So now that i know what to eat let's have a look on where to go, I got some few recommandations from friends and I read a lots of blog article, so before departure here is my plan, I will update the post with what i have done during my travel.
DAY 1 Arriving in Phnom Penh
MY PLAN :
WHERE TO SLEEP :
Hostel : Mad Monkey Hostel Phnom Penh, #26 Street 302, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Why : because it's close to everything
WHAT TO VISIT IN PHNOM PENH
Phnom Penh is a window into Cambodian history.
For the first afternoon i am thinking of walking around the hostel to discover a bit by foot of the capital.
- Independence Monument (is the setting for parades and celebrations),
- Through the Wat Botum Park
- Then up to the Royal Palace (serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia)
- And maybe do the National Museum (houses the world’s largest collection of Khmer art)
- Come back via Wat Langka ask when are the meditating session (Info : it's only 600 meter from the hotel it's a colorful Buddhist temple, offering free one-hour Vipassana meditation sessions at 6pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and on Sunday morning at 8am. Warning: if you’ve never done it before, an hour will seem like an eternity, so it’s acceptable to just do 20 or 30 minutes).
- Then I can rest and go for a drink at BKK1district and check out the Jet's.
WHAT I REALLY DO :
Actually I am quite happy on how my first day went, after publishing on facebook that I would arrive in Phnom Penh, 2 of my friends that I met in India the last year moved here 7 months ago and give me sone useful tips before I arrived.
TIPS : The first tips are for the Tuk Tuk, In PP there is an app called PassApp that allows you to order a Tuk Tuk and pay by the meter (awesome to save some few dollars and escape the negotiation with the drivers). The second tips were about the price to pay for the airport to the city, the hostel recommended 9 dollars, my friends said I can negotiate at 5 dollars. And here we go 30 minutes drive from the airport to my hostel at 5 dollars. The first step of the day: Sindy won.
I arrived at the hostel Mad Monkey Hostel Phnom Penh around 2 pm and check in in the room next to the bar on the roof top. Mad Monkey has 2 places in PP that are 1 minutes walk from each other. The first side has the pool and a dorm of 12 and the second one have the rest of the dorms (maybe more than 20) with the bar upstair. I think if sleeping in required the rooms next to the pool are better.
TIPS : Book the 12 dorms.
After check in and making some videos around the hotel that look really cool full of artist painting, I prepared my bag and started to walk in the city.
As planned, first stop was in the independence monument which is the center of a huge round about. It took me then maybe 10 minutes to cross the road to go on the other side in the park where i could see the Statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk.
After that I walked to the Royal Palace it was already 4 pm but could not enter in because I. was not cover enough they sell you pants and shirt for 3$ and the entry is 10.25 $. I decided to turn around and continue my journey to the Old Market. On the way I have been stopped by maybe 200 TukTuk drivers "Rickshaw Madam ?". I stop some time at the Wat Ounalom and talk to the owner of Lyon Bar next to the Old market, he lived 20 years in Paris and offered me a cafe.
Time to get to the Old Market. I remember liking so much the Old Market in new Delhi I was hoping the same experience and here we go it's a proper maze full of people and clothes, shoes everywhere. I made a full tour looking around appreciating the life in the Market, children running around, women making their nails and having some massage time. I was so impressed by the way just sitting on the dirty floor the nails therapists succeeded to make some impressive and beautiful art on the Cambodian women hands. Continuing walking around I sit on the corner of a shop and look around I love some much this mess and remind myself how cool is it to be here.
A little girl pass by and offered me her rice, the Gran Ma called here and little chat started, she is the owner of the beauty place I asked here how much is it for a face treatment. She said 2 $, 2 $ ??? I am definitely going for it. Here I am lying on the bench she put more than 10 creams on my face before having a white paper on my face. Just amazing ! And for 2 $.
Time to go back home, I walk along the Preah Sisowath Quay where the life of Cambodia is at sunset : monks pass in front of me, people are dancing, they also play football with a paper ball and a badminton ball they are so talented, there is also people using the free sport machine. So funny and nice to see the living center of the city. I smiled I get stop by 100 Tuk Tuk and continue my way, time to cross the road i nearly walk 1 km without being able to cross because of the traffic until a working woman stopped me and show me the way. I am so tired that was an intense day I offered 2 $ to a Tuk Tuk to bring me. home. Let's chill in the pool and get ready to meet my friends. Meeting point is at he Night Market in PP, I use PassApp to get my 1.41 $ Tuk Tuk. In the night market music is been played live on stage but not a lot of public is watching, clothes first and then food on the back. I order some Nems stick and Ravioli fried stick and also noddle fried with beef and sauce. My friends went to buy some Cambodian beers, we sit on the floor and start remind each other souvenir of India and where life took us after that. A guy told me the Ankor beer is better and come back to the shop with one for me : how cute. It's just so cool to eat bare foot on the floor for 2 $ and a 0.5 ct beer. After the market, they insisted to show me the "Woman Bar" owned by a french Corse guy who challenged me at kicker, hopefully my 3 months training in Germany helped me not to be ridiculous, I still lost but only 7/10. I am proud of myself let's go home but not by Tuk Tuk, the Indian way : 3 on a motorbike imported from Vietnam, no respect of the traffic light and no helmet.
Arriving at the hostel, the "bar" next to my room is actually super active ... and noisy impossible to sleep I get some beers. It midnight, let's go to bed... Oh no the day is not over, people are so loud and using their phone all night and it's cold I did not sleep I am getting ready for the experience at the killing field.
DAY 2 Immersion in the Khmer rouge history
MY PLAN :
- Hiring a tuk-tuk and go to the Killing field (Choeung Ek)
- And go to Tuol Sleng, a former school turned prison and torture centre
- Then I can drive around the city to relax a bit after the horrifying experience of the killing field. - Later go to the Central Market (Psah Thom Thmey)
- Not far there is the Wat Phnom (This hilltop temple in the city, it's also a great place to ask for our dreams)
- Come back to the hotel via Sisowath Quay
- Go for the meditation at Wat Langka.
WHAT DID I DO :
I woke up quite early because the people in my dorm where quite noise, they light at 8 and start talking around like nobody is in the room. So I have to. say that I am a bit frustrated about the experience in the dorm. Last night I woke up at 3h30 from Bali to join PP and I did not sleep during the afternoon. I am super tired, anyway. I decided to take my computer and go to the restaurant in order to write a bit about my first day. During the breakfast, an Irish guy ask me if I was a journalist ... haha what I replied, not really. I am actually writing down my travels because one day I would love to read it again and remember the details, the felling. One conversation done, we finally decided to go together to S 21 and the killing field, we need 4 people to hire the tuk tuk, I shoot "who wants to go to the killing field" (not the best invitation ever but...) and op and other girl decided to join.
We hire a Tuk Tuk for 5 $ each and we drove first to S21, my friends recommended it to me that way , it seems that it's better to understand the story. We pay the entry US$5 and we got each an audio guide. The first impression when you enter is not that bad, the school is full of trees but then the first thing you notice it is people, really close faced and not looking at each other. Ok let's click number 1 to start the visit, the audio guide explain that we are not obliged to enter in the room or listen to all of the comment we can stay outside if we feel like it or just skip a sequence... that announce the dark comment and explaination coming. At number 2, I take a sit and start listening to the rules of this place, what was a school full of laugh of children has been transformed by the Khmer in a prison of torture. The village people used to name this place "where people enter but never get out". In fact only 12 people survived this place out of more than 300 000 that have been killed her. On this story and what I understand of it even if I am not the best to give details, the Khmer when the American soldier left, the Khmer wanted to make Cambodia an auto sufficient country and decided that all kind of education was a bad thing for making this happen. All teachers, artist, people speaking foreign languages needed to be killed. Only village people needed to be keep in order to serve the country and produce the most. During this visit they focus a lot on the prisoner camp where prisoners, women, men, children where caged, tied together, tortured until they give the officer something (real or wrong) that show that they are against the government. When the words where put on paper, they were send to the killing field and killed.
All the story above is what i understood from my listening, they are my words and I can't certified 100% that I understand all. I am sorry for it but i wanted to write about it in a memory of those people killed during the Khmer.
After the S21, we been to the killing field to see the place where million of people where executed, you can still see the clothes, the bones on the floor and some holes around mark the tombs.
This day was really intense, i just calculated that at the time that this happened my grand mother where 40 years old, my mum where 11 years old. It was not a long time ago. I am really sorry for what happened to them and will keep the memory alive in order to this never happen again.
Back at the hotel, I heard about the book "first they killed my father" that Angelina Jolie adapt as a movie, i came back to my room and watch it to complete the immersion day in the Khmer Rouge regime. This book/film is written by a girl who survived the Khmer Regime with his brother ans sister, a really strong women who bring us through the farm in Cambodia, the children army.
DAY 3 Relaxing at the pool
The plan was normally to go to Sihanoukville but i was a bit shocked an tired from the days before so I relax the full day at the pool, eating some local food, playing volley and organising the rest of my trip.
At night, I check out from the hotel because I was intivied at Constance and Vaibhav place :), vegan burger night with Kamra Man and indian movie that was illaruis. I can't belived I never watch one of them during my stay in india.
DAY 4 Worship your clothes
The real reason why I stayed longer in PP is because I wanted to be part of this project.
We spend the all day helping Laura and Ben on building the structure and participating to the photoshoot. I will publish the photo as soon as they will be out.
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