Cambodia / Phnom Penh

A reoccurring statement, the drive in to this place was amazing! Rice paddies full of crop as far as the eye could see, bar a tree every 30 meters. Towards sunset we could se the silhouettes of cows meandering casually through the fields. The observer is reminded that this would have been Angkor back in the day, and the only thing which has actually changed in these parts in all those years is that the romantic allure of that ignorantly simple peasants life has since lost its curious charm. That, and satellite tv has made its debut.

The drive was fairly tame, all on roads of variable quality. Mostly fine and straight, but pot holes and strange mounds would alter the road +/- a foot, perhaps even more, giving a brief sense of off road four wheel driving.

The best thing about Nhom Phen is that the bus terminal is actually in the centre of town, making everything a respectable walk away. Unfortunately this is probably the only praise you'll hear me give this city, after it's amazingly well stocked but poorly curated museum, and it's beautiful palace with bajillions of Buddhas.

When you first clamber from the bus (or a restaurant, or your hotel, or your bathroom) you'll be accosted by tuk tuk touts whose smiles never quite reach their greedy beady eyes. Most are pretty lax, but the first touts followed us a bit.
Conversation: "you want tuk tuk?"
"No, I want dinner"
"Ahh I drive you to restaurant"
"no thanks, I want to go to a restaurant over the road"
"ah, you no want those. Those only Chinese restaurants. I take you to restaurant"
"I want Chinese for dinner"
"ah but these over priced Chinese" - an answer for everything - "I take you to chinese restaurant".
"But I want overpriced Chinese"
"Ahh, I know overpriced Chinese restaurant, I take you", and so on.
Sigh. Normally not an issue, but patience was short after an 11 or so hour bus ride.

Somewhere in the background I hear Craig tell his own personal tout "if you follow me I definitely won't go with you!"

After polishing off an overpriced Chinese dinner we walked on to locate a hotel, a nice little one aptly named Nice.

I'm generally unimpressed by this city, from it's hazardous roads which transform any afternoon jaunt in to an epic life-sized game of frogger, to the general scent of Lou du Paree's Metro on every street. Even after a solid downpour the scent and filth remains in tact.

My general enjoyment levels were further diminished after a durian shake rendered Craig and myself a bit worse for wear. Durian is a large fruit notorious for its (overly?) pungent areomas. It was with great reluctance that Craig and I had to briefly alternate bathroom visits trying to block out the penetrating reek of the regurgitated fruit which, as way of description, actually smelled as bad as durian. No wait, worse.

I know I should go easy on this place, after all there is a well stocked museum and a whole other culture just waiting to be experienced. But at its core it really is just a big old mediocre city, of which I have now seen my fair share. I imagine if I had begun my journeys here I probably would've become besotted with the city, musing over the people and celebrating the day to day challenges which travelling to the third world brings. But here and now, after enjoying the remoteness of prior places, the cuisine of fine restaurants, the relaxing vibe of friendly villagers, I feel my time could be better spent elsewhere. So it is with great delight that I am writing this post currently seated on an outward bound bus.