charming city, day 1

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

What a great city.  I love it here.  Cambodia is known as the "charming city" via signage across the roadways and underpasses, travel guides and the people who smile their way through the day.  I feel totally welcome and that people are genuinely welcoming.  I agree, it's pretty charming.

This morning my travel buddy Caroline and I got up and wet running at 7.30am along the Mekong River.  We jogged for about 30 minutes before stopping alongside a cute cafe and having a fresh fruit plate with yogurt and honey, and some coffee that wasn't burned during the roasting or brewing process- fantastic!!  Then we wandered along the streets perpendicular to the Riverfront area.  We walked past massive auto repair centers, outdoor barber shops, and beautiful fruit markets. We happened upon a spa because 1.) this is Asia and they are everywhere, and 2.) we were in dyer need of a massage.  We found a cute place and each had an hour-long full body massage for $4.  It. was. heaven. We returned to our hotel for some more coffee and fruit and then got ready for our day.  

We took our first tuktuk to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, at Security Office 21 (S-21), which was incredibly sad and horrible.  

It originally operated as a school but in 1975 was redesigned on the orders of Pol Pot for detention, interrogation, inhumane torture and killing of those detained.  This blackboard still had writing on it.

For almost 4 years this horrible outfit used chains, shackles, and other various torture devices on its prisoners.  

Over 13,000 people met their death here in less than 4 years it was in operation. Bodies from here were transported to the various Killing Fields sites across the country.  Really sobering, but an important thing to see.

After that we made our way back to the Riverfront and to a place called K-West for lunch where I had my first hamburger of the year (no kidding). It was heaven.  Then we took a tuktuk to the Central Market.   

The Central Market has everything you could possibly think of to purchase: jewelry (jade, faux diamonds, angry bird slap watches), household items (pots, plates, bedding), women's, men's and kid's clothes, puppies for sale, candles, religious paraphernalia, fresh fruit, meat, fish and prepared food stalls. 

The meat section was in fact refrigerated. 

We declined these fish heads...

But when we saw this grilled squid we had to have some.  It may have been the best squid I have ever had.

 

Then we took another tuktuk to the Wat Phnom Pagoda.

In 1372 Lady Penh fished a floating koki tree out of the Mekong River and inside the tree were 4 Buddha statues.  The statues needed somewhere to live so she built them a hill and a small temple and that is now the site of the Wat (small temple) Phnom (hill) Penh (her name).  The city is her namesake. 

The inside of the temple was stunning.  Every inch of wall space was painted.

I loved this little Buddha incense station outside.

Then we took another tuktuk to the port where we attempted to get onto a "sunset cruise" but it just didn't work out so we took our 12th tuktuk of the day and went back to our hotel. 

We booked our hotels for Siem Reap and tried to figure out what to do with our evening.  After much discussion we decided to walk 50m out of our hotel on 178 street to The Latin Quarter restaurant where we enjoyed prawn ceviche, gazpacho and chicken croquettes. And some white wine. And some sangria. There was a Halloween party with an awesome high-energy live band and we had an amazing time dancing until we could dance no more.

Love Cambodia.

tennis

Living here in Timor has given me the opportunity to get back into things I once loved.  How is it that we forget about things that bring us so much joy?  Life happens, I guess.

I played tennis growing up and for whatever reason stopped playing regularly over the last 10 years.  No more.

I now play 3 times a week at the University courts right behind my office.  It's extremely convenient and an excellent way to unwind and detach from the work day.

There are 2 courts constructed of large concrete slabs, and only a few patches and holes so if you know where they are you can avoid them.  The white and red building behind the fence is the University.  

If you look closely you can see in the far left corner of the court, there is a large greyish-brown banyan tree stump.  I guess they can't really remove it easily because of where it is, so they have been burning it every few days or so for the last 2 months. It's great when its really blazing and the flames are actually through the fence and the white smoke is being blown onto the court (into my face).  That is the side of the court I play on during my lesson so I can attest that poor/smokey air quality does in fact make it more difficult to run around a court.

One of my adorable ball boys.  I pay $2 and for an hour the kids run around the courts and pick up all the balls.  They all know my name now which makes my lessons much more entertaining. 

Partners in crime.

Covered bench area where I hydrate during the 95 degree, full sun, hour-long session of sweat, volleys, rallies and fun.  I would die without this shade.

taxis

I want to take a moment and acknowledge that I have been out of touch with a very authentic aspect of life in Timor since I got my little Mitsubitchy.  Driving around in air conditioning without any weird smells or holes in the baseboard of the car, safety, and listening to my own music has been a real treat and are the main reasons I bought my car in the first place. However, the bubble I have been driving around in has prevented me from observing the bustling streets of Dili from a quaintly decorated vantage point inside a taxi.  

My car is now sick (read: fuel pump clog/ filter and sensor totally screwed up/dead battery) and I am not sure when she will recover.  Knowing there is not a single thing I can do about the current situation however, I decided to Pollyanna it up and enjoy the (taxi) ride.

I have already listed my favorite things about riding in a taxi, I have a few things to add. 

For example, the driver has placed this lovely sticker on the rear-view mirror that can also be enjoyed by the passengers.  As a gender-sensitive person it thrilled me.

People in Timor are also quite supportive of their colonial roots.  This cab had a Portuguese flag tacked to the roof (note the purple heart-shaped "love" air freshener above the window).

The arrangement on the below passenger dashboard of stuffed St. Bernard, plastic toy lion, robot and some sort of compass reminds me of the few but joyous until-i-grew-up-and-found-out-whats-actually-in-them Happy Meals of my youth.  The airbag cover has been DIY crackle-glossed and of course you can clearly see "Vinnie" the (made in China) Pooh suspended from the rear-view mirror.  

In addition to these decorative items, the more impressive part of the taxi is of course the video screen embedded in the sun visor.  Embedded people.  I have no idea how he did it but this driver pimped his ride.  The music played through the radio perfectly (and loudly).  I enjoyed my 2 minute clip of noise and entertainment and jammed out in the back smiling to everyone we passed thinking to myself- this is what it's like to be Kate Middleton.

I took a video of the experience- perhaps you can also catch the Shamu pillow arm rest that my friend holds.  Don't even want to think about the nastiness that is a pillow in a taxi.  

Unfortunately I did find myself sitting on a tack by the end of the ride.  Quite the attention-getter.

Good times.

cowboy

mid week laughs

another beautiful end