Indochina Adventure in Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

I wanted to skip Phnom Penh and instead go directly to Siem Reap in Cambodia but the bus in Saigon leaves early in the morning and we can't manage to catch up. I have no choice but to go to Phnom Penh since we were already booked in a hostel. I thought there's not much to see there but it was fun in Phnom  Penh! Travel time from Saigon to Phnom Penh is approximately 6-7 hours, we brought packed meals so we won't buy food on stopovers. We arrived in Phnom Penh at around 8 PM, took a "tuk-tuk" and checked in the hostel. Ate dinner and slept.

KEEP THIS CARD, DON'T LOSE IT!

Our stay in Phnom Penh was just short, because we will leave for Siem Reap on that same day, so we started our walking tour early in the morning by the Tonle Sap river. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, it is the largest and well populated city in the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Royal Palace and the business districts are mostly found in the city. I have no idea where and what interesting places they have, I checked my Google maps and yes! Again, we only chose the places we like to see so as to save time.

Chasing pigeons

We planned to go to the Royal Palace  but there was a construction going on so we just left it out. Across the Royal Palace is the riverside park which was really inviting! There were hundreds of birds flying around and alighting on the ground to peck feeds, they are nice to look at especially when they fly in unison!

ZUMBA

I think the riverside park is often flocked by locals and tourists, because it is a perfect place for recreation. I really can't help but run after those birds, oh by the way, the flags of ASEAN countries are all flapping by the riverside which synchronized with the flying birds! And they're nice to look at!

YOGA

I've seen the locals busy with their activities by the riverside, some are doing Zumba,  some are practicing Yoga and Tai chi, the others were jogging, and it is a good thing to know that Cambodians are health conscious. To continue with our walking tour, we planned to eat breakfast before going to the first temple but we can't find the restaurant we saw in the map, so we visited the first temple which is the "Wat Phnom". Wat means hill and Phnom is temple, so it's a hill temple, the home of the Bronze Buddha  found in Tonle Sap River a long time ago by a wealthy widow named "Penh", and later the city was named after her, "Phnom Penh".

This is the main entrance to Wat Phnom where two "Nagas" are found. In Buddhism, "Naga" is the seven headed serpent which is mostly found in temples and their body is carved as balustrades. They are legendary creatures in the Hindu and Buddhist mythology, which is believed to be guardian statues. Naga has a significance in the mythology in most Southeast Asian cultures, in the Philippines our version of Naga is the "Bakunawa". It is interesting to learn about the Asian mythology, maybe I could read books and write about it. To continue, there is a park upstairs aside from the temple, the place is peaceful. We went around the hill temple and went down on the other side and found a giant clock! By the way, Wat Phnom is open from 7AM-6PM daily. Entrance fee is  US$1 and free for Cambodians. Ticket booth is near the giant staircase.

Can you tell me the time?

We haven't eaten breakfast and we haven't found the restaurant listed on our itinerary and then somewhere along the way, we found an eatery full of people, the smell of grilled pork hypnotized us and brought us in.

Draining and drying the pork and fish...ready for grilling!

The waiter was talking to us in Khmer because he thought we are Cambodians and by chance, the guy who shared the table with us knows English. He smiled and translated to the waiter what we wanted! So we ordered the aromatic grilled pork and that flavorful soup, the food was so delicious and cheap! I cannot forget them, too bad I wasn't able to ask about the name of the place.

YUM YUM

We continued with our city tour heading towards the Ounalom Pagoda, but...do you know that on our way we passed by the restaurant that we are looking for? And oh my....it was so full of  people! Okay the name of the restaurant is "126 The Noodle House Factory", it is a breakfast restaurant and opens at 5AM. Try their pork buns, so full of stuffing! Okay now, so much for food!

The Ounalom Pagoda is one of the oldest monasteries in Phnom Penh, it is a home to Buddhist monks and keeps several life-sized Buddhas. The pagoda is just across Tonle Sap River, it is open to public for free from 6AM-6PM. There is a dress code in all temples, wearing of short pants or short skirts and revealing tops are not allowed, so please abide.

Just a short distance from our hotel is the National Museum of Cambodia. It is open daily from 8AM to 5PM, entrance fee is US$10 and  US$5 for audio guide which is optional. We didn't hire a guide and instead took the audio guide. There are hundreds of Khmer artifacts found in the museum, mostly sculptures in bronze and ceramics. The audio guide helped us a lot in understanding each collection. If you are interested in ancient history then this is the place to be, but if you're not you'll just get  bored, by the way, photography is not allowed, so think before you pay.

So time is running out,  we have to tidy up and pack things for our trip to Siem Reap. I would like to mention that we stayed at  RS II Guesthouse which is just okay, it has a restaurant at the ground floor, and located near the tourist spots, restaurants and riverside, it has a good location. The hotel booked our trip to Siem Reap so we don't have to to the terminal and buy ticket, a service vehicle picked us up in the hotel and took us to the (Giant Ibis) bus terminal. Travel time from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap is approximately 6-7 hours, it is long trip but you won't get bored because the view of the countryside is interesting. Bring food in the bus, so you'll enjoy the view.

THANK YOU FOR READING!