Visit of Palace and Silver Pagoda
We got up at 7am. The breakfast buffet in our hotel ‘The Plantation Urban Resort and Spa’ was nicely done and the food was very tasty. There were Asian and European dishes, so plenty of choice.
We walked to the Palace in the morning heat. Of course, we chose the longest route to get there so we would be reaching our 10000 steps a bit quicker than foreseen. Every tuk tuk that was passing wanted to take us somewhere, it seemed we had to negotiate with them for not taking a ride :-). But we understood that the number of tourists was much lower due to the pandamic, so scoring a trip has become much more difficult for most of them. It is also true that we saw few persons actually walking in the streets. Probably because it was too hot and the sidewalks were often not intended for pedestrians, but rather for terraces, storing goods, cars,…
When we entered the Palace grounds, we were offered a small bottle of water. The palace felt a bit deserted when we were there. There was a big tour group with Dutch visitors, but for the rest not many others. Lucky for us since it was much easier to take pictures like that. The palace and surroundings are really worth a visit since the buildings were very beautiful. Inside the walls of the site, everything was super clean, compared with the outside where often a lot of thrash was found. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to visit the entire palace because part of it is inhabited. It currently still serves as the actual royal residence.
We moved further to the silver pagoda also known as the temple of the emerald buddha. It is named ‘silver pagoda’ because of the 5329 silver tiles of which only some are visible.
The central Market and tuk tuk ride
Meanwhile we got a bit thirsty, so we decided to look for a terrace. We ordered a frapuccino and riverside smoothie, but afterwards, we were not sure if the ice cubes in our drinks were such a good idea. After the refreshment, we walked to the central market for a quick stop. The building had a very nice art deco architecture. Inside you find stalls where souvenirs can be purchased but there is also a food market.
We did not want to walk anymore (too hot), so we took our first tuk-tuk back to the hotel. One good tip, make sure that you know exactly were you are staying and how to get there. We had an app installed on our phone which we had to use several times. Drivers in Phnom Penh (taxi or tuk tuk) can definitely drive but they do not always know the streets nor the hotels (at least that was our experience on several occasions).
‘Friends’ a social initiative
For lunch, we went to ‘Friends’, a restaurant that is part of a social project. Here they train poor children so they can have a job afterwards. It was a very good educational initiative. The food was so delicious that we immediately decided to return. We also noticed that it is a favourite stop of tour groups, but they were often placed inside since outside the space was mainly organised for smaller tables (2-4 persons). We did not make reservations the first time that we went there, but I think we might have been lucky since the place filled up rapidly. In the building at the other side of the restaurant, the project had also a shop, a hairdresser and a nail salon. It was all very basic, but we decided to support the project and ordered a haircut (Koen) and 2 foot care treatments.
I had red nail polish done on my toenails but it was not so clever to put my closed shoes on, even if it all seemed to be dry. Upon our return in the hotel, I noticed that the red nail polish was all over my socks. Luckily there was the spa of our hotel to fix it.
We just had enough time for a quick swim and then to get ready for a drink at my friends’ place. Getting there was not so easy since the tuk tuk driver had no clue. In the end we were dropped off not too far from the place and we did a little walk.
For dinner, we returned to ‘Friends’. The food and the drinks earlier that day were so good, that we had to try the other things on the menu as well. Very satisfied, we returned to our hotel. It was such a good start of our (foodie) vacation.
