Tuesday 18th October 2022
We had a bit of a slow start to the day, due to not getting to bed until close to 2am last night. I was excited that the Eco House Boutique (the hotel we’re staying at) actually has a proper full bathroom – with a separate enclosed shower cubicle! That excitement however was short lived, when I realised the drainage was rubbish, the cubicle isn’t watertight, and the whole bathroom still gets flooded! I guess it saves on washing the floor….
We didn’t have a specific plan for the day, so went out exploring and in search of lunch. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the Royal Palace as it’s temporarily closed at the moment, so instead we walked past the Independence Monument, and the neighbouring Statue of Sihanouk Norodom, and continued through the park.
We ate at Sophath, a restaurant that seems to pretty much do Nom Banh Chok Samlor Khmer, a traditional Cambodian noodle dish. I wasn’t a huge fan of all the greenery that came with it, but did enjoy the noodles (tasted like a creamy, cocunutty curry), although Pete wasn’t convinced.
We continued our walk to the riverside, where we came across a cute little flower market.
It was very pleasant walking along the river, and we carried on to La Croisette Phnom Penh which had an impressive array of ice cream flavours – including the elusive banana (which Pete had with a bright purple dragonfruit flavour, whereas I opted for pistachio and vanilla brownie). It was very good ice cream, if a little pricey, but they had a lovely upstairs seating area overlooking the river.
After relaxing with our ice creams, our next destination was the SOSORO – Preah Srey ICANAVRMAN Museum. The name doesn’t tell you much, but it’s basically a museum of Cambodian history told through it’s money. It was utterly fascinating – I had no idea that the ancient Angkor civilisation (responsible for the famous temples) didn’t have any form of money, which is thought to be a reason for its eventual downfall. Nor did I realise that the Khmer Rouge abolished all forms of money – which again (amongst other things) didn’t help their economic viability.
We next had a wander through the night market. They had mats laid out, where people would sit to eat the food they just bought at the stalls, which was kinda cool.
It was still a bit early to eat, so we continued to a pub on the riverside for a few beers. We had dinner at David’s Restaurant Homemade Noodles. All their noodles are homemade, and a guy at the front of the restaurant hand stretches them – which involves quite a lot of throwing them around!
Needless to say, they were awesome noodles. As were the shrimp dumplings which we also shared.
After dinner, we returned to the hotel and had a cocktail by the pool before heading up to bed.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 