In Phnom Penh, we are staying in a guest house on Boeng Kak Lake. A seriously polluted body of water (note, its perhaps appropriate middle name!), surrounded by houses, and some guesthouses with restaurants on stilts above the water. Some of them are relaxing chill-out places, but just try not to look over the edge! Lazy Fish was our first guesthouse, but we had to move rooms as we heard a rat chomping away at our wall ready to come in to check out our stuff! Charming! Inspite of this, the area has a great feel to it as it still retains its 'local' atmosphere, and at night all the locals come out and play games in the main street - (which is more of an alleyway) - together.
Joy and Earl are following our route at a day or two behind us, and after the visits to the gruesome sights of Khmer Rouge torture and murder, we decided to at least explore a little more of the positive side of Phnom Penh. The Palace and the Silver Pagoda were very nice, though not as impressive as Bangkok's Palace, but still very beautiful. Toured the 'Russian' Market where you can buy any type of motorcycle part you need it seems, or any type of food, or just plain old tourist souvenir junk. We've been to the impressive Central Market, but I like it for the building itself : a dome stands in the centre with 4 huge art deco arms radiating outwards full of stuff! Wat Phnom - temple on a hill... but apparently we were supposed to buy a ticket - who knew? A massive new US Embassy being built in the only place in town overlooked by a hill (how did the security conscious US figure on that area?) - it is a huge eyesore! We passed by an area of restaurants that only had hammocks inside - 4 hammocks around each of the low tables - looked pretty comfy! And relaxed at happy hour at the Foreign Correspondents Club (The 'F'), with drinks on the 3rd floor patio overlooking the Mekong River! Also managed fit in a couple of sunsets at the lakeside stilt restaurants. All in all a very pleasant time. * Mush and Stub
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