Phnom Penh - Days 227-232
We waited until the last minute to decide whether to cross the Vietnam-Cambodia border via land or air. Our indecisiveness stemmed from not knowing where we would venture next with Dad. The weather prohibited us from going anywhere north but we felt we had seen enough of southern Vietnam for now. In the end, we booked a last minute flight and headed to Phnom Penh a few days earlier than planned. To be honest, we hadn’t heard the best about Phnom Penh so we weren’t expecting much - but we found our selves pleasantly surprised on our airport pick-up tuk tuk ride through the city. More modern and cleaner than expected, but still with the beloved chaotic streets and hectic street stalls. A perfect mix of Bangkok and Saigon. Our hostel (Envoy Hostel) had an excellent rooftop patio in which to sunset gaze, then we split some tapas at a nearby trendy joint - Kai Fun Eatery.
We awoke today preparing ourselves for a somber and likely depressing day - visiting the genocide museum and killing fields. They converted an old Khmer Rouge prison and interrogation center into the museum - some of the prison cells were still set up how they were found. So very sad and unbelievable. The killing fields were less visual, but with the guided audio tour you were still able to get a good sense about what it was like. It was incredible to learn about this terrible and violent recent history. As you can imagine, it was a very heavy afternoon. So to try to cheer ourselves up, we went down by the river at dusk to people watch. Dad was in full video mode and I was certain that someone was going to snatch his phone right out of his outstretched hands. He got lucky this time. Once it got dark, we headed up to a rooftop bar for a few drinks then waited in a long line for dinner at Friends Restaurant - pretty tasty!
Pretty excited for today! Booked a bicycle tour of a nearby island with Grasshopper Adventures. At our orientation at the bike shop Dad becomes fast friends with a solo retired traveler and thus begins their 4 hour conversation. The bike ride was really fun! We took a ferry across the river to “silk” island and true to it’s name, we eventually stop at a silk factory. Ran out of the bottom of this family’s home, they do everything from raising silk worms, to dying the thread, all the way to hand weaving the final fabric. Weaving by the way is incredible - so intricate and the loom is entirely hand-operated. We were in awe and subsequently were suckered into buying a bunch of silk scarves (you’re welcome, Moms!). We hopped back on the bikes and roamed through the beautiful countryside for the rest of the morning, making two more mini-stops along the way (soy milk skin factory and baby corn field). Back on the mainland, we stopped by a local restaurant for some really delicious authentic Cambodia cuisine to end the tour. With all of that cycling, we deserved a nap. And Thai food for dinner.
Becca arrives tonight! Ben, Pops, and I have to move to another hostel (Lovely Jubbly) that isn’t quite as nice as Envoy (our room was basically all beds), but it has a nice pool and lounge area for us to spend the hot afternoon. We head to a trendy little side alley for pizza and live music then head off to the airport to wait for Bec. She’s here! How exciting!
Thinking that Smalls would be jetlagged today, we didn’t have much planned. But she seemed to be doing great so we set out to explore the city a bit. We tuktuked to Wat Phnom (everyone else snuck in but I got caught so had to pay $1) and explored around the French quarter a bit. Then what better way to welcome Bec to Asia than to get some afternoon massages! Excellent. Nice and relaxed, we explored around the beautiful Royal Palace grounds then went back to the trendy alley for the evening. Drinks and appetizers at a Japanese ramen joint, live music in the middle of the alley, and shawarma for dinner - pretty good first day for B and last day for Dad.
Everyone woke up early - Bec, Ben, and I were headed to do a behind-the-scenes tour of Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center and Dad left for India this morning. Bye Dad, it’s been real fun!
We loaded into a van with the rest of the tour goers and headed out to the wildlife reservation. Along the way, we stopped by a local market and all got out to help pick out fruits to feed the animals. It was Becca’s first experience with an asian market and she dove right in and explored the tiny alleys. As we entered the park, the van slowed down and the guide turns to explain about the day, starting with meeting Lucky - an incredibly friendly elephant that luckily survived EEHV a few years ago and was still recovering. Lucky heard our van coming and knew what that meant... breakfast! She comes trotting out of the jungle to meet us and say hi! She was very sweet and patient, allowing lots of pets and pics.
After feeding Lucky and her friends lots of bananas, whole coconuts, and corn, we headed to the tiger den. Incredibly majestic animals but these ones were unethically breed so had some genetic issues effecting their hind legs. Kind of sad to see them struggling to walk... don’t breed your own tigers! The day was full of close up encounters with sorts of other animals (bears, boars, so many monkeys) but the best part was the very end when we got to go inside one of the monkey pens in the nursery for feeding time. We had to take off all of our jewelry (apparently they like to grab shiny things) then sat along the edge of the pen with our hands out full of fruit. The unleashed the monkeys on us and they treated us like a jungle gym. Bouncing back and forth on our heads, picking at our hair, starting fights with us in the middle. It was great. The best one was a monkey called Monster. He was found with his skull cracked (they think he fell out of a tree) but after some monkey brain surgery he was nearly as good as new... walked a little tilted and couldn’t open one eye. It was clear that he was quite a bit “slower” than the other monkeys but he was so cuddly and quickly became our favorite. Bec and I plotted to steal him but they ushered us out before we had the chance.
