Holiday in Cambodia - plus Myanmar for a wedding.
Dec 8th, 2015, 12:03 AM
#103
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I was determined to try crab amok. Given that we were being picked up at noon for the drive to Phnom Penh we skipped the included breakfast at our hotel and headed out at 9.30 am on the hunt. Despite all the waterfront restaurants advertising opening hours from 9 am to 10 pm, we were turned away at two, and the highly recommended one "the Democrat" still had the shutters down. We settled on Holy Crab, which was mentioned by our boat guy yesterday.
We ordered - crab amok (no surprise there), mixed vegetables with oyster sauce, and mixed seafood skewers (2 prawns, 2 fish, 2 baby squid) the meal came with rice. The amok was tasty, but I felt the curry sauce masked the flavour of the crab somewhat. The cost, including two fruit shakes was $19.
My favourite crab dish was the simply boiled crab with a lime and Kampot pepper dipping sauce from yesterday. This will be easy to recreate at home, with my stash of Kampot pepper.
Thoughts on Kep - I'd spend a few days here next time, there's the Kep NP to explore, apparently the smallest in Cambodia, a lovely wide sea front boulevard and it's just so pretty with views out to the islands. Rabbit Island looked charming too.
The drive to Phnom Penh was an hilarious transit story (well it's funny now, but I started to lose my cool at the time). That will be up next.
We ordered - crab amok (no surprise there), mixed vegetables with oyster sauce, and mixed seafood skewers (2 prawns, 2 fish, 2 baby squid) the meal came with rice. The amok was tasty, but I felt the curry sauce masked the flavour of the crab somewhat. The cost, including two fruit shakes was $19.
My favourite crab dish was the simply boiled crab with a lime and Kampot pepper dipping sauce from yesterday. This will be easy to recreate at home, with my stash of Kampot pepper.
Thoughts on Kep - I'd spend a few days here next time, there's the Kep NP to explore, apparently the smallest in Cambodia, a lovely wide sea front boulevard and it's just so pretty with views out to the islands. Rabbit Island looked charming too.
The drive to Phnom Penh was an hilarious transit story (well it's funny now, but I started to lose my cool at the time). That will be up next.
Dec 8th, 2015, 04:12 PM
#105
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When we arrived by boat to Kep yesterday, a young tuk tuk driver named Blue drove us and the English guy we met on the boat to our hotel. Trivia - Blue is a common nick name in Australia for people with red hair, this Blues hair was black. He tried the hard sell on me for further services, and offered a private driver to Phnom Penh for tomorrow in a Toyota Highlander for $50.
It turned out to be a good price, saving $15 on a taxi service, so this morning I rang Blue to organise a noon pick up. No problem. He rang back 10 minutes later, saying something something something wi. I couldn't understand him, he kept repeating wi, I kept repeating that I don't understand. I had him on speaker phone, so DH was trying to think of cars starting with wi, thinking its a car change, while I was thinking of what word he could mean. I came up with wife, and yes that was it. We still didn't know what was going on.
I guessed (correctly as it turned out) that the driver wanted to bring his wife, but was concerned that there were three of us. That's despite English man heading straight off to the crab market while we entered our hotel, and us running into Blue later at the market who was looking for English man. I told him we didn't know EM, and had only met him on the boat. So much gets lost in translation and I can't fault Blue for that. His English is vastly superior to my non existent Khmer.
So a Toyota Highlander turns up at 11.30 - I find arranged transport often turns up early, almost like they're worried you'll get someone else in the meantime. We were close to ready to go, luggage was loaded by staff into the back of a modern 4WD type vehicle, good aircon, working seat belts in the back even. I had loaded our PP hotels address and number into my phone, so while I paid the bill, DH showed the details to our driver (I later found out the driver had written the phone number on his hand).
Mr Driver was an older man, and yes, wi was with him. I thought, this is good, he won't be fielding so many phone calls as the young guys, I was wrong. We sped out of Kep at 11.45 am and enjoyed the last sea views and then many conical shaped limestone mountains, similar to what you see in Thailand and Vietnam, very pretty countryside and so green.
The many phone calls came in on his old Nokia with one of their really bad ringtones turned up very loud. I think Mr Driver might be a bit hard of hearing, he shouted into the phone. The Khmer language has glottal stops (a consonant sound stopped in the throat) which to me sounds harsh and angry. I estimate at least 40 phone calls were taken or made during the journey.
I felt comfortable with Mr Driver, he was fast but careful, sharing the road with all the other kinds of traffic. I don't know how fast we were going, because Mr Driver kept his large right hand on the horn in the centre of the steering wheel. Use of the horn means - move over, or I'm coming through, or I have a big shiny car, or all three. Or, something else entirely perhaps. A few months ago at home I surprised myself when I had occasion to use the horn on my own car, and realised I hadn't known what it sounded like. I've owned this car for seven years. A rough "back of the envelope" calculation puts the horn beeps for our trip with Mr Driver at 2,400. I'm not exaggerating.
About 2 hours later we stopped at a workshop type place, a bit of shouting ensued, and we moved a few workshops down the road. There, a huge gearbox was unloaded from the back of our car. It took four men to carry it. About 1/2 hour an later we saw the welcome to Phnom Penh sign. I was surprised to see so many army men with AK 47s lurking in the streets. We plowed on through crawling traffic for another 30 minutes to a laneway where a woman appeared with an official looking uniform wrapped in plastic. A bit of shouting, then 12,000 riel (about $3) changed hands and we continued on. Another 30 minutes later after passing through motorcycle city, where literally dozens of open front shops held thousands of motorcycles, we dropped off wi.
Then the fun started. I heard Mr Driver say "no speak English' to someone on a call he made. He turned to me and said "your hotel no speak Khmer, I no speak English ". I thought that can't be right, so I called the hotel, explained the situation to reception who confirmed they spoke Khmer and passed the phone to Mr Driver. Much more shouting ensued, then hello, hello, hello from Mr Driver. I made a second call, more shouting, more hello hello hello. That's when I realised he was pressing the phone to his ear and activating other apps. I made a third call, put the phone on speaker, with the volume turned up, said "no touch" and kept it out of his reach. More shouting, but I thought this must work now. Wrong again. It took three more calls, several stops at likely English speakers, and 4 u turns on busy roads.
4 hours later we arrive at our hotel. Google puts the drive from Kep to PP at 2 hours 41 minutes. I'm so glad we saved $15, helped with his errands and my phone is now out of credit.
Frazzled, but relieved to finally be here, I see the humour, we check in, freshen up, and take a walk down Sisowith Key. I look at maps on the phone to find the Foreign Correspondents Club, and realise just what a dork I am. Should have used the maps app in car....
It turned out to be a good price, saving $15 on a taxi service, so this morning I rang Blue to organise a noon pick up. No problem. He rang back 10 minutes later, saying something something something wi. I couldn't understand him, he kept repeating wi, I kept repeating that I don't understand. I had him on speaker phone, so DH was trying to think of cars starting with wi, thinking its a car change, while I was thinking of what word he could mean. I came up with wife, and yes that was it. We still didn't know what was going on.
I guessed (correctly as it turned out) that the driver wanted to bring his wife, but was concerned that there were three of us. That's despite English man heading straight off to the crab market while we entered our hotel, and us running into Blue later at the market who was looking for English man. I told him we didn't know EM, and had only met him on the boat. So much gets lost in translation and I can't fault Blue for that. His English is vastly superior to my non existent Khmer.
So a Toyota Highlander turns up at 11.30 - I find arranged transport often turns up early, almost like they're worried you'll get someone else in the meantime. We were close to ready to go, luggage was loaded by staff into the back of a modern 4WD type vehicle, good aircon, working seat belts in the back even. I had loaded our PP hotels address and number into my phone, so while I paid the bill, DH showed the details to our driver (I later found out the driver had written the phone number on his hand).
Mr Driver was an older man, and yes, wi was with him. I thought, this is good, he won't be fielding so many phone calls as the young guys, I was wrong. We sped out of Kep at 11.45 am and enjoyed the last sea views and then many conical shaped limestone mountains, similar to what you see in Thailand and Vietnam, very pretty countryside and so green.
The many phone calls came in on his old Nokia with one of their really bad ringtones turned up very loud. I think Mr Driver might be a bit hard of hearing, he shouted into the phone. The Khmer language has glottal stops (a consonant sound stopped in the throat) which to me sounds harsh and angry. I estimate at least 40 phone calls were taken or made during the journey.
I felt comfortable with Mr Driver, he was fast but careful, sharing the road with all the other kinds of traffic. I don't know how fast we were going, because Mr Driver kept his large right hand on the horn in the centre of the steering wheel. Use of the horn means - move over, or I'm coming through, or I have a big shiny car, or all three. Or, something else entirely perhaps. A few months ago at home I surprised myself when I had occasion to use the horn on my own car, and realised I hadn't known what it sounded like. I've owned this car for seven years. A rough "back of the envelope" calculation puts the horn beeps for our trip with Mr Driver at 2,400. I'm not exaggerating.
About 2 hours later we stopped at a workshop type place, a bit of shouting ensued, and we moved a few workshops down the road. There, a huge gearbox was unloaded from the back of our car. It took four men to carry it. About 1/2 hour an later we saw the welcome to Phnom Penh sign. I was surprised to see so many army men with AK 47s lurking in the streets. We plowed on through crawling traffic for another 30 minutes to a laneway where a woman appeared with an official looking uniform wrapped in plastic. A bit of shouting, then 12,000 riel (about $3) changed hands and we continued on. Another 30 minutes later after passing through motorcycle city, where literally dozens of open front shops held thousands of motorcycles, we dropped off wi.
Then the fun started. I heard Mr Driver say "no speak English' to someone on a call he made. He turned to me and said "your hotel no speak Khmer, I no speak English ". I thought that can't be right, so I called the hotel, explained the situation to reception who confirmed they spoke Khmer and passed the phone to Mr Driver. Much more shouting ensued, then hello, hello, hello from Mr Driver. I made a second call, more shouting, more hello hello hello. That's when I realised he was pressing the phone to his ear and activating other apps. I made a third call, put the phone on speaker, with the volume turned up, said "no touch" and kept it out of his reach. More shouting, but I thought this must work now. Wrong again. It took three more calls, several stops at likely English speakers, and 4 u turns on busy roads.
4 hours later we arrive at our hotel. Google puts the drive from Kep to PP at 2 hours 41 minutes. I'm so glad we saved $15, helped with his errands and my phone is now out of credit.
Frazzled, but relieved to finally be here, I see the humour, we check in, freshen up, and take a walk down Sisowith Key. I look at maps on the phone to find the Foreign Correspondents Club, and realise just what a dork I am. Should have used the maps app in car....
Dec 8th, 2015, 10:23 PM
#107
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Today we took an architectural tour, organised from home by email with KA Tours (Khmer Architecural tours). The guides are all architecture students or graduates, and there's a choice of what to see. Virak Rouen was our guide, a personable young man with excellent English, and a wealth of knowledge about the buildings we visited. Of course he had a great love of architecture, graduated last year but said he's not yet ready to be confined to an office ! The tour cost $60 all up, with $15 going towards the tuk tuk which took us between sites.
We started with some decrepit colonial buildings, where we went inside to look at tiles and wooden staircases, moved on to Chinese temples, an old French church, two Art Deco era buildings, then some modern (1972) Khmer public buildings. The tour was fascinating, you'd never find some of these buildings by yourself and the insights given by Virak were most appreciated.
A theme that ran through our time with him was the lack of any preservation of heritage. We were all dismayed at what has happened to some sites. The central market, French built in 1932 was a standout, so well designed, airy and spacious,as were the University buildings by Vann Molyvann (the famous Cambodian architect) constructed in 1972. The cooling techniques he used were ahead of their time, sadly they've been in filled underneath as more student space was needed.
He arrived promptly at 8.30, dropped us off at 12.15, and we never ran out of conversation. I'd highly recommend this for anyone with even a slight interest in architecture.
We started with some decrepit colonial buildings, where we went inside to look at tiles and wooden staircases, moved on to Chinese temples, an old French church, two Art Deco era buildings, then some modern (1972) Khmer public buildings. The tour was fascinating, you'd never find some of these buildings by yourself and the insights given by Virak were most appreciated.
A theme that ran through our time with him was the lack of any preservation of heritage. We were all dismayed at what has happened to some sites. The central market, French built in 1932 was a standout, so well designed, airy and spacious,as were the University buildings by Vann Molyvann (the famous Cambodian architect) constructed in 1972. The cooling techniques he used were ahead of their time, sadly they've been in filled underneath as more student space was needed.
He arrived promptly at 8.30, dropped us off at 12.15, and we never ran out of conversation. I'd highly recommend this for anyone with even a slight interest in architecture.
Dec 10th, 2015, 05:00 AM
#111
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Thanks to all for your replies and comments.
Two sites I've found really useful are -
Travelfish.org which covers most of SE Asia, and
Canbypublications.com which is Cambodia focussed.
I found the Khmer Architecural tour on travelfish, and there's also lots of info about the famous Khmer architect Vann Molyvann who designed over a 100 buildings in Phnom Penh. Sadly, some of these have been destroyed and replaced by boring glass and concrete boxes. It's even sadder that they were replaced for no good reason, other than a new Government wishing to make its mark.
Dinner last night was at Frizz Cafe, no 67, 240 St. I found this on Canbypublications.
240 St is lined with upmarket shops selling silk, art and good quality clothing. I bought a simple dress (at last, something for me) at Watthan Artisans Cambodia. WAC works with artisans who have disabilities, vulnerable people and village weavers. They also have a spa with blind masseurs.
Our meal was Cambodian Volcano ! A table top charcoal burner with a domed metal insert. Finely sliced chicken (or beef or pork) is mixed with egg, dipped in a little oil and grilled to your liking. A plate of many veggies - wombok, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, green capsicum and pineapple go on the flat bit surrounding the dome. Lettuce leaves are provided for wrapping, with a Kampot pepper, lime and sugar sauce for dipping. I had a cocktail of fresh passion fruit juice with vodka, DH had two beers for a total cost of $17.75. Delicious.
Two sites I've found really useful are -
Travelfish.org which covers most of SE Asia, and
Canbypublications.com which is Cambodia focussed.
I found the Khmer Architecural tour on travelfish, and there's also lots of info about the famous Khmer architect Vann Molyvann who designed over a 100 buildings in Phnom Penh. Sadly, some of these have been destroyed and replaced by boring glass and concrete boxes. It's even sadder that they were replaced for no good reason, other than a new Government wishing to make its mark.
Dinner last night was at Frizz Cafe, no 67, 240 St. I found this on Canbypublications.
240 St is lined with upmarket shops selling silk, art and good quality clothing. I bought a simple dress (at last, something for me) at Watthan Artisans Cambodia. WAC works with artisans who have disabilities, vulnerable people and village weavers. They also have a spa with blind masseurs.
Our meal was Cambodian Volcano ! A table top charcoal burner with a domed metal insert. Finely sliced chicken (or beef or pork) is mixed with egg, dipped in a little oil and grilled to your liking. A plate of many veggies - wombok, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, green capsicum and pineapple go on the flat bit surrounding the dome. Lettuce leaves are provided for wrapping, with a Kampot pepper, lime and sugar sauce for dipping. I had a cocktail of fresh passion fruit juice with vodka, DH had two beers for a total cost of $17.75. Delicious.
Dec 10th, 2015, 04:04 PM
#112
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After breakfast this morning we tuk tukked to Central Market for a longer look at the structure and the goods for sale. We turned out of our street and noticed many trucks full of police in riot gear, oh oh. As we drove down 240 St, a march was coming the other way. At the time I didn't realise it was International Human Rights day, the march was to demonstrate people's wish for a living wage for all Cambodian people. There were thousands of people wearing purple head bands, and as we passed the other way we got many big smiles and the two finger V (peace) sign, which we returned. As far as I know it was peaceful.
The market was tiring, "madam, you want t shirt, sir, you buy from me" it's relentless, we gave up after an hour. I understand these guys are just trying to make a living, but it would work better for me if they weren't hustling. I might even have bought something !
I'd booked a cruise to Silk Island (Koh Dach) with Cambo Cruises on the Internet. A tuk tuk picked us up at 11.45, and we cast off at 12.30. The cost was $22 pp including lunch. There were 11 people (including us) on board, we motored up the river to Silk Island. The lunch was okay, fresh spring rolls, salad, turkey - chicken ?? (that's what they called it) grilled pork, chicken kebabs and fried rice. Drinks were available at extra cost.
The cool breeze coming off the water was welcome. Apparently, it's unseasonably hot right now, maybe 34 C today, although there's still plenty of locals wearing jackets, socks, even woollen hats...
Three tuk tuks are lined up to take the passengers plus a guide for the one kilometre ride to the village. If you've seen silk growing and weaving before, there's nothing new with this tour. What was interesting was seeing hundreds of Cambodian people enjoying today (a public holiday) at the village. There were all sorts of shelters, bamboo thatch curved pavilions on stilts, grassed areas with seats, swings everywhere for courting couples, and a shaded swimming pool in the river. It's easy to get to Silk Island by car or motorbike, there's a bridge.
On the way back to the boat our tuk tuk broke down, the poor driver pushed us into some shade, where we sat and sweated for 15 minutes waiting for another one. Again back on the boat, it was pleasant to be on the water, but you're on your own getting home from the dock. We shared a tuk tuk with two others, and spent 45 minutes to travel about 6 km through manic traffic.
We arrive at our hotel, hot, dusty and sweaty, to find our room again has not been serviced. This has happened two days out of two, fail !
I'll talk about the H Hotel next.
The market was tiring, "madam, you want t shirt, sir, you buy from me" it's relentless, we gave up after an hour. I understand these guys are just trying to make a living, but it would work better for me if they weren't hustling. I might even have bought something !
I'd booked a cruise to Silk Island (Koh Dach) with Cambo Cruises on the Internet. A tuk tuk picked us up at 11.45, and we cast off at 12.30. The cost was $22 pp including lunch. There were 11 people (including us) on board, we motored up the river to Silk Island. The lunch was okay, fresh spring rolls, salad, turkey - chicken ?? (that's what they called it) grilled pork, chicken kebabs and fried rice. Drinks were available at extra cost.
The cool breeze coming off the water was welcome. Apparently, it's unseasonably hot right now, maybe 34 C today, although there's still plenty of locals wearing jackets, socks, even woollen hats...
Three tuk tuks are lined up to take the passengers plus a guide for the one kilometre ride to the village. If you've seen silk growing and weaving before, there's nothing new with this tour. What was interesting was seeing hundreds of Cambodian people enjoying today (a public holiday) at the village. There were all sorts of shelters, bamboo thatch curved pavilions on stilts, grassed areas with seats, swings everywhere for courting couples, and a shaded swimming pool in the river. It's easy to get to Silk Island by car or motorbike, there's a bridge.
On the way back to the boat our tuk tuk broke down, the poor driver pushed us into some shade, where we sat and sweated for 15 minutes waiting for another one. Again back on the boat, it was pleasant to be on the water, but you're on your own getting home from the dock. We shared a tuk tuk with two others, and spent 45 minutes to travel about 6 km through manic traffic.
We arrive at our hotel, hot, dusty and sweaty, to find our room again has not been serviced. This has happened two days out of two, fail !
I'll talk about the H Hotel next.
Dec 11th, 2015, 02:47 PM
#113
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Ahh, the H Hotel.
It's marketed as a boutique hotel in a fantastic location. Can't argue with that, it's very modern with black and white decor, interesting art, only 9 rooms (some of which apparently don't have windows) and an open air bar/ restaurant which seats six, plus a small pool for plunging - you'd soon get dizzy if you tried to do laps.
It's located in 246 St, about 100 m from Sisowath Quay which is the main drag lining the riverfront, and a short walk to the Grand Palace. So far, so good, plus the wifi has been fast and reliable.
Our deluxe room has a large and very comfy island bed with good linen and a large desk behind. The bathroom has a rain shower and a handheld shower fixed a meter from the floor, best suited for a dwarf. All the taps dripped, something that irks me.
It's called a garden view room. If you consider a small dusty potted palm, plus the trunk only of a very tall palm set in a large bed (2.5 X 1 m) of dusty grey rocks a garden, then yes, it's a garden view. Behind the room is a private area with a large stone bath tub and another dusty garden of potted palms, plus some empty pots. You could easily amputate all your fingers using the door handle to get out there.
What lets this hotel down is lack of attention to detail and the staff. I really want to buy a hose, so they can water the dying plants. Virtually no one (including reception) speaks any more than very basic tourist English, they even have a form for you to tick off your breakfast options. That doesn't mean you'll get what's offered, for example, on the list is scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes on toasted panini with chilli chutney. What arrived was scrambled eggs on toast. No tomatoes, no chilli chutney, no possibility to get an explanation.
The "fully stocked mini bar" contained two bottles of water. The laundry bag and list to complete was MIA, it took 15 minutes of charades to get the list out of reception.
Two out of three times we've arrived home in the afternoon to find the room as we left it. This place could be so much better, I have attempted to speak to the manager several times now to offer some helpful suggestions. I'm not a whiner, really, we're quite easy to please, but the manager appears to be ethereal.
I wouldn't stay here again.
It's marketed as a boutique hotel in a fantastic location. Can't argue with that, it's very modern with black and white decor, interesting art, only 9 rooms (some of which apparently don't have windows) and an open air bar/ restaurant which seats six, plus a small pool for plunging - you'd soon get dizzy if you tried to do laps.
It's located in 246 St, about 100 m from Sisowath Quay which is the main drag lining the riverfront, and a short walk to the Grand Palace. So far, so good, plus the wifi has been fast and reliable.
Our deluxe room has a large and very comfy island bed with good linen and a large desk behind. The bathroom has a rain shower and a handheld shower fixed a meter from the floor, best suited for a dwarf. All the taps dripped, something that irks me.
It's called a garden view room. If you consider a small dusty potted palm, plus the trunk only of a very tall palm set in a large bed (2.5 X 1 m) of dusty grey rocks a garden, then yes, it's a garden view. Behind the room is a private area with a large stone bath tub and another dusty garden of potted palms, plus some empty pots. You could easily amputate all your fingers using the door handle to get out there.
What lets this hotel down is lack of attention to detail and the staff. I really want to buy a hose, so they can water the dying plants. Virtually no one (including reception) speaks any more than very basic tourist English, they even have a form for you to tick off your breakfast options. That doesn't mean you'll get what's offered, for example, on the list is scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes on toasted panini with chilli chutney. What arrived was scrambled eggs on toast. No tomatoes, no chilli chutney, no possibility to get an explanation.
The "fully stocked mini bar" contained two bottles of water. The laundry bag and list to complete was MIA, it took 15 minutes of charades to get the list out of reception.
Two out of three times we've arrived home in the afternoon to find the room as we left it. This place could be so much better, I have attempted to speak to the manager several times now to offer some helpful suggestions. I'm not a whiner, really, we're quite easy to please, but the manager appears to be ethereal.
I wouldn't stay here again.
Dec 12th, 2015, 03:33 AM
#115
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The FCC was pretty cool, we met a guy there who I'll talk about next post.
This is our second trip to Cambodia, so we've seen the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng (how depressing) plus the Russian market (opressingly hot).
Currently in Changi waiting on our flight home.
Today is our last full day in Cambodia before the 15+ hour trip home. We needed to shop, there's the house/dog sitter who's a good friend, plus several others we want to buy presents for, and Christmas is so close !
Instead of the markets, we've hit the fair trade shops and organisations that support disabled and vulnerable people. Sisowath Quay, street 178 and street 13 are walkable from here and have a variety of shops selling quality handicrafts and handmade products. The prices are higher than the markets, but it's good to know our dollars might help. There's also less hassle to buy, a bonus for me. I'll post links to all these in a summary later.
We tried some street food this evening, fried chicken that looked like KFC but was different (better) which came with salad and chilli sauce (in a small ziplock bag) and some rice balls, which were cooked in two halves and then melded together.
Our street is food city by 6pm, and you should see the mess when everyone's left after 9 pm. It's all cleaned up by morning.
I revise my earlier comments about Cambodian v Myanmar people's friendliness.
Apart from some surly staff at this hotel and a few others (very much a training issue really) we've had a great experience and many kind and helpful encounters with locals. No doubt we'll be back.
This is our second trip to Cambodia, so we've seen the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng (how depressing) plus the Russian market (opressingly hot).
Currently in Changi waiting on our flight home.
Today is our last full day in Cambodia before the 15+ hour trip home. We needed to shop, there's the house/dog sitter who's a good friend, plus several others we want to buy presents for, and Christmas is so close !
Instead of the markets, we've hit the fair trade shops and organisations that support disabled and vulnerable people. Sisowath Quay, street 178 and street 13 are walkable from here and have a variety of shops selling quality handicrafts and handmade products. The prices are higher than the markets, but it's good to know our dollars might help. There's also less hassle to buy, a bonus for me. I'll post links to all these in a summary later.
We tried some street food this evening, fried chicken that looked like KFC but was different (better) which came with salad and chilli sauce (in a small ziplock bag) and some rice balls, which were cooked in two halves and then melded together.
Our street is food city by 6pm, and you should see the mess when everyone's left after 9 pm. It's all cleaned up by morning.
I revise my earlier comments about Cambodian v Myanmar people's friendliness.
Apart from some surly staff at this hotel and a few others (very much a training issue really) we've had a great experience and many kind and helpful encounters with locals. No doubt we'll be back.
Dec 12th, 2015, 04:52 PM
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Thanks guys, we made it home to ecstatic dogs.
It was only 40 minutes and $12 to the Phnomh Penh International airport. A two hour flight with Jetstar Asia got us to Singapore, where we had a few hours to kill before the 7 hours home on Scoot. We killed that time in the Ambassador lounge terminal 2 near the sunflower garden. Our otherwise almost useless Diners Club card gets us access to the lounge. It's not fantastic, but it's free, with food and coffee/soft drinks.
Yesterday I paid SGD $50 for what they call "max your space", so we had 3 seats between 2 of us. The Scoot dreamliners are set up in 3 X 3 X 3 configuration in economy, so it worked quite well.
My only packing fail was forgetting the neck pillows, which would have made things more comfy. As it was, I origamied myself into several hundred different positions, and probably caught 35 winks.
Again I claimed the window seat and was glued to it as soon as the sun came up, watching the landscape below unfold. We flew over the ocean for a magnificent view of the Gold Coast beaches (right side of the plane), and touched down on time despite leaving an hour late. See, they could make it a six hour trip....
Had the fastest ever airport exit. We used the e Gate - our automatic passport control, we had no luggage to wait for, so first in line at customs/quarantine. Australia has strict quarantine laws, I'd declared I had food - Kampot pepper, and wood - the heads of the puppets given to us in Mandalay were wood. The agent asked a few questions, I fessed up I had lollies that travelled with us, but no food from the plane. He sent us through the green line and we were in a taxi in 10 minutes. I'm stunned and wish entries to the country were all this easy.
The taxi ride cost $82 for the 40 minute ride home, ouch...first world problem.
I'll post links and some random thoughts tomorrow.
It was only 40 minutes and $12 to the Phnomh Penh International airport. A two hour flight with Jetstar Asia got us to Singapore, where we had a few hours to kill before the 7 hours home on Scoot. We killed that time in the Ambassador lounge terminal 2 near the sunflower garden. Our otherwise almost useless Diners Club card gets us access to the lounge. It's not fantastic, but it's free, with food and coffee/soft drinks.
Yesterday I paid SGD $50 for what they call "max your space", so we had 3 seats between 2 of us. The Scoot dreamliners are set up in 3 X 3 X 3 configuration in economy, so it worked quite well.
My only packing fail was forgetting the neck pillows, which would have made things more comfy. As it was, I origamied myself into several hundred different positions, and probably caught 35 winks.
Again I claimed the window seat and was glued to it as soon as the sun came up, watching the landscape below unfold. We flew over the ocean for a magnificent view of the Gold Coast beaches (right side of the plane), and touched down on time despite leaving an hour late. See, they could make it a six hour trip....
Had the fastest ever airport exit. We used the e Gate - our automatic passport control, we had no luggage to wait for, so first in line at customs/quarantine. Australia has strict quarantine laws, I'd declared I had food - Kampot pepper, and wood - the heads of the puppets given to us in Mandalay were wood. The agent asked a few questions, I fessed up I had lollies that travelled with us, but no food from the plane. He sent us through the green line and we were in a taxi in 10 minutes. I'm stunned and wish entries to the country were all this easy.
The taxi ride cost $82 for the 40 minute ride home, ouch...first world problem.
I'll post links and some random thoughts tomorrow.
Dec 13th, 2015, 12:23 AM
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" I origamied myself into several hundred different positions, and probably caught 35 winks." - made me laugh out loud. A perfect description of travelling economy class!
I have enjoyed your report immensely. Glad you made it home ok ( even if you did miss out on 5 winks)
I have enjoyed your report immensely. Glad you made it home ok ( even if you did miss out on 5 winks)
