Cambodia's Quaint Capital, Phnom Penh

We arrived in Cambodia on the 25th of April after traveling for 24 hours and crossing yet more time zones. Our first two and last two days in country were spent in the quaint capital city of Phnom Penh. It's a city with the feel of a town and a great place for walking and exploring the beautiful, magnificent architecture and our first glimpse of Asia.

Cambodians are known for their smiles and we definitely noticed the many smiling and friendly faces of the people around us. On our second sojourn through the city, we stayed at a guesthouse run by a Khmer family who was absolutely incredible and super helpful and welcoming. Our host even warned us of the scams and touts of Vietnam and wanted to be sure we were cautious. We loved our time in Cambodia and hope to return (there is an internship opportunity ginnie may consider for one summer of school that would get her back here and Ant is sure to come along!).

In Phnom Penh we toured several pagodas, visited the National Museum (which is reminiscent of the Egypt Museum, but much smaller, as it is filled with items from pre- and Angkorian sites), wandered through the markets, and ate quite well (we are loving the flavors and many different ways to cook noodles and rice). We were also introduced to DR Fish - the foot massage/pedicure that involves immersing one's feet into a large aquarium whose resident fish feast on the dead skin; no, we did not try, but we saw many who did. We even found a mall that is a five story bootleg palace, but considering our limited luggage space no play stations, designer apparel, or TV series' were purchased. To be honest, we are not so sure the designer appareal is bootleg since it's mostly all made around here anyway, it's likely items that didn't pass inspections or were rejected for some reason and now are on sale for way less than retail cost!

Night Market Eats

Shadow Puppets - we were in the city on the only weekend a show was not being performed but we did get to meet the man who makes the puppets from cow hide and play with a few on display

local boats on the Tonle Sap River, just a few km from our guesthouse; we often strolled along the riverside in the evenings and sat to enjoy people watching. a favorite event in the evenings in both cities was aerobic classes held in parks or other common areas or watching as people played a typo-hacky sack game with an object that looks a bit like a badminton shuttlecock.

photos from our bus ride between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

& !