A Journey to the Third World

Cambodian Days and Nights
Chapter 1, Part 1

27th December, 2007: The Night Before: A busy evening for us both. I had a lot of packing to do, and we both had supplies to stock up on for our trip. An exotic free-and-easy trip to the Wild West of Asia (or so the many travel books said) - Cambodia. Mustafa's was the initial choice destination for the evening, but since we remembered that Pat's Oven (some nut place) at Vivocity sold the tastiest garlic onion broad beans, we headed there instead. Walking hand in hand, V and myself strolled the shops, sipped some Coffeebean and munched on some warm broadbeans. Lovely evening with cool weather and the one person you love walking right by your side. Simply perfect. Tired out with a night of walking, I headed back for a lot of excited tossing and turning in my bed.

Singapore: 28th December, 2007: Blast Off: Time to fly off! After a tedious passing of hours until we both met up at Terminal One of Changi airport (flew Jetstar - they charge extra $1 for Heineken!), we cheked in our luggage's and headed to buy some Dufry (say it out loud, DufrEE? or Du-FRY? *hehe*) for me and then onto Harry's for two Lattes and a quick puff. 7:20pm - Almost time for our flight, us two clowns rushed to Gate 47 (end of terminal, btw!) only to be told by security there that the flight was delayed by 1hour and 45mins. I think it's something to do with Jetstar and me but my Syd-Mel flight in 2006 had similar flight delay issues. Totally Anti-Climax to the Max! Finally got on board the flight and ordered our drinks. Flight was so-so, nothing to scream about, but V made friends with a Singaporean (forgot his name) who was on his 22nd "personal" trip there. Note: This dude must have a VERY special friend, he bought a L'oreal lipstick set for XXX (not sure if friend is male/ female!)


Phnom Penh: 28th December 2007: We arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital in one sleepy piece. We've arranged through our hotel for a driver, Vutt, who stands eagerly holding our name in the crowd. Amongst the mostly skinny crew of commissioned drivers, taxi touts and beggars thronged at the fringe of the airport, Vutt's beefy build and stern eyebrows (pretty dark, mighty bushy!) set him apart. [I'll go more into detail about Vutt later.]

Carpark of hell: Vutt walked stoutly in front of us towards the 1980-something dusty white Camry waiting in the carpark. Two beggars - both underweight, one a faded ghost of a man and the other, a scrawny teen - followed us to the car. Averse to such attention from strangers, V and I were both hesitant as we had read warnings in our guidebooks against angering these people. Saying "No" to the teen helped and he sauntered off, realising we weren't showing him attention. Suddenly, the older man reached in between V and I without warning. We both screamed, and jumped 10 feet apart and away. "What the hell?" read the looks of shocks
reflected in both our eyes. The beggar looked surprise, and gently he bowed as he opened the cardoor for us. So he wanted a tip, for doing us a favour! How silly we were! And how so very typically Singaporean. Talk about being Kiasi within 5 mins of touchdown. *phew*

Phnom Penh Hotel: That initial 20 mins drive to our hotel was an eye-opener for the both of us. Granted it was pretty dark outside, but the looming silhouettes of dilapidated buildings proved depressing nonetheless. With scarce a soul on the streets, the roads were dusty and dimly lit, void of any nightlife. A vast difference to the clean, green streets of Singapore. We both were silenced as we witnessed the scene outside the car - nothing the tourbooks could EVER have prepared us for. This truly reeked poverty. Vutt soon pulled up at a swanky 5 storey hotel, the words PP marking the name of the building. We had chosen a 4-star dwelling, nothing overly extravagant, but we weren't exactly prepared to really rough it out either. Raffles Le Royal looked like the Buckingham Palace in comparison, and V and I plan to save up for our next trip there. Mozzies flitted around in the night light, and despite the air-conditioning (which seemed to be running on a low fan belt to stinge on electricity), the bugs zipped about our legs. Itchy, I thought, oh woe be my lovely legs. A hot shower, a couple drinks at the Zenith Bar and it was time to be nicely tucked into bed. Sleep had finally beckoned us two weary travellers! Note to add: We had our first sip of Cambodian Angkor draft beer, and at USD$2.50/ glass in a hotel lounge, V and I both agreed that "we likey, likey!"

Phnom Penh, 29th December 2007: An early rise to the first day of our trip - a Continental buffet breakfast in the hotel's Palm Cafe awaited us two hungry punters. Our driver, Vutt, picked us up at 9am to head to the capital's two tourist treasures - the Royal Palace (USD$2) and the Silver Pagoda (USD$3). A national architectural gem, the Royal Palace is the current residence of the King of Cambodia and the royal family, however, a sighting of any royalty was pretty much in our imagination, sad to say! There was a strange, rather haunted-looking building on the grounds though, said to have been built during the days of European colonialism, and residences for the Europeans. The Silver Pagoda, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, is very much a crowd favourite because of the tiles in main hall - each of the 5000 tiles made from pure silver. Unfortunately, the splendid gleam of silver was shrouded by the heavy carpet lying on top of these tiles, and many ended up not noticing the detail on each tile. Giving the National Museum a miss, V and I decided to head down to the Sisowath Quay for lunch.


Happy Herbs Pizza, 29th December 2007: Reading an online recommendation for the adventurous that the "Happy Herbs Pizza" dished up pizza sprinkled with genuine "herbs" to make you "happy", V and I decided to visit the ORIGINAL Happy Herbs Pizza to see what the hype was all about. Ordering ourselves a small "Happy Herbs Chef Pizza", a Fish and Chips and a Large bottle of Angkor (local Cambodian) beer, we settled in to flip through our guidebooks and wonder just what "happy" pizza meant. The pizza came on a flat wooden base, with an egg broken in the centre. It didn't look too fancy, or happy in any case. Tastewise, it was a yummy mix of onion rings, egg (a bit of an eggshell) and lots of mozzarella cheese. The tender and fresh white fish was coated in a biscuit/ oat batter, and deep fried to a golden crisp. It's accompaniment was a generous serve of home-cut chips, done slightly with too much oil for my liking! Coupled with the local bubbly though, the "Happy" in the pizza started taking its effect, and us pair felt a tad lightheaded when we stepped out of the cafe. A little unsure about whether we were 'feeling' anything or if it were just a case of the power of suggestion, V and I decided to wait before making a judgment call on this one!

Part 2 of Chapter is coming right up.... Stay tuned for when this author (or her dear travel buddy *hint-hint*) gets the chance to pen down the next bit!