We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday and made our own way to the hotel by tut-tut. We had missed our free hotel pick up because the bus dropped at the different place and two hours later than advertised. Oh the joys of travelling in south-east Asia! When we arrive at the hotel the room we booked isn’t available because someone hasn’t checked out (apparently!) and the hotel wanted to charge us 50% more for another one several doors further down the street. A narrow set of stairs lead directly off the street and the door is protected by a heavy-duty grill secured with a padlock! This is either a very bad area or the room’s not used very often! It was only when we refused to take the room that we got it at the booked rate. Today our first priority is to organise our travel to Siem Reap. We’ve decided to spend only two nights in PP and we book the Mekong Express bus ($12 each) leaving at 8.30am tomorrow. If it lives up to it’s advertising it should be a comfortable journey and we will be there by 2.30pm. Once our onward transport is taken care of we visit the central market and the Royal Palace which are two of the main sites in the city.
Our walk to the travel agent takes us through the edge a street market on Ph 148. (All but a few streets in central PP are numbered with even numbers running west/east and odd numbers north/south). The market bustles with activity and we have to pick our way down the street avoid the rubbish, the food, the pot holes and the motor bikes. People sit or squat on the floor alongside their produce which is either in bowls or sheeting on the floor. Even meat lies directly on plastic sheeting uncovered and inches from by-passers.
Cambodia is a much poorer country than Vietnam and this is particularly evident in PP. There is considerably less traffic and roads seem empty by comparison. Fewer cars and fewer motorbikes. There are also far more beggars. Mothers and their children sleep in the middle of the pavement around the tourist district and beggars come into the restaurants. There are also lots of children selling postcards, books, DVDs and the like.
The Central Market is a huge domed building with several halls radiating from the circular central hall. Stalls sell everything from jewellery to meat, souvenirs and handicrafts to household goods. In the butchery section there are a number of tailors who, having usurped former meat counters, look rather out of place cutting out fabric and running up clothing on their sewing machines.
The Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda make up a single walled complex set back from the river front. This is the official residence of King Sihamoni and is wonderful example of Khmer architecture with its classic tiered roofs and ornate decoration set in lush gardens. The Silver Pagoda which sits alongside the palace in a separate enclosure so called because the floor is covered in some 5000 solid silver tiles most of which, unfortunately, are covered either to protect them, or possibly given their uneven condition, the bare feet of the devoted visitors. It’s Sunday and the palace and padoga are very busy with a mix of tourists and local Cambodians. And there is lots to see in addition to the spectacular main hall of the palace and the life-size, solid gold buddha in the Silver Pagoda. The most strange and incongruous is a grey building given to the then king by Napoleon III and re-assembled here alongside the Royal Palace.