Helloooo everybody, ladies and gentlemen and fellow readers! It was a fine Thursday for me basically spending my entire afternoon attending class and yeap! A final year student that supposedly to deal with final year projects and assessments but my mind keep urging me to start penning down my previous trip to Cambodia ASAP or else I will keep on procrastinating! Like previous Japan travelouge that I should have done that months ago.
But hey! let's get started and discover the kingdom of Cambodia with me. :')
......
......
I always wanted to visit this place and thank you mommy for making my dream came true. Tagged along one of my best friend (Catherine) to join for out trip too. Flew there by Airasia for approximately RM 190 for two ways excluding baggage fees and other add-ons. You first question that probably come across your mind is that is it really so cheap, are you sure?! Yes, we bought our air tic roughly 9 months before our departure date during promotion period.
This part 1 of travelogue will be showing you guys the places that we've been/visited for the 2 and half a day in Phnom Penh city. As for another 2 and half a day, we settled down in Siem Reap city which I will leave it for next post. However, due to some reasons I am unable to show you guys pictures for some tourists attractions. So I think it is a better option for me to list down places that we have been for convenience' sake and especially for those who are touring to Phnom Penh soon. I hope you guys will find it clear and informative to you.
- Phnom Penh Night Market (only available on weekends)
- Royal Palace + Silver Pagoda
- Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
- Nagaworld Casino
- Central Market
- Phnom Penh Riverside
- Lucky Market ( For grocery shopping)
- DAH Department Store (For factory outlet garments)
Obligatory window seat's shoot. Always such a pleasure to discover country all around the world. Look at those fluffy cotton hehehe.
Holla for AK 534 - flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh,Cambodia.
Touched down at Phnom Penh International airport around 4.30pm and got ourselves local sim cards at $3 for 2GB data and transportation from airport to our hotel. There are two mode of transportations to city that you can choose between taxis at $12 or tuk-tuks at $9.
Checked in our hotel for the night at Hotel Zing Phnom Penh. For more information please visit their official website - http://kh.hotelzing.net/
After settling down and rest in hotel for about 30 mins, we visited Phnom Penh night market that only available on weekends. There are myriad stalls that will be setting up during weekends such as stalls that sell clothes, handicrafts, souvenirs and foods there. I personally think that it was such as great place to visit as you can see how's their night market which slightly different from others and the place you can interact/know/get in touch with the locals.
It's interesting for us saw this whereby both locals and tourists buy foods and beverages from different stalls and have dinner by sitting on mat. #khmerstyle.
Foods are all selling at very cheap and affordable prices.
BBQ stall.
Order some local street foods for our dinner. This is chicken fried rice which taste superbly yummy.
Baby duck egg...which I have no guts to try it out.
Beer beer buddy. Both of them beer all day err day..
As for me, I go for sugarcane juice instead.
The massive amount of tuk-tuks!
We were off to Siem Reap in the early morning of Day 2 and the journey from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is about 6 to 7 hours by car. There are also others alternatives to Siem Reap such as by bus or van or plane depending on your budget.
All of the photos were taken at some random Khmer village since we requested our driver to stop us at some schools or orphanage home for us to distribute some goodies such as stationery, candies and old clothes (brought by Cat) but he seem can't understand us. So on our way to Siem Reap, we saw there was a bunch of kids that carrying school bags, probably just got back from school crossed over the road and got back to their village/home. Then we asked the driver is it possible to stop and let us go down to distribute those goodies that we've brought. A gentle reminder for all of you guys that are planning to visit Cambodia soon or in the future, remember to carry some candies or stationary with you, kids there will be very happy to receive it.
As the moment we stepped into the village, all the kids and adults stared at us awfully and after talking to them, they finally understood our main intention of visiting them. Always there are reality shows or articles showed us how's the hard and harsh the life of a Cambodian can be but I didn't put 100% trust on it until the second I stepped into the village. The dusty surroundings, the place they live that has no TV, no wardrobe, no dining room which completely different from ours.
Look how happy there are upon receiving pencil case. The most sincere and hearty smile I have ever seen in my life. I never thought a ordinary pencil case and few candies can make some else so happy, at least for that moment. :') All of them are well-behaved in receiving things from us as they queue in line and wait for us to pass for them.
This is how they thanked us.
All of them were choosing old clothes happily that Cat has brought to them and at the mean time, keep saying thank you and showing their gratitude to us. The scene that I thought I'd see it on TV instead of experiencing all of it by myself.
Thank you all of you, my little angles for letting me to know how great my life is and I should be more contented and appreciate what I have now.
Goodbye pretty little kind girl. Study hard in order to help your lovely family get out from poverty. I'm sure you can do it and best of luck to you :)
The other day that we got back from Siem Reap and had our lunch in Khmer Surin Restaurant that offers variety of Khmer and Thai foods. Make sure you make a visit if you are looking for mouth-watering Khmer cuisines.
Address: House #9, Street 57, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang I, Khan Chamkarmon,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Tel no: +855 (0) 12 887 320, +855 (0) 12 797 539, and +855 (0) 23 993 163
Mommy!
Mandatory drink on the table, regardless when and where we are.
Deep-fried spring roll.
Fried kangkung.
Fish amok! my top favourite which taste equally like otak here.
Chicken fried with basil leaves.
And last but least, red curry.
Off to do some touristy thing - Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
Look at the bright hot sun which made us sweat like mad.
Silver Pagoda.
Chill time by the Riverside. No alcoholic drinks for the past few days in Cambodia so I decided to try cocktail there for only $2.5 each. And I guess my mom must be missing the $0.5 draught beer so badly. haha.
Another restaurant that you should have try it out to leave no regrets. The blue pumpkin that serves 20 over different flavour of ice-cream and sorbet.
Favourite flavour afterall - choco peppermint..
Thank you guys for reading and have a nice holiday and great weekend ahead.
With Love,
Serene
Post a Comment