Thursday 20th October 2022
Today we woke up to the sound of pouring rain, so spent the morning chilling by the pool in our hotel and planning the next stages of our travels (including buying a tuk tuk to traverse the length of Vietnam – sounded like quite a cool mode of transport, but disappointingly a quick google search revealed you don’t actually get motorised tuk tuks in Vietnam)
We took a tuk tuk to Sambok, a fancy restaurant where we had a leisurely lunch. The set menu had 2 options for each course, so we of course went for one of each and shared them between us.
The main courses were definitely the stand out components of the meal – with the red ant served, served with the duck, exceptional.
After lunch the rain had eased and it looked as though it’s stay dry for a few hours. So we decided to take a walk to Chroy Changva, just over the river, to see the Golden Temple and Mongkol Serei Kien Khleang Pagoda. After all, it’s a pretty picturesque walk along the river. Or at least the first bit is!
However, about half way along, they appear to be doing a load of building works right next the river, so it’s basically busy road one side and hoardings the other.
No matter, it’s not long until we cross the bridge over the river (which I later learn is the Cambodian-China friendship bridge)
At the other side is a lovely park with a big statue in the middle – at the centre of a busy roundabout!
I was expecting (or maybe hoping for) a nice leisurely walk across the island. But nope, another busy road with no pavement. It actually looked like they were building the pavement- lots of big diggers and piles of rubble at the side of the road.
We did however pass a pretty cool garden centre, with rooster shaped sculpted hedges and some fancy trees.
The Golden Temple itself was pretty impressive – perhaps, one of the most ostentatious, gaudy temples I’ve come across. As the name suggests, the outside is very, very gold, and inside are a load of gold Buddha statues with brightly coloured flashing lights. The light inside wasn’t brilliant for photography, so the pictures don’t do it justice!
The neighbouring Mongkol Serei Kien Khleang Pagoda was similar in style, but we didn’t go inside as there was a big group of chanting monks in the middle of prayer and we didn’t want to interrupt.
The rear of the Pagoda backed into the riverfront overlooking Silk Island, so we took a few minutes to admire the view.
We weren’t too far from the Mermaids Fountain Roundabout. It’s marked as an attraction on google maps, so though it must be worth a quick visit! The route from here was much nicer – a quiet little street, lined with local shops and stalls, so very pleasant to walk along.
Back to the main road, and we stopped for a beer at a cafe just before the roundabout (or rather a supermarket with a few chairs and tables)
Just across from the roundabout was a small park, with a slightly scary looking elephant statue.
I also captured a picture of what seems to be a quite common mode of transport round here – basically a big truck with a load of people standing in the back!
We caught a tuk tuk back into town and had a couple of beers by the riverside before going to Phnom Penh Kopitiam for dinner – pan fried noodles, steamed prawn dumplings, and a chicken dish to share. All very enjoyable.
The tuk tuk to our hotel went past the Independence Monument. We’ve been past it several times, but this time I got a photo of it looking nicely lit up in the dark.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 