We started a bit later this morning, although I woke up typically at 5.30am.
We went up to breakfast around 8 and discovered that everyone else had the same idea, although we still got a nice table near the window inside the restaurant. You can sit outside but it is hot out there and the seats are wooden. Not conducive to comfy dining!
The heat was on today and the temperature was going up to 36C with of course, the usual high humidity. I thought Perth summer was humid but it is next level here.
I had found a store online that sold headphones so off we went to check it out and see if we could get a reasonable price on some new ones. Trying to keep to the footpaths that were a bit wider and not congested with crazy people riding their motorbikes on the path, we made our way via the map that Ross had put on his phone.
When we finally found the store, wedged into a narrow building we discovered that the prices here are as bad if not worse than Perth and the selection was only high end, so that was a waste of time.
I thought we might find some cheaper merchandise in one of the department stores, so we took off down the busy streets (thank goodness we’re not here on Monday!) in search of a Harvey Norman type store.
Coffee shops abounded and all manner of restaurants but not department stores, until I spotted the Touristplaza, which turned out to be a mostly high end clothing complex. There was a Sony store but their prices were just as bad as the other place. We finally gave up and just luxuriated in the air conditioning on the multi level building with a frappechino. It was nice to just have a rest and dry off some of the sweat.
We walked on back to the hotel down the mall that we had been on last night. It was far more subdued during the day, and spent the afternoon just relaxing. We have a very long day tomorrow taking the bus to Phnom Penh, and the river cruise tonight doesn’t finish until around 9.30.
Well we went on the cruise. It didn’t go very far up the river as there is a bridge in the way!
After the bus picked us up we went to the dock and our guide showed us to the ‘Queen’, our boat for the night.
There were dozens of rosewood tables lined up and people were already eating. The menu was on a placard on the table and we reckon we had the budget version because some of the other people looked to have much more interesting food. We had some fried squid in passion fruit sauce (a bit weird but quite nice), some chicken soup, a bit of spicy pork and some fried rice with little bits of unidentified seafood in it. Dessert was a tiny glass of panna cotta. Not a lot of food so we were certainly not too full after it. Some of the other people had hot pots and prawns and other dishes, so we were not terribly impressed with our fare. Anyway we were not to know. I had expected a buffet of local food but I guess with that amount of people on a boat, a buffet was not practical.
We had entertainment during dinner from dancers and musicians but it was hard to see them because we were so far down the middle of the boat, but the tunes were very catchy. Lol.
As we finished part of the meal, the boat began to move and it cruised very slowly up the river past our hotel, and then back again. It all came to a halt at 9.15 and we were dropped off at our hotel where we had to avoid the lunatics hurtling down the footpath in front of it while we tried to get in the door. It is chaos outside at the moment and it was no wonder that the doormen were nowhere to be seen.
We had a brief look at the rooftop bar when we got into the hotel, and the view was very nice from up there but the live band was so loud that you couldn’t tolerate it for long. I think they must either think all the tourists are deaf or want to be.
Time for bed anyway as tomorrow we are off to Cambodia.
2025-02-11