A Tale of Two Cities: Part III

Wednesday, April 7

Is This Your First Time in Phnom Penh?

After a hearty breakfast at Golden Temple we got on our 5-hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. This was completely uneventful except for how hot and uncomfortable the ride was.  Being squished into seats made for a country where the average height is more than a foot shorter than me is never a pleasant experience.

As seems to always be the case, as soon as we got off the bus there were ten tuk-tuks, moorbikes, shake stands, and children peddling their stuff. Add to this, 6 hours on a bus and 100+ degree weather and we wanted none of it. After some hassle trying to explain to a driver the name and address of our hostel we got in and were on our way, only to arrive and find out that for some reason or another, we had reserved a non-A/C room for like $25 US per night - simply way too expensive.

Thanks to our handy Lonely Planet guide, and another dollar for our tuk-tuk, we made our way to the Lakeside, basically a pit of Phnom Penh where the backpackers of the world find refuge with cheap hostels, restaurants and bars.

After playing two of the guesthouses against each other (I think only because it is the low season for travelers here) we got an aircon triple room down to $10 per night, along with free internet - we were all satisfied.

By 4:30, after a late lunch at our hostel, we made our way down to the riverfront. Phnom Penh lies on the Tonle Sap river flowing down to the Mekong Delta (Vietnam), which flows down during the dry season (it changes flow during the wet season) from the Tonle Sap lake near Siem Reap, one of the biggest lakes in Asia.

(Restaurant/chill spot at our hostel)

(Down our street)

(First place I saw using helmets, kudos!)

(Grand boulevards reveal their French roots)

(Zipping by the US Embassy)

(Typical street in PP)

(Riverfront property)

(It was startlingly nice around here)

(Relaxing in the long afternoon)

(Lines up like taxis)

Since all the museums were going to close for the day we decided to go with the recommendations and take a river cruise for the afternoon. For $12 the three of were able to rent (one of these ^) bots to take us up and down the river for a couple of hours and watch the sunset on the city.

(Welcome to the Land of Angkor)

(Almost looks like it's sinking!)

(Just a relaxing afternoon fish. The shirt off and the shirt pulled halfway up the body looks were popular)

(This was pretty ironic...)

(Sun setting on Phnom Penh)

(Even on the filthy-looking Tonle Sap, the water still looks stunning)

(Almost there...)

(Starting to be taken away by the clouds)

(Looks like the sky is on fire!)

(Weird how much brighter it was for a bit after the sun went down)

**For the record, assume any price here, aside from food, was less than 50% of what was offered at first. This is not because we are stingy, although there is some watchfulness; it is mostly because they hike up the prices big time when they see white faces.** 

After the boat ride we walked along the river up to see the National Independence Monument at Wat Thom, a temple at the high point of the city where it was originally founded. The name translates to “Phnom’s Hill” and the story behind it is pretty interesting.

(Wat Phnom)

(Inside the temple)

(Right next to the temple is the National Independence Monument)

(Along the outside of the temple)

(From atop Wat Phnom you got a great view of the city)

(The stars were out tonight)

On our walk back to the Lakeside, we passed by the American Embassy. On our way into town earlier that day we had seen it, in all its monstrosity, and noted that we should go back to see it. To put things in perspective, this compound is probably a full square block or more, and looks just like you might expect America to present itself abroad, like an impenetrable fortress. As soon as I saw it looking like that, I remembered a short bit from Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat and Crowded about how even our embassies across the Middle East and developing world give off bad vibes to the people living there. The inaccessibility of the embassy, and thus contact with American officials does not bode well for “winning the hearts and minds” of the people. This had never been made so clear to me as it was about to be.

As we walked up to the 20-foot iron fence surrounding the embassy we began talking about this subject and took a couple pictures.  Nothing harmless, just the flag, the embassy logo – nothing you might consider threatening American national security.  At least…that’s what I had thought.  After we moved on down the street, we were stopped at the main entrance by the guards. Both Cambodian, which I found intriguing, they were carrying large (but old-looking) automatic rifles and sidearms. They nicely asked if I was taking pictures of the Embassy. Trying to keep at least some of them, Niclas told them that only my camera was used, because his didn’t get good shots at night. I said yes I had taken pictures, but of nothing harmful – and showed him the pictures.  He said we should wait for his supervisor to come out who wanted to speak with us.  I couldn’t help but laugh.

The supervisor, also Cambodian – where are all the US Foreign Service men and women?! – asked to see my passport. Since we had only been there since the afternoon, I had not put all my stuff down in the hostel and I had mine on me. Skeptically, he looked at my passport, which I told him was a US Passport, and then eyed me, my picture, me again and then held onto it for a second. He asked to Niclas’ camera and told him to delete all the pictures. He sternly told us that it was prohibited to take pictures of the US Embassy. While we were all a bit confused at this, especially since there was no signage to that effect, Niclas dutifully deleted all the images. Then he moved onto my camera. I told him I was American, and that it didn’t make sense that I couldn’t photograph my own Embassy. He made me delete all but one of the pictures, which was just of the glorious red white and blue, and gave me back my passport and told us to move along.

(The one surviving image - had it saved directly to the camera's internal memory)

Immediately after, ensued an hour-long conversation about property rights, the universality of the law, and a lot of what-if scenarios. I had forgotten that the two people I was with are both studying international law. Woops! We wondered what right they had to detain our property, even on Cambodian soil? So, maybe the sidewalk was US sovereign territory, but what if we were across the street? Could they have detained us then? How can they have the power to force us to delete these harmless pictures, after seeing them nonetheless, or is it that sort of coercion by intimidation and not backed up by actual law? Either way, we decided, we had no real choice and did all that we could have without risking our trip and our livelihood. Maybe I’ll write a letter to the Embassy when I return expressing my discontent!

Back at the Grand View guesthouse, we enjoyed a prolonged dinner sitting in the main room just drinking bottle after bottle of ice-cold water and talking with some of the better English-speaking staff about marijuana laws (they have many dishes where marijuana is used to cook with), schools and the tourism business here.

Upon their recommendation I went for the special beef pizza, and an hour later I was very happy indeed when it came fresh out of the oven and into my stomach. Afterwards, we explored the interwebs for a while and then hit the sack.

(Sooooo good!)

(Best. triple. ever.)

(Those two pics show literally the whole room)

Of course, we wouldn't be in Phnom Penh if all the electricity in the Lakeside didn't go off during the middle of the night. This turned a once-lovely and cool room with no windows into a scorching sauna that felt like a death trap. I apologize for the constant imagery, but I have never woken up in such an incredibly uncomfortable sweaty mess. Things were made worse by the fact that the shower was also broken - so my plan to have a cold morning shower was nixed. But, I suppose this is how you are supposed to feel going to see the killing fields at Cheung Ek.

This one is a little shorter because the next one is full of more pictures, but also some heavy stuff that I wanted to write my thoughts down about. Thanks for reading as always!