense I’d read about such stuff in guidebooks earlier on). He had gone to the tourist police and the embassy but it was closed blah blah blah. Long story short, he wanted a ‘loan’ of US$5. Of course at that time it didn’t sound like a cock and bull story, so I gave him US$4 after he assured me he would return me the money the next day once he was able to call his family to transfer money over to him. Stupid, I know. As I’m typing this I’m still beating myself up over it for believing this bastard. I mean, this guy even asked for a map and directions on how to get to my guesthouse! Of course 4 bucks isn’t a lot if you look at the big picture but I just hate myself for being stupid. I know he’ll get his retribution but it just sucks being conned. 4 bucks could have paid for a good meal and drink in a restaurant! UGH. But they say, you haven't been to Asia until you've been conned...oh well.
So that was a sucky end to my otherwise very nice time in Phnom Penh. Oh that, and the fact that a rat ran into my room and under my bed. Yep not kidding. But it vanished into thin air and so I just left it as that.
