23 Hours in Phnom Penh

We only had a total of 23 hours in Phnom Penh, so planning was key. If you have read my to do list here, you'd see that I really tried to make our agenda as relaxed as possible, so prioritization was key. It worked to our advantage that the city center of Phnom Penh was not that big, and everything we wanted to do was generally within a 10-15minute radius by tuktuk including the bus station and hotel 252. 

We jumped into a tuktuk (after bargaining of course!) to check-in at the hotel,
then we jumped into another tuktuk so we could run to bloom for our cupcake fix.

Sofia loved sitting behind the driver so yaya had the front facing seat all to herself.

I know people think I'm crazy when I tell them I went to Phnom Penh (PP) for the weekend so we could buy some cupcakes from bloom. Hahaha. What a powerful craving! But then, I swear, they are worth it!

I can go on and on about bloom... so I will blog about that separately.

Sofia wanted some Cake Pop Truffles.

Unfortunately it was only when we got back to Ho Chi Minh (HCMC) that I had a bite from Sofia's squished one that I realized how super duper good they were! They're like gigantic melt in your mouth truffles on a stick! I should have hoarded a dozen or so. I am totally considering going back to PP this weekend for a Cake Pop Truffle fix and Sofia has already voted in favor! but I guess going 2 weekends in a row for my sweet tooth sounds even crazier... Hmmm... or maybe auntie Stella will need to go to PP soon and we can beg her to get us some.

Since the markets close early in PP and we only had a limited amount of time to get everything done, I decided to go sightseeing in the same way we did in our Vung Tau adventure where we asked the taxi driver to just drive us around while I took some pics. We asked the tuktuk driver who brought us to bloom to wait for us, take us to the Royal Palace just for a few minutes so we could take pics and then to drop us of at the Russian Market. 

One of the entrances to the Royal Palace.

Part of the Royal Palace.

I am a horrible, horrible tourist. In my mind - that's a check for "been there, done that". I know I haven't seen the Silver Pagoda, but since you're not allowed to take pictures anyway. I'll just imagine I saw it, because even if I did, I'm sure in a few months I'd forget what it looked like, so in the greater scheme of things, it all equals out. See? I am a horrible tourist. I will come back for cake pop truffles... but not for this. no judging please.

Our tuktuk started making really weird clanking sounds so we were going really slow now. I found that to be a good thing because I was able to take more pictures on what I referred to as my sightseeing tour.

You can't go to Cambodia and not take a picture of a monk.

The place was actually very progressive.

More monks...

This may be the independence monument. It reminded me of Luneta.

Most of the tuktuk drivers speak good English,
but you can just point where you want them to take you.

Our driver said this was Wat Lanka.

The original plan was to go to the Central Market, but the receptionist at our hotel told me that the Russian Market is much better, and she said the things were cheaper too as the Central Market was recently renovated, so maybe their rent and overhead has increased.

When we saw the Russian market my thought bubble was "uh-oh".
Sleepy Sofia was so ready to throw a fit!

Then like an answered prayer, I saw a KFC branch.
Hoooray for my favorite colonel. This is where I parked my daughter.

The Russian Market reminded me of the Baguio Public Market.

There are a lot of clothes stalls with export overruns (probably fakes too).
For some stalls, I couldn't tell for sure if they were brand new goods or ukay ukay.

At the back of the market they had souvenirs and handicrafts.

I considered getting Sofia a teapot but they were quite pricey at US$30 for a toy.
I didn't want it enough to bargain. Bargaining is like shopping in Vietnam or China.
You need to want something badly enough to invest time and energy in it.

I'm glad I wasn't tempted to get these for the beach house I have yet to build.

Cambodian Silk.

This is familiar. I saw Tintin in Vietnam too!

I heard Child Labour is common... but isn't this too much?
It's effective though.

I bought all these from her mom when she got back.
I bargained like crazy to get them at 6 for US$20.

I bought post cards for Fif and a magnet for yaya...
then I just rushed back to meet them at KFC.

The weather in Cambodia was hot and humid, so Sofia and I just jumped into the pool when we got back to the hotel to cool down.

Enjoying the pool of our boutique hotel.

We were lucky enough to meet my aunt's friend, Linda, who's based in PP with her family. She was so hospitable, she picked us up to take us shopping, then she introduced us to a cozy place with local food and went with us to shop at the night market too.

She took us to frizz in the 240 street area.
Because I love everything related to food, this topic deserves a separate post too to do it justice.

Me and Fif with Linda, the hostess with most-est.
She was so nice, we immediately were chatting comfortably,
even if we just met each other for the first time.

She introduced us to Fish Amok, the famous local dish.
I am so glad she did because I loved it, and I normally will not choose to order fish anywhere.

During dinner, I asked Linda about the PP Night Market and she mentioned that she's never been but she was very willing to accompany us and check it out. We wanted to drop the sleepy Sofia back at the hotel but of course, she insisted on coming so we made it a quick visit.

More shopping. Wheeee. What a productive few hours!

There were all sorts of knick knacks.

The locally made scarves and shawls were so much cheaper in the market
compared to the cute kids that sell it on the street.

It seemed like the night market was a weekend hang-out of the locals.

This is the food court, Cambodian style.
The condiments are already provided in the middle of the mat, just like in food court tables.

There was also a stage with performers and quite a lot of locals were watching.

I guess tourists also come because the prices were in USD and they had a handful of souvenir stalls.

Sofia with Tita Linda and the purple elephant bag she wanted to buy.
She needed retail therapy because she said she was very tired.
I am a proud mom. That's great training!

She immediately went to bed with the new purple shawl she picked out
and her new bag when we got back.
It's such a good buy, she's been sleeping with it every night and carrying it every where.

Smiling while pretending sleeping.
Mahirap gisingin and gising. (It's hard to wake up someone who's awake).

We were so productive on our first day that we just decided to relax at the hotel and enjoy the pool the next day, until it was time for us to catch the bus back to HCMC so we were very well rested in preparation for another long ride.

Sofia loved riding the tuktuk.

Close-up.

We didn't have to bargain any more on our way to the bus station.
The drivers used by the hotel knew us already so they didn't try to rip us off.

I was able to take a few more pictures of Cambodia while waiting for the rest of the passengers to board the bus because the bus was parked right in front of this.

Shot in vivid with my Canon S95.

On automatic mode.

I wish I could have taken more pictures.

Even the walls were beautiful.

This is how the whole wall looks.

23 hours was definitely not enough to explore everything Phnom Penh has to offer. We only heard about the "Happy Pizza" served in the backpackers district, but I didn't even get to take pictures of the menu where it's offered... No, I didn't want to order any... it's just the curious blogger in me.

It seemed like we were gone for much longer with everything we were able to do, but I definitely want to come back... for the cake pop truffles and the central market at the very least. Just Saying.