Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh was not what we expected.  But in a good way.  It's a swirling maze of scooter traffic and tuk-tuks, but not as gridlocked as you'd think.  The outskirts are basic like you'd expect for a relatively poor country, but downtown has a strangely comfortable feel despite the abundance of dirt sidewalks and construction mazes, with plenty of places to grab a drink and relax.  Service is uniformly great (unless you pick an older, impatient lady's stall at the market).  Most buildings are less than 5 storeys tall - high rises are rare - adding to the comfortable look.  And it's very cheap - again, the economic challenges here translate to most things being very inexpensive.

A couple of blocks from our very friendly and comfortable hotel near the Independence Monument was Tous Les Jours Bakery.  Complete with scooter delivery by a mascot dressed in a full-body bunny suit, including visibility-killing furry head.

Independence Monument, celebrating freedom from France in the 1950s.  (Cambodia was part of French Indochina long ago; then in the late 1800s, Cambodia asked for French protection to prevent Siam (Thailand) and Viet Nam from wiping them off the map, as they had done to another nearby kingdom.  Of course Japan came in and took over everything for a while in WWII.)

Asian poppy pods, I think.

Some of the Royal Palace gardens, facing the Mekong river.

At the bottom: "Mr. Toilet Public - Funded by The World Toilet Association".

More temples - scattered all over town.

Old school transportation on the Tonle Sap river.  Phnom Penh is located where the Tonle Sap runs into the Mekong (just a few hundred yards from this location).

Wat Phnom - a temple on a small hill - is where the city was theoretically founded.  A woman named Phnom apparently found 4 Buddha statues floating down the Mekong river and gave them a home at this location.

The Naga (serpent, often multi-headed) is seen on the roofs and bannisters of nearly every Buddhist temple in southeast Asia.  It is protective - the naga would protect Buddha while he was praying.  This one is a good 60 feet long, 10 feet high, is made entirely out of bamboo strips and is lit up at night.

It was International Women's Day, which is actually a holiday for women all over SE Asia.  We saw some people gathering to advocate that the government adopt the UN International Labour Organization's convention 189, which I believe is about the rights of domestic workers (lately there have been well-publicized stories about the abuse of foreign domestic workers in Cambodia).

And about 1/2 a block away were some police riot shields, just in case.  But no police visible, and everything seemed peaceful and positive.

Between the bars and the typical yet still insane number of power lines, no one is getting in or out of there!

The central market - very art deco.

Lots of cheap clothes and cheap jewelry.

Just down the street was an authentic local food market.  I overpaid to sample a bit of jackfruit for the first time, which was pretty good.  Like a cross between mango, banana and juicy fruit gum.

Had to sit for a moment and have a few pork/tofu spring rolls.  6+ for $1.

And we thought Thailand had many scooters.  Silly us.

A long mid-day walk (when will we learn?) left us pretty tired and sweaty, so after a break at the room we took a tuk-tuk up to the Foreign Correspondents Club for a drink and a bite overlooking the Mekong from 4 floors up.  It did not disappoint.

The narrow peninsula separating the Tonle Sap and Mekong is starting to be developed into a hotel/tourist area, it appears.

Great river views and lots of river traffic - both tour boats and commercial shipping (mostly old earth moving boats).

Nothing like bellying up to the edge of the balcony for an open-air view.

Of course, a few employ traditional boats and methods, even here.

It was Friday night, so tons of people started heading down to the riverfront to hang out, and to do some line dancing (not pictured) that looked like very simple, low-impact aerobics, to blasting music.

Pretty typical scene on the road below us - all of those vehicles are in full motion.  I can't believe there isn't more vehicle-to-vehicle contact.

As the sun went down, things got even prettier.

We walked up to the night market right as things were getting busy.

A sugar cane crusher, used to make cane juice.

So of course I had to try some.  It was pretty good - but it was hard to make out the flavour because the lime wedge provided was all I could taste.  Maybe a bit like a slightly woody/slightly limey sweet drink.

Lots of food available, as usual.

But this market had a huge carpeted area where you could kick off your sandals and eat sitting down with your friends.

We walked back through more gardens and past the Independence Momument (it's not leaning, the photographer is), which was plugged with Friday night traffic - mostly people out to socialize.  You can see how scooter-heavy the traffic is, though there are several cars, trucks and tuk-tuks as well.  (They are called tuk-tuks here, but are officially remorks.  Tuk-tuks in Thailand are purpose-built three-wheelers with a motorcycle-style front end and engine that the driver straddles, and a 4-seat passenger area over the back wheels.  The remorks here are actually small motorcycles or scooters attached to a two-wheeled chariot-like passenger trailer via a two-axis hitch.)  Most vehicles are well-used, though there are some new ones as well, particularly pickup trucks. And a few percent of the cars are ridiculously out-of-place high-end vehicles - like Lexus RX300s, Cadillac Escalades, Mercedes S-series sedans, even Bentleys - that have no business on these narrow, busy streets.  We actually saw someone driving their brand new, just-brought-home-from-the-showroom Bentley near the Independence Monument.  Seriously, how big of an insensitive asshole do you have to be to flaunt that kind of wealth to people who are largely working their butts off just trying to scrape together a few bucks each day for food, clothing and meagre housing?  Unbelievable.  We were staying near an area filled with embassies and other very opulent homes - I suspect you wouldn't evidence of such excess elsewhere in Cambodia.