Needing to leave the country, I was looking for a cheap flight out of Thailand. Do I choose somewhere I’ve been or somewhere I’ve never been. Easy answer, somewhere I’ve never been. Thus, I ended up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I know, why didn’t I go to SIam Reap. Mostly because I didn’t feel like touristing much. I wll do like 1 or 2 things here, but it’ll mostly be a chill 4 days in the capital.

I didn’t have much in terms of expectations and the Cambodian food I’ve had really didn’t thrill me. I’m looking forward to be proven wrong. The trip started off EARLY in the morning. I headed to the airport at 5:30. My flight was set for 7:45am. And we actually ended up taking off early (it wasn’t a full flight). The airport was easy to navigate. Doing a visa before arrival makes things even easier and more streamlined. Seems I didn’t even need to show my e-arrival card. It’s not a huge airport.

I got some money out at the ATMs and was about to use Grab to call the cheapest ride into the city (the cheapest option was a tuktuk – this was different). However, the local tuktuk guys grabbed me and gave me a cheaper rate…just barely. Originally, he quoted $9 so I politely declined and said that Grab was cheaper. He said how much, so I told him 22,000 riel. He’s like okay $5 (which is even cheaper that the rield). I told him I had no USD (they give you change back in riel – similar to Mexico things). He then said, okay…20,000 – hey even better than the $5 he quoted me.

While riding through Phnom Penh to the airport, it felt familiar yet different. It was actually pretty nice. Cambodia is quite beautiful…even the city parts. We passed by a lot of beautiful temples in the city and even the Royal Palace. I’m staying a bit away from the center of it all, but I’m okay with it. I wasn’t planning on doing much anyway.

I got to the hotel around 10/10:30am, but check-in wasn’t until 2:00pm. I asked if early check-in was possible; they said probably around 11:30am. That would work. So, I just killed time in the lobby until I could go up to my room. Turned on the aircon, unpacked and then promptly took a nap. It was a fantastic nap.

The first day, I was trying to decide if I should be social or not…being social won out because this girl needed food as well. So, I decided to check out the CS Meet-Up at Foo Foo Canteen. Hey, bonus points, an ambassador was hosting it as well. It was cool; I tried the local beer, and I met some pretty cool people.

Day 2, other than some work, I had no plans and didn’t feel like doing much. After working in the morning, I literally watched movies/TV and napped. It was amazing. It was amazing til I got bored around 1:30pm and decided to see if there was anyone around who would maybe want to hang out…otherwise, I’d probably just continue, which was also okay.

Me and Kim convinced each other to both come out and we had a fantastic day. We saw some sights. Went to the famous Wat Phnom. We drove past some statues. I had a fruit shake aka durian shake. Saw wild monkey on the power lines (IN THE CITY). Walked through the night market. Had some green curry noodles (these are her absolute favorite – she had been there the day before). And then, we walked down the walking street before I had to go back and teach. After teaching, we went to Bassac Street – this is where people go to hang out for the night (tons of bars and such). Oh, I also tried steamed palm cake filled with coconut creme.

At Bassac Street, we got some street side baby snails (they’re really small and in season) and then ordered fried chicken tendon and fried sesame beef and beer at the bar. A friend of hers showed up and joined us for a beer. Afterwards, we explored the street a bit more before calling it a night and heading home around midnight. Overall, a great second day.

Day 3 was the day I was going to play tourist. I had a quick lesson in the morning, but after that the bus was picking me up. The thing to check out here is definitely the Tuol Sleng Dentention Center (S21) and the Chong Ek Killing Field. A very terrible thing happened here during the Khmer Rouge regime and these two places tell the stories of the atrocities that took place during that time. It was a somber experience.

Afterwards, I definitely needed a nap before going out to explore. Enter new CS friend, Christin(e). She’s from New York…cool! She had just arrived that morning (and it was her birthday as well). We grabbed some food and then explored the walking street. It was even more lively than the previous night, or at least, it felt that way.

I made it home in time to teach and then showered and went to bed “early”. Really, I got in bed early, but I did get some good sleep because no lessons in the morning.