Phnom Penh

The trip from Can Tho to Phnom Penh was 6 hours on the Mekong in a relatively small, fast ferry. As is our wont we struck up conversations with a couple of Kiwis and a French med student taking a break before starting her residency. The trip involved 2 border crossings which were fairly painless, and very casual, though we we rather nervous about watching our passports being taken by motorbike to the immigration office by the ferry crew. 

Travelling by fast ferry was a great way to catch a glimpse of life happening on the banks and river as we went along, with lots of floating houses and businesses. We also saw a lot of evidence of sand mining operations, with most of the ships being on the Vietnam side of the border, mostly illegal. 

Phnom Penh immediately had a different feel to anywhere else we had visited to date. Development is probably a little behind somewhere like Vietnam, but there are a lot of new building still going up, and according to our new Kiwi friends it had changed a lot since they were last there, a few years previously. Although the approach to wiring up internet connections is still quite chaotic...

One thing that struck us was that there were far fewer tourists than we expected, which is a combination of the time of year (rainy season) and the border troubles with Thailand (we're so brave!). It did mean that the attractions we went to visit weren't crowded at all. 

We spent a morning at the National Museum, which is not that huge, but it was pretty spectacular. It is filled with statues from temple complexes across the country, including Angkor Wat. There was one room in particular that reminded us of both a Nock Bantock book - The Merchant's Wife (worth looking up if you don't know it). We got there only a little later than planned, but really should have given ourselves more time, it really is fascinating (I feel like that word keeps cropping up). Interestingly, they had a little piece on the illegal trade in artifacts, which had a huge impact on the country. During the worst of the war periods in the early 1970s there was a raging trade, a lot of it driven by one person, Douglas Latchford, who was (much) later prosecuted and convicted in the USA. We saw a donor plaque from 2009 that had his name on it - the cheek of him was astounding. Repatriation is an ongoing exercise in negotiation skills, by the sound of it.

We also visited the royal palace, which is spectacular. It is still "operational" so there are areas closed off, but it contains several significant temples, including one housing a jade buddha, carved out of a single piece of jade. It's a true national treasure - unfortunately photos are strictly forbidden. The detail and craftsmanship that goes into everything is quite breathtaking. We really knew we had changed countries when we got caught in the rain that came in in the afternoon. Spoiler alert, it has happened every day so far in Cambodia - this is why it's known as the rainy season. It became quickly clear that all planned activities had to factor this in. 

Phnom Penh is, of course, on the Mekong river, and has a huge island just adjacent which is entirely agricultural - Silk Island. No points for guessing what the main industry is there. With a need for something a little different (and with James having withdrawals), we went over to the island for a bike ride. There is a loop of sealed road that is about 20km long that goes around the perimeter, and we found it a very pleasant way to spend a few hours. We took a tuk-tuk to the ferry, which was a bit of an exciting journey in itself, and rented bikes and took off. It worked out significantly cheaper that the $200 tour that we looked at briefly... Apart from the clacking looms in nearly every house we went past, the notable feature was the number of temples on the island, servicing what seems to be a pretty small population. They all seemed very well appointed compared to the houses that we saw, and it was the day the monks were out collecting alms. Which made us wonder if there is any resentment towards the relative wealth of the temples. Not that we want to cast aspersions on religions exploiting less well off people...

Food was the other stand out of our entry into Cambodia. Gillian had looked up a couple of community run/co-op places, and we managed to get some spectacular traditional meals as a result. James had a frog curry he was particularly impressed with. We also hit the street markets to eat, which was somewhat less salubrious, and came complete with a view of rats ferreting through the garbage. We escaped with no ill effects. On the final evening in the city, there was a big market down by the river, with the local streets all closed off. We were both impressed with the upscale approach, which wouldn't be out of place on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Unfortunately, we had eaten a massive lunch and neither of us were tempted by the treats on offer. We also caught our first glimpse of deep fried spiders for sale. Even James decided that he wasn't game to go that far...