From 2 weeks back.
The AirAsia check in line at Bangkok airport is quite long at 0530 hrs and chaos reigns supreme. People abandoning their trolleys and clogging the waiting area. The bus ride to the plane is about 15 minutes and the flight to Phnom Phen finally leaves almost 30 minutes late.

The Phnom Phen 'international airport' is pretty casual and not as nice as the Siam Reap one. Lots of immigration staff and a quick passage through. The eVisa works well and the second copy is stamped and stapled in to my passport.

The hotel taxi person is waiting with a sign under his chin. The drive to the Paragon Hotel is marred by the driver talking on his mobile phone for most of it. To top it off the car is stopped by some uniformed men who are pulling over cars - possibly with the intent of picking up some small change, The driver is quite belligerent and refuses to pull over and just takes off. The traffic is nowhere near as bad as I was expecting and is probably not as bad as Siam Reap.

Finally at the hotel the driver wants US$9 rather than the US$7 that was stated by the hotel when I made my booking. The Paragon Hotel is certainly well located but the majority of Sisowath Quay is under development and there are only a few small stretches of river that can be accessed. The sign says the building was commenced in March 2008 and will be finished in 2010 and is based on creating underground reservoirs.

The hotel has room 104 with private balcony and is nice enough, just very noisy with the passing street traffic. The room is not quite ready so I stroll a few metres to the left and have breakfast at the Hope and Anchor - US$3.25 for the medium breakfast, one egg but baked beans, sausage, toast and coffee.

The river front area is certainly funky and not too grubby, cetainly no worse than any rural Thai city and better than any large rural city in Indonesia. The Tuk Tuk drivers are lurking everywhere and set upon you as soon as they see you. They take "no thank you" easily with one even commenting on the politeness of my reply.

The room is ready about 0930 hrs and seems nice enough, clean and basic but at least it has the TV, fridge and AC. I don't unpack much because there is a promise of a room on the 4th floor tomorrow and the noise is going to be too much on the 1st floor.

The walking begins. First to the left again as far as the post office. I look for boats that are supposed to have a US$9 dinner cruise but all that seems to be available are US$5 sunset cruises with drinks for sale - no food.

The Post Office and some of the older looking buildings are grand enough and the traffic is manageable, the added complexity of vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road is an extra challenge. The streets are not at all pedestrian friendly, cars use what footpath space there is as parking spaces, businesses use them as work areas and then there is the food vendors and assorted mobile businesses that set up shop. Most of my walking is actually done on the road and there are not a lot of locals that are walking about.

The riverfront area down by the Royal Palace area is very neat and well maintained. There is a small temple area with people praying and vendors with cages of birds for merit making. Some of the cages have sitting room only for the several dozen tiny birds that inhabit the cramped space, desperately hoping for release I imagine. I pause for a sugar cane and ice drink (2,000 Riel).

The old yellow Art Deco Central Market building dates from 1937 is quite impressive and the range of goods about average for a large Asian market. I buy a sports sleevless top and an iPod charger and spend a lot of energy fighting back the temptation to try the BBQ squid, the smell of which kept following me. I do find a food vendor selling small parcels of vegetables held together with fish puree and served with larb leave, cucumber and a palm sugar based chilli sauce. At 3,000 Riel for 10 they are booth very tasty and very good value. I choose the snake bean strips and baby corn versions.

There is a large blue domed building with a department store look and basement Supermarket nearby and I discover that alcohol is actually cheaper in the Supermarket than duty free at the airport. Jim Beam Black for US$14 and Smirnoff Red 1 lt for US$7.50 and the blue for US$10. Wines are also very cheap. Cigarettes are local brand only or black market Marlboro, smoking does not seem that common amongst the locals.

The walk back to the hotel from Central Market takes about 35 to 40 minutes and is a bit challenging with road crossings being very anxiety provoking.

Around 5 to 5.30 pm groups of young men start gathering to play what looks like foot badmitton. A large shuttle cock thing is kicked between them with the heel being used to kick it over their shoulder. Very impressive feat of coordiantion and athleticism.

A good first day and all in all I'm quite impressed with Phnom Phen. Plans include renting a Tuk Tuk for a days touring around the city, a sunset cruise and an car to get out of town. Should keep me busy enough for the 4 days I'm here.

Please let me know if there are any questions about prices etc. Happy to post the remaining 3 days if there is any interest.

Stekmer

Stekmer, That was an enjoyable read, so far so good, please keep posting your reports on Phnom Penh.
Cathy

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http://www.cathyandgarystravelpages.com

Yes, I agree, Stekmer that's probably the best trip report I've read on this forum, you have a style and if you haven't already tried travel writing then I suggest you give it a try.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn