Bidding Farewell to the Beautiful City of Phnom Penh

It would be the day when we’d have to say good bye to the beautiful city of Phnom Penh. Thinking that we didn’t have much time to spare, I grabbed my shoes and went for a little run on the riverside of Tonle Sap river.

It would be my very last run before I joined a few thousands runners to battle it out at the Angkor Wat Marathon.

There was something exhilarating about running on the riverside of Tonle Sap in the morning. I wish I had started off earlier when the sun was still low over the horizon and there were less cars on the roads.

The sun was already biting a little but the air blown from the river was still refreshingly cool. It had to be the perfect spot to bid my farewell to the city that had over the last few days fascinated us with so many amazing encounters and charms.

Getting back to the hostel, we packed up whatever there was to pack up. Thanks God we didn’t do much of shopping in Phnom Penh thinking that we were going to drag our bags half way across Cambodia to Siem Reap before flying back to Malaysia.

It’s always wise to save up as much as you can until the very last minute when you’re very very sure that you are financially safe to survive the rest of your days in the country that you are traveling in.

Life itself is already full of uncertainties and it can’t be far from the truth when it comes to traveling as well. Heh.

Since we still had at least a couple of hours to kill, we walked around the hostel area and see what we could see within that final hours. There were a lot actually.

I mean, I had read so many blogs writing about their experiences in witnessing the offering ritual where people would offer something to monks – most notably in Laos say – Luang Prabang (soon baby, soon) – and some of them had to wake up very early in the morning so that they wouldn’t miss the action.

Well, talking about being lucky here, we didn’t need to wake up so early to witness it here in Phnom Penh. It kinda just happened right before our eyes in the broad day light.

After downing a bowl of instant noodles for breakfast with all the embellishment that they throw in to make it look more visually appealing of course, it was time to finally say good bye to the windowless and dark room that we had been nesting in for the past few days.

I was very sure that our smell would stay lingering in there for a very very long time. LOL!

Worry not about your transportation to Siem Reap because the hostel would be more than happy to arrange it for you. All we had to do was to pay USD6 (KHR24k, MYR18) to them and they arranged everything for us including our pick-up transfer to the bus station. It really was so easy peasy I would say.

I was actually quite surprised that we only needed to pay like USD6 for a 6 ++ hrs bus ride but considering how cheap it is at least by comparison to some of the bus rides that I went on in some other parts of Asia, I was actually expecting the worse.

I could already imagine a dilapidated bus with broken windows and non-functioning air-conditioner and probably the possibility of sharing a seat with a local who had the head of a duck in one hand and a hen’s in the other.

Well, guess what. My judgment was premature – apparently. It might not be the best of buses but it was so damn alright I actually cursed myself for underestimating what Cambodia could offer in terms of transportation and all.

I was so embarrassed to myself that I really felt like hitting my head on the window so that I’d be reminded not to judge and underestimate any country that I travel to EVER again. After all, this is 2012 la wei! 😀

Next stop was Siem Reap.