On Saturday we decided to do a soft landing to Phnom Penh and just go for a walk in the city centre.

We trodded down the streets from our accommodation towards the center when we came  by this super cool looking French style baquette place, and as we were kinda looking for a place where to break our fast (although we had a different place in mind) it was easy to stop there. The food was just as delicious as one could hope for. We did try the mango mohitos at the Laughing Fatman – our original target – a bit later during the day (not really worth it.)

From there on we continued onwards towards the river and the Sisowath Quay – the main tourist area of the city. We made it to the shore few blocks away from the royal palace and decided to sit there for a while resting and observing the boats going back and forth along the river. Soon we were approached by a gentleman with a cooler selling drinks. He was in no hurry to get sales done and we chatted there for quite a while, learning stuff about the city and what to do there among other things. (Fun fact, the boats that run the construction materials up the Tonlé Sap river do so just barely afloat, while on their way down the river, you can hardly tell that it is in fact the same boat at all!) We bought some refreshments from him to bolster the water supply we were carrying and I opted for a lychee soda (or maybe it was a juice, who knows). It was definitely an experience not to be forgotten: at the same time the drink was really sweet and refreshing, and yet it was almost tasteless – almost like drinking some womens perfume.

From there on we headed towards the palace, took some photos there and acted like idiots there, photographing about everything that moves and shooting a couple b-grade videos. But the area was absolutely stunning never the less. I kinda hope though that we would have done some background checks before hand and gone there when it is possible to enter the palace grounds themselves. Now we had to just settle with the view from outside. On the way back from there we stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some heavy duty cortisone cream for my fingers, where humidity and stress related rash had once again taken hold. Our way back took us past the national museum – yet another place to visit the next time – and the local university of fine arts, as well as artsy neighbourhoods and really poor neighbourhoods co-existing side by side. We even considered of making a bid for this big colonial style mansion in the heart of the city, which would have needed considerable renovations to be livable once again – at the least in the western terms. We also visited the gates of one of the many temples in the city – more than once – but never found the courage to enter as the temple area also included the habitats of the monks there and we didn’t know the rules of visiting the place.

After returning and resting a bit, we headed out to try the local Indian restaurant in the neighbourhood, fabled to be the best in the city and one of the best in the whole Indochina. And damn, it was good. I tasted their medium spiced chicken khorma alongside some garlic naan and steamed rice. The chicken was every bit as good as I was expecting based on my experiences with Nepalese cuisine, though a tad bit more spicy – not too spicy though. And naan, I seriously can’t get enough of that stuff, though I must admit that this particular one was not the best I have eaten in terms of naan… pretty close, but not over the top. Indian cuisine has from now on earned it’s place in my heart alongside their neighbours.