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It seems like a norm when people are on planes they likes to take pictures of clouds/sky and I’ve no idea why. Pic taken by Xiao Fang.

Phnom Penh looked dirty and dusty even before we landed

Reached Phnom Penh Airport, picked up by the hotel’s van.

Along the way from airport to hotel, citizen all are on motorbikes. We were (or I was) terrified of the dusty surroundings.

Shophouses
Most of the buildings are similar to this

Checking in the hotel, the “lobby”
I guess you wouldn’t call this a lobby but this is consider GOOD in Cambodia.
We think that it was run by Cambodian Chinese.

Chilling out at the 2nd level, times seem to go back to the 60’s.
Then out we went after tossing our belongings in hotel rooms.

Vendors preparing baguette
I read that French baguette like these were fairly popular there, might be the aftermath of French colonialism.

Locals squatting to have their meals beside the streets

Tuk-tuk lined up

Fei po.. heehee ^^

Road side vendors carrying pole, one of which is a charwood stove to cook the duck egg.

Small hill-top Cambodian temple of Wat Phnom
Admission are free - except for foreigner where USD1 is charged.

There were families hanging around, dirty naked kids wandering barefooted, big ass monkeys sitting on the grass.. =.=
It wasn’t really a good sight for me.

Yeay Penh/Mdm Penh, the creator of this landmark and a legendary figure where locals worship her as symbol figure for wealth, prosperity and protection. I noticed that only females worshipers are praying to this shrine.

Woman worshiping their believes

fei po again ^^

The stairway leads to Wat Phnom on top of the hill is flanked by 5 pairs of Naga (snake/dragon) and Chinthe (Singa or lion) - a popular image form often used on balustrades of temple causeways and platforms.

Phnom Penh being the city of Cambodia, is way backwards than our country about, I don’t know, 30-40 years?

After that we wandered around looking for food, saw a spot with scattered stalls selling food.
I was already aware the hygienic condition in this country therefore we were not (yet) fussy about food. This stall is selling cockles, charcoal roasted dry squid, beef, duck egg with embryo…
Well, all the stalls there are selling the same dishes, and it is so dark that we couldn’t really figure out what are we having.

Me and Fook Sing were the only ones who ate these. He loves shellfish just like me! The idea of eating shellfish nauseates the others, but the best is yet to come.

Charcoal grilled Squid and stingray

?think the reddish long one is finless eel

Half cooked beef.. grilled on charcoal.. harder than our teeth can handle.
Not aware of the local servings, we ended up in 3 plates of the beef, and we finish none.

This sauce here really smells bad and taste bad as well.
I’m not sure whether is this tuk trey (fish sauce) or prahok (a fermented fish paste with a pungent aroma)??
At first place I thought this was a type of soup so I pointed at 1 and signaled the hawker where we were sitting, and then he brought the beef and the sauce (supposingly soup) and the salad.
Little did I know, and I went to another stall and point at another basket of salad.. there he brought beef to us again.. x__x

Every order of the dish is accompanied by vegetables spread on ice.. I suppose this is their “salad”?

Yiks, I think this is a green tomato, and it was bitter.

We like to think that this is shredded lotus flower.

There wasn’t any street light around, even there were, it is not helping.
I’m using my cell’s flashlight as torch to make sure we KNOW what we are putting in our mouth.
I’m constantly looking for edible insects, you know. I read it from websites that in Cambodia they eat spider, crickets, worms etc. But the stalls weren’t sell any of these.

But! A girl came by with a big saucer, all filled with these! Although she can hardly speak English..

I wondered what kinda insect is on the top left corner, but it has a sweet crunchy taste.

These ants are sweet and goes well with lime.

Shrimps

Mini Crabby

Some of our friends doesn’t feel comfortable in eating those crappy stuffs therefore we went to a fine French dining instead.

Nicely lit corridor, we were in heaven!

This is heaven! Can you spot where we are sitting? The biggest table with the most people.

This pizza is a good one, it’s been long since I had a GOOD pizza after Italy.
It looks like a naan but it is a pizza.

Ahh.. now you are happy! A bunch of satisfied metropolitans.

Outside the restaurant, the happy and fulfilled people halt a tuk tuk driver to send them back.

Good food makes people happy

Later, we kicked the driver aside to take over his vehicle for photo sessions. Bro~oooommmMM~!!

After that we went massage session at the parlor at the ground floor of our hotel.

Only USD6 for 1 hour, USD8 for 2! Freaking cheap!
But.. I’m doubtful of their skills because I think they are touching/pinching instead of massaging me.

The first day in Cambodia had us imagine how would we spend the rest of our holidays, eating insects again?! Luckily we met someone.. stay tune for part 2!