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Today we woke early and headed for breakfast... We then packed up our stuff before gleefully checking out and walking to our new hotel. It was double the price at twenty dollars but well worth it... It was on the third floor with a huge swing round balcony which gives immense views of the palace and streets below, it had air con, clean sheets, hot water and a fridge... Was luxury.
We checked in and they allowed us to go straight to our room despite the fact it was too early to check in so off we went. Steven wanted to sort hotels so sat in his nice air con room and searched while I sat in the balcony enjoying the view and taking photos. It was so cool being up high and observing the craziness from above and the cool breeze was very inviting.
After a while we decided to venture out and explore the city a little more given it was our last day here. We walked down by the palace and up through the big central square where the victory memorial is and such before heading towards the central market. Central market is a huge dome building with four outstretched arms that houses thousands of stalls and shops selling everything you could think of. It was built in 1937 on the site of an old lake that used to collect the overspill from the monsoons. The lake was drained and the huge Art Deco style building was built in its place, at the time it opened it was the largest market in Asia and although now doesn't hold that title remains a must see place. During the rainy season it is often flooded which I suppose shows why the lake was in that area but the market remains busy and bustling with both locals and tourists all year round.
We wandered around for a while before heading out into the midday sun. We passed many colonial buildings as we headed west towards Beoung Kak lake which we had heard was a wonderful lake surrounded by guesthouses, pubs and eateries. We headed in the direction and got a little concerned when no one had heard of it... We had seen photos of this huge lake and it looked glorious, a true backpackers Mecca. We eventually popped into a shop as we were sure we should have seen it by now when the guy kindly showed us on the map that it was just down the street. See the map showed it... A huge blue lake! We said our grateful thanks and headed away.
Just after the big Phnom Penh hotel we cut down a side street and came to a dirty and dusty street full of boarded buildings and tuk tuk drivers... Still couldn't see the lake. We persevered and after wandering for a good twenty mins or so we saw nothing so gave up. It was dry season so maybe its dried up.... We found ourselves on a quaint little street that had numerous colourful cafes and restaurants nestled between people's homes and various laundries. We saw one that looked particularly inviting and headed in. We ordered a double vodka and a red bull for 75 cents then a few beers. The place was nice and the young boy serving was very friendly, we chilled here looking at hotels and generally hanging out before Stevens stomach started growling.
He took a look at the menu and to his pleasant surprise they had a Khmer curry with rice for just under two dollars... And when it arrived it was a bargain, beautiful tasting and a huge portion... He munched it all down barely offering me a bite lol. By now time was getting on and we wanted to be back in town before it got dark so off we went. We wandered back in the direction of Wat Phnom and enjoyed the sun slowly head down behind the Wat which was really pretty before listening to some entertainment being out on (don't know why?). The Wat itself was beautiful and sits up on a twenty seven meter hill and kinda over looks the town lol.
After a good look around we headed back into town past the night market before having a cheeky beer in a restaurant on the river... It was lovely and peaceful as we watched the kids play football while relaxing. We then wandered back to our hotel booking a bus to Sihanoukville for tomorrow am. On route to the hotel we bought a bottle of wine as we had decided to make the most of our balcony and chill out on there... The wine was only about five dollars so a bargain anyway.
We got in and collected some wine glasses from the bar then headed up to our room where we dumped our stuff... Showered and took a pew on the balcony and cracked open the wine. We were planning on having a couple of glasses before hitting the town as it was our last night but instead we had an even better night. We face timed our families and had a good catch up before Lacey skyped us and we nattered for about two or three hours... She even got her self a glass of wine or two despite the fact it was only one pm haha. We had a good laugh... Then we had a good cry... Then we had even more laughs. We then realised we had finished two bottles of wine!
We let her go then me and Steven went for some dinner before curling up in bed and falling fast asleep. On researching afterwards it turned out there was a lot in controversy surrounding the lake as the developers went in and evicted most of the families before filling in the lake. Its no longer a beautiful haven in a crazy city but a dusty building site that looks like nothing will ever come of it.
Here's a fellow bloggers view on it as he saw it in its hey day before returning in 2012 to find nothing.... http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/the-tragic-death-of-phnom-penhs-lake-area/
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