Tuesday 28 February 2012

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 23 Feb 2012 to 26 Feb 2012

Day 1 - 23 Feb 2012

We took Jetstar from Singapore to Phnom Penh.
Please change USD to Cambodia.
It is easy as their local currency's numbers are rather big.
Many zeros !!!  Too confusing for me.

We need to transit to Siem Reap before reaching the final destination.
During the transit, you are required to collect the declaration form from a counter.


















After another 1 hours, we arrived, we arrived at Phnom Penh airport.
We did not proceed to take the declaration form during our transit.
We were stuck at the airport.  We had some custom problem.
During our desperate state, we called our Cambodia colleagues, Sophia for help.
They arrive at the airport and communicated in their local language with the custom.
We were allowed to leave the airport.

PS : Please be reminded to take the declaration form during your transit.

Once we left the airport, our Sophia drove us to their office.
The traffic is very bad and it took us almost an hour to arrive at the office.
After the visit to our office, we proceed to our hotel.

Our Cambodia friend, Mary has booked a 5 star hotel for us.
Name of Hotel : Naga World
Website : http://www.nagaworld.com/
Cost : SGD 83 per night

This hotel is beautiful.  It has a casino in the hotel too.
Highly recommended !!!



That's the casino.  You will see a lot of Thai & Vietnamese people.
This is because Cambodia is very near to Thailand and Vietnam.



After settling down in our hotel, we proceed for dinner.
Our friends brought us to this restaurant.

Name : NGON Restaurant
Website : http://www.ngonpnh.com/



The menu have Vietnamese food and Cambodian food.
Here are the items that Mary ordered for us.









After dinner, we proceed back to our hotel to rest for the day.
While driving back to our hotel, I found out that there is a fun fair new to our hotel.

Day 2 - 24 Feb 2012

Good morning Phnom Penh !
This is the view from our hotel.
You can see the sea... It's sea view.



Royal Palace
Mary brought us to the Royal Palace.



More details:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cambodia/phnom-penh/sights/castles-palaces-mansions/royal-palace

There is a rule in Cambodia.  Every attractions you go, they have local price and tourist price.
Tourist price is usually 2 to 3 times more expensive that local price.  Haha...  They will know whether you are local or tourist.  We are unable to fool them.

Here are some pictures of the Royal Palace.
It's very beautiful.  This is a MUST visit place when you are in Cambodia.





These are some of the traditional costumes for Cambodians.



There is a Sliver Pagoda


Right outside the palace, you will see many pigeons.
We were curious.  Why is there pigeons outside, so we went to find out.



Suddenly there was a little boy coming to ask us talking in their local language.
We ask Mary to translate to us.

The little boy was saying:-

Little boy : Do you want to buy some corns to feed the bird?
                   Local price USD 2, Tourist price USD 6.

We : Wow, why is there such a big different in the price?

In the end, the little boy agree to sell it to Mary at USD 2

Do you know where the pigeons stay?  Surprisingly, they stay in the palace.

The king has built an area behind the palace for the pigeons.

Life is soooo good for them... Better than me !

This seems to be the pigeon's house.



After the palace, it's time to shop.

The Russian Market





More details:-
https://getsetandgo.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/top-5-must-visit-shopping-places-in-phnom-penh/

After shopping, we were hungry.  We just took a quick bite from a nearby stall.



While walking, we passed by a nail shop and it's manicure and pedicure is sooooo cheap.
SGD 5 and you get this within 30 mins !



After a tired day, we proceed for a massage.
I did only a leg massage...

After massage, we get to eat this.  Yummy !!!



Phnom Penh's Night Market

After massage, we proceed to Phnom Penh's Night Market

Website : http://phnompenhshopping.com/phnompenh-markets/night-market-phnom-penh/

Our Dinner



The Weekend Market



We paid USD 5 to have our faces drawn...



I bought many clothes, shoes etc.  It is cheaper than Singapore :)

Day 3 - 25 Feb 2012

Our friends decided to bring us to the beach so we took a drive to our destination.
The journey is really far from the city.  It is about 5 hours drive.

Sihanoukville Beach

This is what I took along the way...



Suddenly, our car stopped.  Our friends got down from the car to pray.
It is to pray for our safety.  The beach is over a mountain and the road is very narrow.
To go and come back safety, we were are to pray too.  We followed their culture and pray too,
As per my friends, in the past, there was a couple who refuse to pray.
As a result, they died in an accident along the mountain.  So scary !!!



After praying, we continued and reach a market.
It is very different from Singapore.
It's like a warehouse.



You can see live fishes and seafood





The market has local food as well.





Our friend bought some seafood.  We were confused.  Like in a beach? how to cook?

We continue our journey to the beach.  Our friends handed all the seafood to a guy.
This eating place will cook for their guests.



There are people selling BBQ squid so our friends bought a few.
There are a lot of flies in Cambodia.
The squid has a lot of flies on them, you will be brush them away.
I just don't bother and eat it.



Our seafood is ready.



As for the prawns, they boil the prawns.
Once it is cooked, they placed it back to the plastic bag that is use for the raw prawns.
Haha... I don't bother and eat them too.  You need to have a iron stomach !!!

That's our dinner !





After eating, we had fun at the beach.
By the way, the beach is divided into local and tourist.



After having fun at the beach, it took us almost 5 hours to get back to the city.
We had lunch at the Asian House.




Day 4 - 26 Feb 2012

We checked out at 12pm.  Our friend, Chow bought us for lunch and he brought us to a Singaporean place where they sell chicken rice.  It feels good to see your own nationality people overseas.  You feel comfortable.  We had chicken rice and proceed to the airport.

After 2 hours flight, we arrive back.

Home Sweet Home !!!!

Another trip to make memories !!!



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