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Here kitty kitty, now piss off!
We arrived into Phnom Penh early this afternoon. The city is extremely busy with vehicles driving in every direction, sometimes driving down the wrong side towards us! We crossed a couple of bridges and could see small communities living poorly along the banks of the river. Right behind them were large office buildings and luxury hotels. The streets were packed with food stalls selling anything from fruit to whole cooked pigs and chickens. We didn't stay in the city for very long, as soon as the bus dropped us at the station we were bombarded with about ten tuk tuk drivers all desperate to get us into their vehicle. We showed one driver the name and address of the hotel I booked last night, the L' Imprevu. The driver smiled and said he knew where it was and would charge us just $3 so we walked with him. As soon as he got us away from the crowd it was obvious he wasn't sure where he was going. He asked someone and we had to explain that it was just outside the city, then he realised how far it was and wanted to charge us $10! I had already read a couple of reviews last night saying it was only $6 so we bartered with him until he agreed.
As we drove out of the city we realised it was quite far, the hotel was on a main road with not much around, just a few small shops and restaurants. It was a lot quieter which was what we wanted.
As we walked into the grounds we instantly knew we had made a great choice by booking online. The gardens are nicely kept and full of palm trees and flowers. The only thing reminding us that we were on a road was the sound of a truck passing by now and then. The pool is big and looked so inviting, we couldn't wait to throw our bags off and jump straight in. We were quickly greeted by one of the staff who already knew who we were. She gave us our key and walked us to our cosy little bungalow opposite the pool. We threw our bags down and decided to grab some lunch first and book tomorrows tour.
The food in the hotel is a bit expensive so we just had a pot of tea then walked outside to find a restaurant. We walked into one and the staff looked amazed to see us there like they hadn't seen a tourist before! It was just as expensive in the restaurants so we ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, chicken noodles for Chris and pork noodles for me.
We played with a little kitten while we waited for our food. She was so noisy and loved being fussed. It was so sweet how she just stared into your eyes and reached up like all she wanted to do was cuddle. She eventually fell asleep on my lap, she was too cute to move when the food came but she woke up as soon as she smelled it on the table. Then the cute kitty turned into the annoying kitty! She wouldn't stop meowing, it was like her voice was set on repeat, like a little child pleading to their mum for sweets! We gave in a few times and fed her some meat. The food was crap anyway so she was probably used to being fed by customers. My pork was literally all bones, it was as if they had thrown a whole pig into a grinder before serving it on my plate. Chris's chicken didn't have any bones so he enjoyed his then attempted to eat mine. It was funny watching him take the first big mouthful and spitting almost all of it out because it was mainly bones. We wouldn't be eating there again.
When we got back into the hotel we arranged for a tuk tuk driver over the phone to take us to the Genocide Museum and Killing fields for tomorrow. It only cost us $25 to hire him for the whole day. We think its a good deal and to be honest we had no other choice because there are no other options around the hotel.
With tomorrow sorted we finally jumped into the pool. It was a bit awkward for me because the girls don't show off their stomach and I was in a bikini. There was a young group of Cambodian guests eating by the pool right by our sun beds, I had to ask Chris to get my sarong before I walked out.
As the sun went down it remained hot, so after eating dinner I jumped back into the pool for a night swim. Partly because it was hot but mainly because I wanted to escape the mosquitos which were now feasting on my legs. Chris was busy on the iPad and was mad not to have joined me. It was lovely, refreshing and safe. I asked him to get in and warned him to put mosquito repellent on but he wouldn't listen. I floated around staring up at the moon and stars thinking how relaxing it was. I swam over to the edge of the pool to try to convince Chris to get in again, then smack! Something hit me right in the neck! At first I thought Chris threw a rock at me then I looked around and saw a huge green grass hopper drowning next to me! I quickly held it out of the water and in a flash it disappeared again.
Chris decided we should have a lay in tomorrow morning after so many early starts so our tuk tuk driver is picking us up at 8am (I think that's still early). We expect the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields will be quite disturbing tomorrow but we feel it's something we can't miss. Chris already knows a little bit about the genocide that took place but I don't know anything about it so it will be a learning experience for both of us.
Charlotte & Chris
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