Day 11 – 13.10.2016
Cambodia here we come!
We headed out on our long bus ride to the border and to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
At some point along our trip (still in Vietnam) our public bus gets rammed by another car. Only some of us really noticed it, but a truck hit us with two long concrete poles sticking out that hit the bus roof. Had we been hit any lower, the concrete would have shattered the glass and possibly hurt the people sitting underneath it. We were lucky. Money was exchanged and off we went.
When we eventually got out of Vietnam and had not yet entered Cambodia we ate lunch in „no mans land“ at a mall like duty free shop. I had some fried rice which was alright. Here was our first encounter with the new currency – Riel, because even though most objects are paid for in Dollars, they don’t have any American coins, so all the small values are paid for in Riel. Including the change you get back.
We then drove through the border of Cambodia, got our fingerprints scanned and headed onwards towards Phnom Penh.
Here a couple of impressions from Phnom Penh.
After arriving we had a little time on our hands and so enjoyed a little tuk tuk ride through town to get to know the capital better, and to experience the subtle differences between Ho Chi Minh City and the other Vietnam cities and Phnom Penh.
We went and visited a market built by the french with an incredible dome structure, which unfortunately was closing when we arrived. Instead there are commercial areas all along the way of our ride (check out the minion mini scooter).
Phnom Penh too is a busy city.
We stopped by a memorial for Mrs Penh, who is the name giver of the city. Phnom means mountain and Penh is her last name. It is said that she was a rich woman who at one point was walking through her town and found an old large tree floating on the river. She decided to have it pulled out and opened up. Inside were 5 statues; one hindu statue and the rest statues of Buddha. She decided that a temple would need to be built for these statues and so that mountain (27 metres...) of Mrs Penh was built to worship these statues.
Her story is told all around this monument carved into stone. (Below is the image of the statues being brought to the temple.
Our tuk tuk armada.
Below is a tomb of a king from a long time ago. Infront is a very large working clock. Quite impressive.
Views from the road...
Our sightseeing trip was unfortunately cut short due to the visit of the Chinese prime minister for whom all the streets were blocked off. Finally we went and had dinner close to the river side. I had some seafood in a coconut milk sauce with rice. It was quite lovely. We drove back with the tuk tuks and couldnt wait for a lovely nights sleep.
