Saturday 15/11
Wow, time sure passes quickly. We begun our trip two weeks before this Saturday, can't believe that two weeks have already passed. But luckily this holiday of ours will keep on going for a while longer! :)
On Saturday we seized the time to sleep in and rest well. When we finally woke up it was close to check-out time. Since we had no replies on CS we asked if we could stay another night, and it was no problem. So we slept in a bit more and in the afternoon we realized that we are getting really hungry! :D
So we finally got out of the hotel took our bikes and went out to the city. We cycled a bit around, then cycled a bit along the river. The water was not very clean, but the riverside was pleasant. Later on we stopped at a place called Variety, the restaurant had a lot of seating places, and many waiters were sitting about. We got off our bikes, 'parked' them, and sat right by. We assumed that one of the bored out waiters or waitresses will bring us some menus, or at least tell us what they have that we could order. But as it turned out, none of them spoke English, yes, out of about 10 people, none spoke any English at all. They ended up calling another girl from the kitchen, I assumed, as she didn't have the same T-shirt as the rest of them. We told her that we wanted to eat something (which should have been obvious). She asked one of the waiters to bring a menu, she apologized that it is not in English, but it had some pictures and she stayed around so we could asked her what was what. We ended up ordering some stake and vegetables for the two of us to share. While waiting for the food, all the waiters and waitresses where stating at as. Also, while we waited we were thinking what to do later on. We decided to go see a movie - Before I Go To Sleep. It would start only at 22:10, so we still had plenty of time. We had our meal, the stake arrived and it was much too rare for us. So we asked for it to be cooked a bit more. After the meal we decided to head back to our hotel to rest a bit and blog a bit. Then it was time to go back to the movie cinema. We decided to walk there, the air was nice, not too hot, and the distance was about 2km, so less than 30 minutes to walk. Cycling did seem as an option, but we decided it would not be safe to leave bikes outside while we watch the movie. We were maybe half way there while crossing a smaller street a scooter passed right behind us. It seemed to be very close, but nothing unusual..until I felt that the back person on that scooter had grabbed the strap of my bag and was pulling it as the scooter kept going. I was pulled sideways as the bag was across from one shoulder to the other side. Luckily the man let go fairly soon after realizing that he could not get it. Was also lucky that he didn't have a knife to cut the strap. Would've been a big loss for me as my wallet and passport were in the bag. After all it also contained tickets for the movie, so the trip to the cinema also would be a waste. We kept on walking and only then we realized that we were pretty much the only people who were going by foot in the streets. We were glad to arrive to the cinema. The movie was nice, I liked it, as it was a mystery. But Pedro found it a bit too scary. :D
After the movie we decided to save yourselves from the streets of Phnom Penh and took a tuktuk back to our hotel. It was late and time to head to sleep.
On Saturday we seized the time to sleep in and rest well. When we finally woke up it was close to check-out time. Since we had no replies on CS we asked if we could stay another night, and it was no problem. So we slept in a bit more and in the afternoon we realized that we are getting really hungry! :D
So we finally got out of the hotel took our bikes and went out to the city. We cycled a bit around, then cycled a bit along the river. The water was not very clean, but the riverside was pleasant. Later on we stopped at a place called Variety, the restaurant had a lot of seating places, and many waiters were sitting about. We got off our bikes, 'parked' them, and sat right by. We assumed that one of the bored out waiters or waitresses will bring us some menus, or at least tell us what they have that we could order. But as it turned out, none of them spoke English, yes, out of about 10 people, none spoke any English at all. They ended up calling another girl from the kitchen, I assumed, as she didn't have the same T-shirt as the rest of them. We told her that we wanted to eat something (which should have been obvious). She asked one of the waiters to bring a menu, she apologized that it is not in English, but it had some pictures and she stayed around so we could asked her what was what. We ended up ordering some stake and vegetables for the two of us to share. While waiting for the food, all the waiters and waitresses where stating at as. Also, while we waited we were thinking what to do later on. We decided to go see a movie - Before I Go To Sleep. It would start only at 22:10, so we still had plenty of time. We had our meal, the stake arrived and it was much too rare for us. So we asked for it to be cooked a bit more. After the meal we decided to head back to our hotel to rest a bit and blog a bit. Then it was time to go back to the movie cinema. We decided to walk there, the air was nice, not too hot, and the distance was about 2km, so less than 30 minutes to walk. Cycling did seem as an option, but we decided it would not be safe to leave bikes outside while we watch the movie. We were maybe half way there while crossing a smaller street a scooter passed right behind us. It seemed to be very close, but nothing unusual..until I felt that the back person on that scooter had grabbed the strap of my bag and was pulling it as the scooter kept going. I was pulled sideways as the bag was across from one shoulder to the other side. Luckily the man let go fairly soon after realizing that he could not get it. Was also lucky that he didn't have a knife to cut the strap. Would've been a big loss for me as my wallet and passport were in the bag. After all it also contained tickets for the movie, so the trip to the cinema also would be a waste. We kept on walking and only then we realized that we were pretty much the only people who were going by foot in the streets. We were glad to arrive to the cinema. The movie was nice, I liked it, as it was a mystery. But Pedro found it a bit too scary. :D
After the movie we decided to save yourselves from the streets of Phnom Penh and took a tuktuk back to our hotel. It was late and time to head to sleep.
Sunday 16/11
As we had had a late evening, and not many plans for the day, we were sleeping in again! When we finally woke up Pedro was checking his email where he had a response on Couch Surfing that a girl called Maria was willing to host us! Oh the joy!!! At around 11 o'clock we called out potential host to ask if she is still OK to host us for the night, and she said that she could! We agreed to meet up at 13:00 near the Russian market. So we packed our things, went for a quick lunch (breakfast, really) and the cycled our way to the meeting point. There we greeted Maria with hugs, and with all three of us on bicycles she showed us the way to her place. It was a few narrow stairs to go up, and then we arrived to her cosy place. She said she had moved in there just about a week ago. Her flatmates, a French couple, had been gone for the weekend. We sat down and had a great chat with our host. Maria is originally from Argentina, but had lived in Australia for quite a time, and in Cambodia for a bit less than a year now. She also just returned from a holiday in Indonesia.
Later on we went to the market, there we got some nice pants for Marta, and two t-shirts. We managed to bargain with the seller. He firsts said that the pants alone would cost 5 dollars. Of course, I did not agree, but in the end we paid 6 dollars for the pants plus two shirts. We then met up with our host, she had not been feeling too well, so we decided to make her and us some dinner. We were super happy for the opportunity to cook, and she could rest a bit. We cycled to the supermarket where while shopping for groceries we decided to make some pasta salad, and for breakfast we got some buns and sausages to make hot dogs.
The dinner turned out to be OK, we mixed a lot of ingredients, and covered the dishes with a nice salad dressing.
We stayed on the balcony eating and talking about all sorts of things! It was very nice to stay with a couch surfer after having spent a lot of nights in hotels and guesthouses. Night came, we all were tired and it was time to sleep!
Later on we went to the market, there we got some nice pants for Marta, and two t-shirts. We managed to bargain with the seller. He firsts said that the pants alone would cost 5 dollars. Of course, I did not agree, but in the end we paid 6 dollars for the pants plus two shirts. We then met up with our host, she had not been feeling too well, so we decided to make her and us some dinner. We were super happy for the opportunity to cook, and she could rest a bit. We cycled to the supermarket where while shopping for groceries we decided to make some pasta salad, and for breakfast we got some buns and sausages to make hot dogs.
The dinner turned out to be OK, we mixed a lot of ingredients, and covered the dishes with a nice salad dressing.
We stayed on the balcony eating and talking about all sorts of things! It was very nice to stay with a couch surfer after having spent a lot of nights in hotels and guesthouses. Night came, we all were tired and it was time to sleep!
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