The trip to the river took us past an school complex where parents were having breakfast in street corner restaurants with their kids before sending them off to join their classes.
I shot a ton of pictures of activity on the river in the early morning while we waited for the boat.
We decided to walk to the National Museum to catch the exhibitions before it closed. The walk was a constant barrage of propositions from tuk-tuk drivers offering tours. The museum's collections of statuary from Angkor and other Cambodian historical sites is wonderful. Kathy and I both wish we knew more about Buddhism and Brahmanism, the religions melded by the Khmers and celebrated in the Ankorian temples.
After we left the Palace environs, we ran another gauntlet of aggressive tour guides and tuk-tuk entrepreneurs on the way back to the hotel, getting semi-soaked by the rain in the process. We stopped in a wine shop to buy a couple of bottles of French wine. As we left the store, we noticed another well stocked wine shop across the street. That was two more well stocked shops that we saw in three weeks in Vietnam. From the large number of French and Italian restaurants in the city, there seems to be a lot more European cultural influence in Phnom Penh than in Vietnam - at least in the cuisine. After a beer on our rooftop terrace, we headed out to dinner in our own tuk-tuk. The driver took us to an Italian place recommended by the proprietor of our hotel's restaurant. Our driver insisted he would come back to pick us up when we were done. I don't know why I was surprised when he actually did. We had trouble settling our bill at the restaurant - first, because while the US dollar is the de facto Cambodian currency, they wouldn't take an old $100 bill (apparently because Phnom Penh is a center for passing North Korean counterfeit US Currency) and second, because one of my credit cards wouldn't work and they didn't take Amex. Kathy had to treat me.
Once we got under way, we cruised up the Mekong for about an hour before stopping first at Vietnamese border control and then, a mile or so upriver, at the Cambodian border post to obtain visas. After about an hour and a too early in the morning Cambodia beer, we resumed our trek to Phnom Penh. We passed under a huge new suspension bridge under construction about 20 miles south of the city.
Once we landed, a new guide met us to escort us to another in a string of memorable hotels - the White Mansion. Our room on the top floor featured a terrace with a fabulous view of the thunderheads building over the city.
We decided to walk to the National Museum to catch the exhibitions before it closed. The walk was a constant barrage of propositions from tuk-tuk drivers offering tours. The museum's collections of statuary from Angkor and other Cambodian historical sites is wonderful. Kathy and I both wish we knew more about Buddhism and Brahmanism, the religions melded by the Khmers and celebrated in the Ankorian temples.
We walked by the National Palace and Silver Pagoda, which we will tour tomorrow. The buildings are stunning from the outside.
After we left the Palace environs, we ran another gauntlet of aggressive tour guides and tuk-tuk entrepreneurs on the way back to the hotel, getting semi-soaked by the rain in the process. We stopped in a wine shop to buy a couple of bottles of French wine. As we left the store, we noticed another well stocked wine shop across the street. That was two more well stocked shops that we saw in three weeks in Vietnam. From the large number of French and Italian restaurants in the city, there seems to be a lot more European cultural influence in Phnom Penh than in Vietnam - at least in the cuisine. After a beer on our rooftop terrace, we headed out to dinner in our own tuk-tuk. The driver took us to an Italian place recommended by the proprietor of our hotel's restaurant. Our driver insisted he would come back to pick us up when we were done. I don't know why I was surprised when he actually did. We had trouble settling our bill at the restaurant - first, because while the US dollar is the de facto Cambodian currency, they wouldn't take an old $100 bill (apparently because Phnom Penh is a center for passing North Korean counterfeit US Currency) and second, because one of my credit cards wouldn't work and they didn't take Amex. Kathy had to treat me.
I have mixed impressions of Phnom Penh. The hotel and wait staff are charming, the children lovely and friendly and many of the public buildings are impressive. The aggressive hucksters are a turn off and the city has a reputation for street crime by thieves on motorbikes like Saigon did in the '70's. In fact it reminded me of Saigon in 1972 in other ways, too including the location of some high end homes, hotels and businesses in otherwise shabby neighborhoods.
We're steeling ourselves for a tough day tomorrow, including a trip to the genocide museum and the killing fields. Got to turn in early. More tomorrow.
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