Wednesday, November 5th, 2003 – Day 260
Nice article here on copying your old Video to DVD.
Its a great hotel I am staying in. It is called the Tonle Sap Hotel and is overlooking (nearly) the river front. For 10 USD per night I am getting satellite TV, HOT WATER and even AIR-CON. I would recommend it folks.
I have decided to head to Saigon tomorrow. I went down to the Capitol Guesthouse to buy a bus ticket for 6 USD. Its a 10 hour journey but the competition on this route keeps prices VERY low. I have taken this road 4 times before and know it to be a nightmare. I only hope the road has improved since last June. I am due to collect my passport with Vietnam Visa tonight.
You can take a air-con bus for 12 USD. Its called GST and better comfort is assured. Speaking to the Capitol, it seems they have a new bus for this route and have decommissioned the one I had last year which was crap and had so many sharp edges and broken seats.
Anyway, I did little today. There are lots of preparation for the Water Festival and independence day (11th of Nov). They have added stages n the different parks around the royal Compound and bands, Karaoke all day long.
I visited a few markets looking for sandals but nothing took my fancy. I love Phnom Penh for its weird wild west feel. Its dusty and loud but you can never expect what happens here. Lawlessness, the people, the stories. Its great.
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Phnom Penh. (05-11-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Phnom Penh – Markets. (05-11-2003)
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Click on the picture to see it in it´s original size
Phnom Penh – get on yer bike. (05-11-2003)
I spend most of the time on the NET writing about 8 days of blog and getting my pictures to disk. There was only one Internet place in Phnom Penh the first time I was here. There are now about 15 places in the city centre and prices have fallen big time. The price is now only 1500 Riel (40 cent) an hour. So the day gone so that this blog can be updated. You might ask, why not update once a month and to hell with it. Well, I am kind of sucked into now and with only a few months before I head home, it would be a shame for it to whimper it out. Anyway its a diversion from the normal sightseeing and travel stuff.
I had a great dinner (as I have every night in Phnom Penh). Fried break with beef and fried rice with beef. All for 4 Euro including a large cold beer. I collected my passport and did some food shopping. I bought 20 (yes, TWENTY) bananas for 3,000 Riel for my journey tomorrow.
I have got gone out on the booze in Phnom Penh yet. As it was my last night I decided I would go to the infamous Martini Pub. This is the famous Martini, in Phnom Penh since the UNTAC days. Their ad reads, Bored, lonely, hungry. We have everything you need! and that just about sums it up. Lots of bar girls.
I got a moto there for 1,500 Riel. Beer was 1.50 USD a can. Funny place. Big barn bar with restaurants, big screen TV and dark (so dark you cant see) Disco. Connections to the Military so its never closed.
Much adieu has been made of the Cambodian government’s recent edict banning karaoke clubs and discotheques. In the initial confusion about how to interpret the law, the rumor mill, fueled by an overzealous press, spread exaggerated stories that all of the bars were closed and there was no beer to be had in Cambodia. Absolutely not true! The new law has closed most of the karaoke clubs and forced the discos to alter their format, which has had some impact on the Asian tourist market. But the law has left most of the businesses frequented by Westerners unaffected.
I was in bed my 12.30am. My bus to Saigon is at 6.45am.
