Hello PHNOM PENH!

Ian Wright wrote in the Globe Trekker’s website that of all the places that he had been to as a host for the  popular travel TV series, his favorite place is Phnom Penh the capital city of Cambodia. Samantha Brown, the host of Passport to Europe and later Samantha Brown’s Asia had openly declared in her blog that Cambodia  is her favorite country in Asia as well. So, coming from two people who have probably scaled every nook and corner of the world, there has to be something so special about Cambodia that makes it stand out at least in their eyes.

“Just like parents who “equally” love all their children, as a traveler I don’t like to admit that I have a favorite, but I do. Out of the eight countries visited in the Asia series, Cambodia was my favorite. I knew from the beginning that this was a different place”

So, I flew into Cambodia from Thailand – to Phnom Penh the capital city without really expecting much from the city that has for long been overshadowed by its more popular sister city, the world-famous and temple-studded Siem Reap.You know you’re in Cambodia when you see the sweeping view of expansive rice fields and I was lucky to be there when most of the paddy was in golden yellow, probably just about ready for cropping season. You see, if there really is a word as breath-taking then my breath was literally taken away even before I landed in Cambodia. LOL.

It wasn’t a good first impression of Phnom Penh for me. For the first time since I started traveling I had to go through an immigration check where five of my fingers were scanned and probably recorded and the immigration officer was all BUT smiling as if I’ve come to Cambodia to take their children away or something.

Coming in from Thailand, it was hard not to compare the Cambodian officer with the ones at Bangkok airport where everybody was so friendly and soft-spoken and smiling even as they confiscated some of our forbidden stuffs before we proceeded to the departure hall.

But then, there’s a saying that ‘Do not judge a book by its cover’. The first impression isn’t always right and that was true enough when I went to Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh and even Cambodia as a whole turned out to be full of friendly people that the unsmiling officer at the immigration check felt almost like a dream or probably something from a past life as I met more and more of them (Cambodian people).

Before I came to Cambodia, I was most worried about how I was going to deal with the people there without getting ripped off too much. I had almost thought that places like Bali and New Delhi as some of the top tourist destinations in Asia are supposedly well-established at least in their tourism systems and yet I got ripped off BIG TIME while traveling into. Cambodia that I heard didn’t even have an established currency of its own, that it still depended so much on USDs to keep its businesses going so I was actually expecting the worse.

Again – as I traveled to Cambodia, I found out that I had been worried way too much- probably more than I should have been and it was amazing how things actually kinda clicked into places before I knew it. I mean, we were expecting a tough negotiation of getting a good deal with a taxi to the hostel and yet it turned out to be so easy, that the transportation fare from the airport to the city is a fixed USD7.

Except that it wasn’t a taxi that we took but an auto rickshaw – the Cambodian version. I loike!

It was hard to believe how I liked Phnom Penh so instantly. It was late in the evening when the sun was just about to diminish in the east and I could feel the cool evening air breezing by as we moved towards the city.

I don’t know but there was something about Phnom Penh that is so laid-back and relaxing. I would say the traffic was moderate by SEA standards and the people didn’t seem to be in any rush at all unlike in most other major cities in South East Asia that I’ve been to.

You wouldn’t really hear the blast of honking that you’d hear when you’re in Vietnam and probably Indonesia and even the vehicles seem to be moving in slow paces as if they are enjoying and absorbing every moment of their journey.

And jeez – the people – I probably have to say this over and over again that the people of Cambodia are just so great! They are probably the most less intimidating people that you’d ever see, that you can just walk past a bunch of them on the backstreet even at one in the morning and you wouldn’t feel the urge of watching your back every time.

We arrived at the hostel called Encounters Hostels and Guest House – a hostel that I had again booked via HostelWorld.com. Apparently, it was named with something else before so we had a little bit of doubt when the Tuk Tuk driver dropped us at the front yard and assured us that we were at the right place based on the address I gave him. The signboard and banner still bore the previous name. DUH.

Judging by the good rating that was granted to it by reviewers, I had expected it to be – well – better than its actual looks. I was amazed at how photos can be quite deceiving at times. But it wasn’t really that bad. Just look at the picture here. 😀

We were checked into a windowless room that could have simply killed a claustrophobic in a matter of few hours but thanks to the platform beds that were placed right on the floor, the ceiling actually looks higher than it probably is and the room more spacious. The only source of sunlight came from the window of the toilet which was quite spacious in its own right.

I couldn’t help but noticing the existence of a large thermal container somewhere in one corner of the room – the one that is commonly used in fish-mongering activities back in Malaysia and I was more than amused to find out that it was actually a safety box! Don’t you just love Cambodia? They have a thermal container for a safety box! But believe me, that was only one of so many amusing things that we encountered all throughout our trip in Cambodia.

So, we spent our first night in Phnom Penh exploring a little, mostly around the night entertainment area on the riverside of Tonle Sap. It really is where most of the actions are at night. We had come to find out that it is the only place in town that stays up until late at night while the rest seems to die down early, even as early as 7pm.

As long as we wanted to explore more, what we needed most was a table for three.We had only been in town for a few hours so we hadn’t really explored much of the city to know where to head to for a good decent meal at reasonable prices. After doing a little bit of surveying around, we chose to be seated in a restaurant called Chiang Mai Riverside Thai Food restaurant although it was more of a decision driven by a tugging hunger than any justification of reasonable pricing and budgeting. LOL.

Well, being the area with the most concentration of tourists in Phnom Penh, the prices of food here are quite stiff although you wouldn’t really see it until you convert them into MYRs.

I made it customary to taste the local beer whenever I traveled to another country for the first time. Cambodia that I found out has quite a number of locally produced beers so drinking Angkor Beer for the first time was more like the ‘opening act’ of my beer-tasting adventure in Cambodia. Heh. Described as a fusion of Khmer and Thai on the menu, the foods turned out to be alright although I had wished they didn’t put too much star anise (or whatever it was) and probably the dry chilly. I could hardly taste anything other than those two.

So – we returned to the hostel with so much excitement boiling inside us. You know how the excitement is like when you arrive in a city for the first time when it is already dark. You can’t wait to wake up the next morning when the city is under the full cast of bright sunlight so that you can see everything clearly and vividly. It was almost unbearable, really. 😛