Phnom Penh royal treatments

After my month of teaching two full courses at Chea Sim University in Prey Veng, the last day of which I was finishing grading from 9am - 5pm, plus hanging out with the girls at FDCC (Foundation for Development of Cambodian Communities) till 7:30, I got to Phnom Penh ready for some RnRnRT - rest 'n relaxation and retail therapy. I got in early yesterday morning and went straight to bed at my cute little guest house, Alibi, which I highly recommend. It's very central and tucked away from the main street, a block away from where all the other noisier guest houses are. After strolling around the Royal Palace in the afternoon, I browsed shops on Street 178 (the Artsy street) and had a light dinner before my 2hr spa session. Today, it was just all retail therapy. I headed to the Russian Market in the morning and was quite disappointed with the quality of goods there. Though, I did get a suit for all of US$28. But Psar Thmey more than made up for it. I had a way too good lunch at Romdeng, a restaurant that's much like Delancey Street in San Francisco, where the workers are brought in from the streets, though the ones at Romdeng are mostly homeless youth with no incarceration history as far as I'm aware. It's a project started by Friends International, a very admirable NGO (non-governmental organization, or non-profit business.)

Having had a lunch for two by myself, I later walked an hour to the expat area of town in hopes of losing some of it...only to find this one particular TripAdvisor highly rated restaurant already closed, at 9pm. So I hop on someone's scooter to get back to Alibi and had a salad for dinner at the Lazy Gecko, finishing off with some banoffee pie. :) Getting around Phnom Penh is quite interesting. Of course, there are tons of tuk-tuks here hustling for business, charging around US$1-2 per trip. The scooter pickups cost a bit less, but more harrowing as one often finds oneself sitting in the middle of traffic while the scooter inches its way across the madness. No helmet of course. There are the cyclos too, but one tried to charge $5 for a short trip.

I found this website especially helpful for tourist info on Cambodia: http://www.canbypublications.com/ -- though the prices listed are a year or two behind times. The cost of Phnom Penh is highly targeted at westerners, both tourists and expats. But thankfully, lodging is still very affordable, where basic accommodations run from around $25/night, many owned/run by Frenchies. Food adds up to about $8/meal sans alcohol, with healthy portions at chic, modern restaurants. If you're gastronomically adventurous, the local fare runs only about $2-4.

I've hurriedly wrote this blog entry so I can return to it when I come back to Cambodia in the future. It's a wonderful country to be in, not quite yet over run by tourists and the locals are so humble, friendly and always sok sabbai.