First day in Cambodia

little boy on scooter

Exiting the airport I was accosted by a taxi driver who offered to take me to my hotel for $10. When I said no and kept walking, he followed me and dropped to $9 then $8. I said I was using Grab (for $4) and he told me they would add in extra charges (not true) and dropped to $7. I kept walking. Admittedly, it was a bit hard to meet up with my driver. Grab had given excellent directions to the pickup area, but he was not there. On the app map, he appeared to be further down so I kept walking that way and after several minutes of walking, talking to him on the app, me sending pictures of where I was, and him driving through the airport twice, we finally located one another and were off. The airport is about 7 miles away but pretty much all city streets and it takes about 30 minutes to get to my hotel.

baby in front and kid in hammock on back

food carts on side of raod

view out the back of my tuk tuk

tuk tuk seats and pads for sale

driving to hotel with me in rearview mirror

lots of scooters parked at market

me in tuk tuk

man napping in cement tube

cute girl playing with dad on scooter

For every car I saw, there were twice as many tuk tuks and about 4 times as many scooters. Traffic was similar to Delhi only with fewer vehicles and with people being way more polite and without the constant honking you hear in Delhi. Here they sort of follow a rhythm or code of conduct. For example, at intersections where both streets are about the same size, cars come from all sides and take turns going, sort of like we would at a 4-way stop only they don’t stop. At places where one street is much bigger and busier than the other, the scooters on the smaller street all line up with the tuk tuks and cars right behind them. Then when a break comes they all shoot across. I guess there is safety in numbers. Oddly, I feel pretty comfortable crossing the street because all the drivers consider a variety of obstacles (scooters, bikes, carts, people) when they are driving and just drive around you. The key is to be predictable and not do anything unexpected like changing directions or stopping suddenly.

street scene Phnom Pehn

loaded scooter

motorbike towing stuff

more giant tires

family on scooter

transporting tires

small girl sitting on scooter

lighting under bed

I checked into the Baitong Hotel and Resort and went upstairs to my room on the second floor. When I got off the elevator I saw a man looking up and taking pictures of the see through glass bottom of the pool where his kids were swimming. Pretty awesome! They also have a nifty waterfall into another pool. Then I entered my room and found the super cool lighting options…the bathroom mirror has a button at the bottom in the center and if you press it, lights around the mirror come on. That wasn’t all…when I fiddled with the bedside lights, I found one that lit the bed underneath as well! I was reminded that while there were many extra costs due to Covid (tests, plane change fees) the hotels were much cheaper putting many five star places in my budget range.

bottom of pool from floor below

noodles and pork

My first priority was getting my laundry done. I found a good laundry about 1.8 miles away so I took a walk over there and dropped it off. Then I checked out the Central Market. After that I was hungry and saw a cart with lots of people (locals) coming up to get food so I checked it out. There were chicken feet and lots of things I did not recognize, but I found 2 things that I could identify that looked good and also safe: noodles and pork. I walked over to the waterfront to eat. The waterfront was alive with children playing. There was man with several kids playing soccer with a small wicker ball. To my right a small boy was learning to ride a large bike. Behind and to my right were some kids rolling toy trucks down the hill towards the water

Central market

Great food stall

kids playing soccer

kid practicing big bike

kids rolling trucks down hill then running them back up the hill

fishing

monks walking on waterfront

year of the tiger!

guy lounging in hammock in tuk tuk

I saw electrical poles with cables hanging everywhere! I had to dodge one cable that was hanging down in the middle of the sidewalk and wondered about a headline back home "Local woman electrocuted by walking into cable in Cambodia" Clearly they don't have lawyers here.

electrical poles in countries with no lawyers

I also saw parents double parked on the sidewalk and curb waiting for kids to get out of the American school, just like back home complete with orange vested crossing guard. It seems the people with money pick their kids up in cars. Regular folks pick their kids up in scooters as I saw at other schools.

two rows of double parked parents at American school

sugar cane drink

After I ate, I walked around the city a bit more. There was a section with super fresh seafood. The fish were swimming in small tubs and the shellfish were still alive as well. I saw Seeing Hands Massage which is massage by blind people to give them jobs. I meant to get a massage on the way back but forgot. The night market had a giant open area with mats for people to sit on to eat. All around the edges were food stalls. I got some ice cream…3 scoops for $1.25 and walked around the clothing stalls but didn’t find anything I wanted. Then I saw a lady shoving a giant green stalk into a machine that was squashing it flat. She folded it over and ran it through again. The machine was juicing the stalks, which were sugar cane! I got myself a fresh sugar cane drink over ice for the hot walk home (it was still 80 degrees at night!).

Wat Phnom at night

ice cream

night market food area

picnic mats for customers to sit and eat

juicing sugar cane

fresh seafood

girls iin park at night

On the way home, I walked along the waterfront. There were families with their children out enjoying the night. People were selling food, drinks, and balloons along the side of the main walkway. Kids were rollerblading and bicycling. Cambodians seem very family oriented! There was also a dance exercise class out on the square and people using exercise equipment along a grass strip. A little further along was a running path that went for 800 meters. It’s nice that the government cares about people’s well being.

200m mark for track

track start

track path

dance exercise

exercise equipment

cruise boats

monks leaving cruise boat

waterfront at night

picnicking in park at night

New years celebration outside palace

vendor selling balloons

I was drawn to a well lit area blasting music with two giant led screens. To celebrate the New Year this huge park area was decorated with red and white lights, which actually looked a little Christmasy. Again, families were hanging out with children, some on rollerblades or bicycles or just walking with their parents. There were some vendors selling toys and sweets, like a carnival. I definitely picked a good time of the year to come!

super cool ball

Another New years area

A few blocks before my hotel was the Independence Monument in the middle of a traffic circle. It has beautiful water fountains all around it, which looks a bit like the water is dancing in celebration of Independence so whoever designed that part did a great job!

Independence Monument

two guards resting while 2 on duty

cheerful kids on cart picking up cardboard