Arrived here in Cambodia... safely!

Hello from Cambodia!


This is my first ever international posting. Lydia and myself are now in a Cambodian cafe, hunched over a semi- current machine (it's got an LCD screen!) setting my away from office message and taking advantage of this time to post a quick blog.

We arrived in Phnom Penh safely at about 5:00 p.m. (Malaysian time) yesterday and promptly took a car taxi to our hotel. There are many variations of taxis here from a motorcycle taxi (US$ 2) to a car taxi we're pretty familiar with (US$ 7). The cabby was chatty and offered to take us around the city before we head for the hotel. On hindsight, he could have wanted more money for that.

So, without much fuss, we check into our hotel. Shame I don't have my cable with me, otherwise I could post a couple of pictures on how it looks. First impression? Disappointment. Lydia turned to me and asked me "how come you chose such a cheap hotel?"

Okay, it isn't exactly a cheap hotel (US$22 per night). But we started checking into a room with no pillows! It took me three trips up and down to the lobby, before pillows were finally delivered. Ah, but with the pillows, it started to look better. Lydia said: "Not so bad after all."

We walked out for a bit in the evening to this nearby shopping complex (supposed to be the best in Phnom Penh.) The name was Suria, so we imagined KLCC. The dome from afar made our imagination trickle even further. But when we reached there... it was... Kota Raya! The ground floor was 50% jewellery sellers, with the other half divided between food, an icecream shop and some clothiers. Upstairs, you had rows and rows of clothing shops.

We had dinner at an el cheapo beef noodle shop. And at a more expensive beef noodles shop this afternoon for lunch.

I'm runninng out of time for this post. We spent a lot of time walking around the Central Market and National Museum this morning. One thing I realise - they have a lot of gods in Cambodia. I think 80% of the stuff they display in the National Museum are statues of gods! From Shiva, to Ganesa, to Garuda and Vishnu.

Tomorrow, we're off to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) and a better hotel (hopefully) on a 7 hour bus. Hopefully, we'll get there safely in one piece. Cheers!