Phillips Family - New Zealand Adventures : Cambodia

Our first impression of Cambodia was formed during our drive from the airport to our hotel and it was NUTS! The traffic, especially the mopeds were everywhere. If traffic got too congested, they went up on the sidewalk. And there were multiple people on most of them...2, 3, 4 people, children and even infants. Helmets? Only on a select few 😳

Thankfully the ride was uneventful & we were VERY pleased with our hotel upon arrival.

After some recovery time from our overnight flight, we took to the streets to check out Phnom Penh. They were busy, loud and commonly quite smelly! We walked toward the Mekong River and very quickly realized that NO ONE walks around in PP, hence all of the tuk tuk drivers on every corner. We made it to the Sisowath Quay and found a dinner spot...with cheap beer.

Cheers 🍻

The kids had their first experience of kids begging for us to buy wallets, postcards etc. There were lots of activities along the promenade of Sithowath Quay, for both locals and tourists.

Sisowath Quay.

It was after dark when we finished dinner, so we took a tuk tuk back to our hotel...perhaps my new favourite thing to do in Cambodia! SO MUCH FUN!

Day 1: Royal Palace tour and Central Market.

We enjoyed an excellent guided tour of the Royal Palace and learned a few Cambodian traditions along the way. We learned the meaning of the different hand positions on the Buddha statues...meditating, protecting, steadfast. We also learned that they have a different colour of ceremonial dress for each day of the week.

The Royal Palace Gardens were immaculate!

Ceremonial outfits change by the day of the week. Sun-Sat. We can only imagine it would look pretty spectacular to see everyone dressed in the same colour at a celebration.

The Central Market was massive, busy, HOT and stinky. Our kids got their first taste of bartering.