Day 6 – Saturday 3rd January – Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

We leave Siem Reap today, having had a great time and seen lots of the temples and local sites. We loved the slow pace and small town feel of the whole place. Our hotel has helped that feeling, as it was very small being the old French Govenor’s mansion and only had about 20 rooms. Our room was right by the pool and in a single level part of the complex. Being at the back of the hotel, it was also very quiet except for the fire works on new years eve. The restaurant, which is upstairs at the front of the hotel has fantastic food and great to just sit in and watch the Siem Reap traffic cruise quietly past.

Our flight left at 11:00am, but we had to be at the airport (10 minutes away from the hotel) by 10:00am, so we left at 9:15am. Because we were flying domestically, we went to a different terminal from the one we arrived at, which was consequently even smaller than the international terminal. Obviously there were no customs officials for an internal flight, but there did seem to be a reasonable number of people to make sure that we had all the right bits of paper and all the correct stamps and that we stood in the correct place and all that sort of stuff – it’s so good when government gets involved in organising the minutiae of our lives.

We flew to Phnom Penh on a Bangkok Airways ATR, so again a low and slow flight. As we took off the ground we flew over was still soaking wet, as it had been when we arrived, but now we realized why. The day was clearer and Tonlé Sap Lake was more visible, so you could see that all the saturated fields were just those parts of the lake that had most recently re-emerged from their wet season submersion. The flight to Phnom Penh took 40 minutes and for most of this, we were flying down the edge of the lake and all that way there was submerged or partially submerged fields. As we approached Phnom Penh which is at the convergence of the Tonlé Sap, Mekong and XXXX rivers, the fields again started appearing saturated and we so right up the airport boundary. In Phnom Penh itself, there is currently a massive flood protection project going on on the river bank along the Quay outside our hotel.

The first thing you notice about Phnom Penh is how much quicker the pace of everything is. The cars go much faster, the scooters ride more aggressively, there are big motor bikes, fast cars (we even saw a Maserati), big cars (Hummer’s, Range Rovers etc). The initial impression on the way in from the airport is that it is also a lot richer and cleaner that Siem Reap, although this impression doesn’t last long when you get out walking round the central city – it’s richer, but also there are a lot more poor and the differences between the two highlights the down side. The cleanliness is also only on the main thoroughfares – off them and the pavement gets pretty rough – if there is one at all. Once you make the mental shift up a gear, it is quite a cool city to be in.

Our hotel is great – only 16 rooms, about 300m from the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum. After checking in we went for a walk past the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum before heading off to the Central Market for a look around. That didn’t take too long, as it was very bustling and busy and a bit down market compared to the Siem Reap Market (besides which, we had shopped well there).
Returning to the hotel, we had a late light lunch (to leave room for dinner) and then some beers at the happy hour (4pm – 8pm – a good hour). Not long after that, our tummies turned a bit dodgy on us, so that kinda wrapped up our first day in Phnom Penh.