Backpacking in Cambodia — Day 2— Phnom Penh
Day 2— Phnom Penh [November 20, 2022]
Incase you missed Day 1 in this series.
Breakfast at Mad Monkey
“Charity begins at home” — so does good vegetarian food. Since the party animals were busy sleeping in random corners of the hostel, the attached restaurant was a lot less crowded at this hour in the morning and turns out they have a decent vegetarian spread. I went for the guilty pleasure of a burger expecting it to be filling enough to last me the day along with a passion fruit shake whilst Jagnoor had a field day with the wide variety of options available in the non vegetarian section. We decided to walk down to the Genocide museum catching a glimpse of a lazy early Phnom Penh morning as we crossed garages with Bumble Bee statues and massage parlours that provide oil massage, A/C massage and “casual” massage?!
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
A must visit place for a reality check on how privileged being free is. We often read about history a century ago and beyond way in the past. Yet to know something which is so recent gives chills at another level. The Tuol Sleng was used as a secondary school that was turned overnight into a detention camp called Security Prison “S-21”. Over 20,000 inmates have been imprisoned and tortured here. In 1979, when the place was liberated, only 12 known survivors remained.
The playground and classrooms had been converted into torture instruments and enclosed spaces with captives of all ages placed inside the blocks with barbed wires everywhere. The torture was meticulously documented by the staff and provide a glimpse of the horrors that took place. I’d recommend the audio tour guide (additional $5 to the entrance cost of $5) which has additional commentary and interviews that provide a sombre and surreal lay of the land. The lines of black and white photographs of the inmates used by families years later to identify if their missing relatives had landed up here or not — leaves you with goosebumps all over.
There is something about the setting — left in its simplistic setup that leaves you depressed at how inhumane humanity can be. There are tours that combine the museum with the Killing Fields but my personal recommendation would be to skip the Killing Fields and spend more time at the prison itself. The message will hit home equally hard. Caught in the crossfire of the Khmer Rouge were also foreigners including an Indian, a Pakistani, a couple of Americans who were sailing through and few more French. All were forced to confess they were KGB or CIA agents and had to present reams of falsified written confessions on this. 29 year old Michael Deeds managed to keep his sense of humour intact as he fabricated a long fictitious confession with names of pop culture icons as his commanding officers and agents who he reported to. Takes a different type of guts to try and see the bright side of it all in such a gloomy setup.
National Museum of Cambodia
Even if you don’t have time to visit the inside of the museum, the architectural brilliance of the exterior deserves a photo op stop at the very least. We took a tuktuk from the Genocide museum to the National Museum which is about 3 km apart. Google Maps said the next door palace might be closed for lunch hours since it was 1 PM so we took a chance with the museum and it was open.
Whilst photographs are not allowed inside the museum of the artifacts and exhibits, it is a brilliant interplay of art and history with statues of bronze, stone, wood depicting Hindu and Buddhist history with a very Oriental touch to some of the famous Gods like a lot more muscular Ganesha, a bulkier Hanuman and a suspiciously Cambodian looking Vishnu for starters. The five Pandava brothers also got life size statue versions that would pass off as having Khmer origins.
We believe Angkor Wat and other temples were largely emptied out and had the artefacts shipped out to museums to be restored and maintained in optimal conditions. The museum itself was started in 1920 so is a relic in itself apart from hosting so many more relics of Cambodian art and history. It soon started drizzling and we walked over to a vegan restaurant across the museum for a quick bite whilst we waited for the rains to stop.
White Gold called water
We Indians are so used to having drinking water as a free commodity that Cambodia was a stark contrast. Everyone only sells bottled water and there is no concept of normal water that we tend to use in the Indian context (never ask what normal water means because ignorance is bliss). Also at $1 per 1.5 litre bottle, it is a pretty steep buy. Though Jagnoor did finally crack the code and we hit a local hole in the wall that sold the same bottle for 60 cents near our hostel. Back to the vegan restaurant “Restaurant Aroma”. The place had European vibes and the Lebanese owner seemed like this European free spirit who had lost his way to Cambodia in search for his artistic muse and decided to settle down.
A very tourist centric menu with Lebanese, Italian and continental items had me feeling blessed about my food options today from a vegetarian perspective. Ordered a pizza , some arabic samosas and any guesses on the drink? You need passion to get that one right. Done with a hearty meal, we walked the meal out by heading to the National Palace next door. As we walked towards the main gate, a soldier at duty came towards us asking us to halt. He mentioned the palace was closed for visitors and would only open in December. Right across the Palace lawns is “Chaktomuk“ also “Brahma” — the confluence of 4 water bodies at one point.
All Quiet on the Riverfront
Stretching a few kilometres, the riverfront has been developed for sitting, walking and just relaxing as a community spot along with it being a starting point for sunset cruises. There is also a temple next to it with a lot of bird sellers around. Turns out there is a traditional Khmer Buddhist tradition that buying a bird and setting it free allows for your troubles to also fly away with them. The cramped conditions the birds were in hurt quite a bit but that is just a personal opinion. I have always held that flowers deserve to be in flower beds and not bouquets and birds in the sky not in cages.
Though true freedom was experienced by the hundreds of pigeons flying around and pooping all over the banks yet the walkways were clear highlighting there must be a massive clean up operation in play everyday. Jagnoor picked up caramel popcorn that was stuck together like glue but was addictive all the same. A lot of vendors walked by selling different snacks and toys as families frequented the area to just sit, meditate or watching fitness junkies jogging along the river.
Wat Ounalom
Walking down about 500m from the Royal Park, past the horseback men statues called “Decho Meas Decho Yat” is Wat Ounalom ( Wat means temple — comes from the Sanskrit word “Vaat” meaning enclosure). This temple is considered the centre of Cambodian Buddhism built in 1443 and is believed to hold the eyebrow hair of Lord Buddha himself and hence the name Unna (whorl between eyebrow) — lom (hair). Interestingly the temple complex also houses Lord Vishnu, Ganesha, Yama and the Garuda — a lot of Hindu iconography. Entry to the temple complex is free. At the entrance, tuktuk and remorque drivers wait for tourists promising tours of the city landmarks and also girlfriends. A persistent remorque driver convinced us a couple of stop overs for $20 including 2 temples and drop back to our hostel— one of the temples being on the other side of Mekong River which he ironically called Old temple (it was under construction).
Wat Phnom
The temple after which the city is named has an interesting story of how a lady named Penh noticed a koki tree in the water whilst she was bathing. With the help of villagers, they brought the tree onshore and found 4 Buddha statues and one Vishnu statue. They built a small hillock with a temple on top to commemorate the same which became Wat Phnom Penh (Mountain Pagoda) and hence the name of the city. Our driver seemed more excited about the hundred odd bats that stay in the tree right opposite the temple. There is a $1 entry fee (donation) for tourists to visit the temple complex. There are multiple walkways to the top which make for a cute little trek all around along with a giant garden clock on one end. Interestingly this entire temple hillock is a massive traffic circle in the middle of the road.
Mongkol Serei Kien Khleang Pagoda
Taking the bridge across the river, signs of modernity and stereotypical new city vibes could be felt with regular stores and apartments lined across wide roads. About 15–20 minutes later, we reached the Golden temple which seemed partly under construction and newly minted. There were a couple of kids playing in the parking area but otherwise the temple was very deserted. Our driver was excited about a firing range nearby where you could pay $150 to shoot an AK-47 and numerous other guns. He had a video of one of his clients shooting a bazooka. He also mentioned other sights and sounds which were mostly day long trips in the vicinity and didn’t fit with our itinerary. Whilst under construction, the wall to wall colorful motifs and murals make it a beautiful sight inside the temple too and honestly felt a lot nicer than Wat Phnom.
Most markets close by 5 PM except the Night market which he took us to — to see if we’d like to be dropped off there and also since we enquired about buses to Siem Reap. Having got a sense of the rates and seeing that the Night market was more like a flea market especially if you are into snacking on reptiles and insects, we decided to have him drop us back at the hostel. The long drive that he took us around gave us a good glimpse of the city especially when he detoured for a bit via Charles De Gaulle road with its sweeping wide boulevards. Back at the hostel, they mentioned we could book bus tickets there itself and have a pick up from the hostel. Having booked the same, we headed to the room to recharge ourselves and more importantly our phones.
The Quest for Burgershack
Jagnoor was craving for a juicy burger at Burgershack so we decided to get out and find it. Walking in the other direction mean’t we caught a different side of Cambodian night life — a bit more touristy with a lot of roadside cafes and pubs probably a lot more crowded during the tourist season. Burgershack turned out to be inside a super shady alley with no street lights but a well dressed couple ahead of us gave us an inkling we were probably going down the right direction. A lot of fancy fine dining restaurants lined up the street along with someone singing at a karaoke bar next door which a passing Brit commented with a loud “they call that horrendous noise singing?”.
Burgershack is quintessential American in the setup. With the walls adorned with pop culture references from comics and cartoons to the tables filled with stickers from the most random pop culture references that the owner might have collected over the decades. There were a lot of board games also lying around setting the relaxed vibe of the place. Grabbing a burger each with me going for the O’Holy Seitan burger also known as the vegan burger. The burger plus drink and fries as a meal works up to about $10.
After getting out, we decided to explore the alleyway a bit more to find good ol’ Charlie Chaplin staring down at us from the wall and very art deco feel to the entire street.
Feeling it was a bit too early to call it a night yet, we walked back to the Independence Monument, the Sisters Monument and stuck around to watch another batch of youngsters dance off to Justin Bieber and J-Pop and K-Pop and C-Pop and so on.
Spoke to the hostel lobby reception and booked our bus tickets to Siem Reap. They mentioned the bus would pick us up from the hostel itself at around 8 AM the next day morning. The night market bus operator was charging at around $14 which seems to be the average rate. We stayed back in the restaurant taking in the vibe before calling it a night.
Key Details
Mad Monkey (Phnom Penh) — single room with twin beds and private bathroom — $25 per night
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum — Entry fee — $5 for adult foreigners, $5 for audio guide. Hours of operation : 8 AM to 5 PM. Suggest 2 hours of time at a minimum to go through it all.
National Museum of Cambodia — Entry fee — $10 for adult foreigners. Hours of operation : 8 AM to 5 PM. Suggest 1 hour of time at a minimum to go through it all. $6 for audio guide.
Aroma Restaurant — Lebanese Tapas, Vegan options aplenty. $$$
Temples: Wat Ounalom, Wat Phnom , Wat Kean Khleang (Golden Temple)
Burgershack — Easy vibes, comfort burgers- $$
Bus tickets to Siem Reap — $13 per person (mini bus)
Hold on! Siem Reap coming up on Day 3