Every Dog has His Day in the Sun
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
April 27, 2009
We woke up and watched the end of a movie with Meg Ryan, Diane Lane, Lisa Kudrow and Walter Matthau.
Bill had french toast and I had porridge with banana (not bad, a bit runny though) with juice and tea. It is sunny out, so we headed down to the beach around 8:00.
I found a lounge chair in front of one restaurant and ordered a mango shake. Bill walked down to the 2 marooned boats to take some pictures.
It was great to get some sun and read my book "The Killed My Father First" which is a good book about learning how it was for Cambodians from 1975 - 1979. and it was early enough that not many tourists and not many people selling things were out. I did buy a mango for $1 which caused us to gain the attention of 3 girls and 1 little boy. The one girl, Pia, and I chatted for a while. She takes English classes at night (have to pay for) and she wants to be a lawyer. Her father has passed away, her mother does not work because she is too old and she has 5 siblings. She made me a friendship anklet for free, so of course I ended up buying a wooden bracelet with flowers and a bookmark with the Cambodian flag for $4.
Bill played tic, tac, toe with the young boy and beat him. The boy said that if he won, Bill would have to buy something from him, so he threw the game and bought a beaded necklace for $2 from him. The boy had also given him a friendship bracelet for free.
It was 11:00 and we had to go check out. Pia hugged me goodbye and hope that our friendship bracelets bring us luck.
We showered off most of the sand and packed our bags. We checked out at noon and borrowed the phone from the front desk to call a tour office in Phnom Penh. We asked them to arrange for slow boat tickets to Chau Doc and a minivan from there to Ho Chi Minh City for the following day. Their office is open until 9:00, so we can go and pick up the tickets when we return.
We had lunch at our Guest House. Bill had tacos and Anchor draft. I had the taco salad and water. Another good meal. Yeah!
We used the internet for 1/2 hour and then hired a tuk tuk for $2 to the bus station. We arrived at the bus station around 2:00 and had to wait for the bus to arrive.
Again, the Mekong Bus company checked our bags, provided us with wet naps, water and a snack. They played Mr Bean and some karaoke, but I read my book (and finished) instead of watching.
Our return trip to Phnom Penh was like we had gone to another city. We drove past a beautiful wide boulevard that was beautifully landscaped. People were out doing aerobics, playing badminton and playing something like hacky sac with shuttle cocks. It made Bill and I feel like we really had not done a good job exploring the city. We will do better in Vietnam.
We were able to find a tuk tuk to Cyclo for $2. The Guest House had given up our large, bright room already and sent us to the bowels of the building. The room is smaller and less expensive. They feel badly for giving up our room and gave us another $5 off, so our room is $10 cheaper than we expected for the night.
We went to the tour office and made arrangements for the slow boat and minivan for tomorrow. The cost is $20 each. We also dropped off some toothbrushes, soaps, shampoos, a skipping rope, Hello Kitty band-aids and some glow sticks at the restaurant where they support an orphanage.
I tried to find another used book store, but could not. So, I had to give up 3 books and $3 to get two more Patricia Cornwell books - Body of Evidence and All That Remains.
We wanted to go to the Lebanese restaurant for dinner, but it was closed for renovations. So, we went back to Pacharan again. We had 2 pitchers of sangria, the calamari, prawns with olive oil, garlic and chili, meatballs, and breaded pork with potatoes. The meatballs and pork were amazing, but very filling!
We stopped for a coke, soy milk and some nuts on the way back to the room. We are now fully provisioned for breakfast and snacks for tomorrow.
We were excited about seeing How I Met Your Mother and The Amazing Race, but missed both. They should have been on at 9:00, but I guess that was a different time zone. Dang! We did watch an episode of House and then tried to get some sleep. We did end up sleeping well, but we are back to a really hard bed again.