I didn’t know a city could be so empty like Phnom Penh is during the Khmer New Year, which was yesterday, the 14th, with more holiday time Friday and Saturday.
Teems of Khmer have gone back to countryside from where they came. And there’s probably tens of thousands of them since nearly every shop was closed Wednesday, New Year's Eve, through Friday; the massive Central and Russian markets had some shop activity, and some major bars were shut, such as Martini's. There were far fewer moto taxi and tuk-tuk drivers shouting “hello sir” -- yes they do that here, as opposed to Bangkok, where they usually say nothing, beginning or end of trip.
I got up around, er, sometime, and walked past four of my usual coffee shops. All closed. Thank Buddha for Walkabout, which never shuts, I think. Only a handful of girls there, too, Wednesday through Friday, compared with Tuesday’s full house.
Yep, it was going to be a dull couple of days, at least till Saturday.
Other notes:
HOTEL JUGGLING: I’m on my third hotel in my nine-day, eight-night trip. It’s not as nice as $35 US a night one I left Wednesday this week, but it’s large, quiet, clean, nicely appointed, has desk and table for laptop, has free wi-fi and breakfast, free street transport if you stay more than one night but is very central as it’s between north-south arterials Street 51 and 63 -- and has great friendly staff. All for $18 a night at Comfort Star 2 Hotel on Street 200. Takes Visa, too. My first hotel, Flamingos, was $30.
STREET CHAOS: To understand Phnom Penh traffic customs (they drive on right as in Canada), you have to expect motorcyclists and some cars to cut across your bow, whether pedestrian or oncoming traffic. It’s probably why cars and bikes go so slow and at a consistent speed. Sudden forward acceleration will cause great chaos and probably fatalities. Expect someone to cut in front at the slimmest opportunity. What I didn’t expect, or simply forgot to add into my mental safety cocoon, a couple of times was nearly getting clipped by a cutter from behind. I crossed Norodom (wide north-south arterial), looking repeatedly left and right and forward and behind into the intersection at 178. (There are only a handful of intersections with lights -- like it matters! I hope you don’t think motorists pay attention to the few crosswalks and pedestrian signals -- hahahahaha!)
As I judged flow to be predictable enough, I started to cross, when I felt something brush my right forearm. Of course, it was a scooter with three people who cut in front of 178 traffic, headed straight against south-bound traffic flow and tried to slice in behind and between vehicles into the proper northbound lanes.
Yesterday a friend and I were in a motorcycle tuk-tuk (bike pulling two-wheeled wagon -- comfortable, too). He cut left, as per custom, into oncoming traffic along the side but an oncoming motorbike rider whipped out from behind a vehicle to pass him on the inside right in “our lane”. The rider was not looking forward either, for some reason looking off to where he’d come from. Well, let me say both parties were “surprised”. That was the proverbial close shave. My Canadian friend had a word with our “chauffeur” along the lines of you were in the wrong and endangering our lives!
BAR WARS: I was in Phnom Penh in January, but before that it was six years since my last visit. I swear there are far more bars and expanded night life districts. Comes with a burgeoning (externally supported) economy. The place is booming, Cambodian scale. An evening walk down beautifully redesigned riverside (Sisowath Quay) showed me just how many dining and drinking establishments have taken root. From Street 178 (near FCC) to 104, bars and restaurants (some very swank) throng the west side of the quay (no buildings or vendors allowed on the river or east side). Bars and eateries fill some slots down each street. On 104, there are about 20 hostess (read, clip joints) bars in a very short distance of less than 200 metres. Bars line Street 51 around 172 to 154. I’ve read that 136 is another entertainment stretch. There are some stray barang (foreigner) bars: Lone Star on 13, Victoria on 172, The Gym on 178, Sharky on 130 and Martini on 95, the latter two are big pickup bars. And of course, there are loads of Khmer BBQ, karaoke and massage shops around the city.
VERY HAPPY PIZZA: I counted at least four restaurants around the riverside with “Happy xxx xxxx Pizza” in the name. There still are places -- Happy Herb’s Pizza was the original and still operating -- that serve the very special pizza topping, which will put you in a very happy state of mind above and beyond the taste of an ordinary pizza. Yes, the main ingredient would be illegal in Canada.
DRINK CANS: Have you looked at the crud and film that can accumulate on a tinned drink? I rinse and wipe off the tops of tinned drinks before cracking open the pull tab back home. In Cambodia, bar staff meticulously clean the tin tops before serving and do it right in front of the customer. They never do this in Thailand, which is why I rarely order a can of beer, for example. I’ve seen too many old, dusty, grimy cans in Thailand, too.
MALL MAGNET: Phnom Penh has a new shopping centre, simply called City Mall, but locally called Lucky Mall, since the prime tenant and mall operator is Lucky Supermarket; it’s much like Foodland, Villa and TOPS in Thailand. Only far cheaper! A bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label is 680 baht versus 1100 in Bangkok. A tetrapak of Ceres-brand South African juice is 60 baht versus well over 100 baht in BKK. My Mild Seven brand cigs are $10.50 US a carton (315 baht versus 900).
The mall is far from full of tenants but it does offer a lot of small shops as well as some local fast-food outfits such as BB BBQ. There’s also a KFC but no McD. The other big mall, the first one, is Soriya Shopping Centre near the Central Market. Lucky is a more modern, long, wide open-concept place where you can see around to look for particular shops. Soriya, which also has a Lucky Supermarket, is a lot more vertical and therefore not so open to the eye. But I like both of them.
There is also modern Sovanna Mall, which opened three years ago, but I didn’t make it there.
RIEL U.S. MONEY: U.S. dollars and Cambodian riel are the standard currencies. Every cash register spits out both currency totals for whatever you buy. You can blend payments in both currencies, which is not a bad thing. Something that’s $1.25, such as an Angkor draft beer, can be paid as $1 and 1000 riel. Some shop bills will add another 100 to 300 riel to make the exchange more correct (in their favour). There are 4000 riel to the U.S. dollar. You can safely change money for U.S. dollars or riel with the traders on the street at Central Market and Russian Market. Or go to any Bureau de Change, some are on the Sisowath Quay (Riverside). A check of online rates at some major Cambodian banks says to me the street is the way to go. A Canadian friend’s Khmer wife sticks to the street. Oddly enough, word is they want Canadian dollars for there’s a shortage.
NEW LAND OF SMILES: Thailand may use the tourist phrase but Cambodia takes over the title! In Cambodia, the smiles never stop. When walking the streets of Phnom Penh, motorcycle taxi and tuk-tuk riders will ask if you want a ride. A polite glance and “No, thank you” will elicit an equally polite smile. Walk up to a hotel desk and the smiles light up all round. A guarantee: if you smile first, you will get an even bigger, friendlier smile. I can’t get enough of them here. I live in Bangkok. I can go for hours without seeing a Thai smile.
PICTURE NOTES: From top, light traffic during Khmer New Year on Sisowath Quay (Riverside), Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The large photo and following six small ones all show Riverside on New Year's Eve. City Mall and motorcycle parking beside the mall on Monireth Blvd., near the Olympic Stadium. No Riverside description would be complete without a "Happy Pizza" picture, this image is of one of my favourite eating places, Happy Phnom Penh Pizza. Out of the photo and to the left, is the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). This image shows the third hotel I stayed at, on Street 200 and a scene from the same street. Last below, it's not often the Canadian flag flies amid tropical palm trees.
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