Arrival in Phnom Penh
We arrived in Cambodia’s capital “Phnom Penh”. The international airport was quite small compared to what we expected. We still had to buy a visa and got lucky because we were the first in the queue. We had to handover our passport (one by one) at counter 1. Then we had to pay 30 dollars at counter 2 and finally we collected our passport at counter 3. All in all, it took us more or less 5 to 10 minutes. Also passing through immigration, which was deserted, happened in a record time.
Not sure if this was the normal situation or if the ‘corona virus’ had something to do with it.
We had arranged a pick-up through the hotel (it costed around 14 USD) and the driver was waiting for us at the exit. We first purchased a sim card and then we were set to go.
Our hotel in Phnom Penh
It was a 40 minutes’ drive to our hotel ‘The Plantation Urban Resort and Spa’. We had chosen this hotel for its colonial charm, the beautiful pool, but also because the location was very central for visiting the palace and surroundings.
The entrance of the hotel was very beautiful and the walls of the building were very nicely decorated with art that could be purchased. We were welcomed with a scoop of ginger and honey ice cream. A great idea in this heat! We were told that we got a room upgrade, so now we could see the back of the palace from our window.
We then put on our swimming suit and dived into the pool. This was another welcomed refreshment!
First encounter with Phnom Penh
We had taken contact with my colleague that was living in Phnom Penh and agreed to have lunch together. After lunch we walked for 20 minutes back to the hotel and we were shown the tricks to cross the street.
Oh dear, I thought that I would get run over by a tuk tuk, motorcycle or car… There was never a good moment to cross. You could spent hours if you wanted to wait until there was no traffic. You just had to decide to launch yourself into the traffic while applying a steady walk. This way the drivers were able to anticipate where you would be, so they could avoid you. I had no clue how I managed, but I did (my heartbeat probably went through the roof at those moments). We counted ourselves very lucky that we had learned it from a pro!
We found that the city was a bit in decay, it was in need of a good make-over since the city would deserve that. Along the river there was a footpath, but we decided do walk at the other side of the road in the shade. We saw men working on a building standing on something that we guessed was a scaffold. We could not believe our eyes… Then we walked past the National museum and the palace. Here we would come back the next day, now we wanted to get some rest first.
Dinner at the Plantation Urban Resort and Spa
After an afternoon power nap, we decided to eat in the restaurant of our hotel. The restaurant was located at the first floor and from there we had a nice view over the entrance of the hotel. The lighting and the atmosphere were magnificent. The food turned out to be delicious as well.
Our first day in Cambodia was over, the first impact had been good and we were looking forward to discovering the rest of the city and the country.
