Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 2:16 AM
now i'm sitting in phnom penh's only shopping mall, which might also be the tallest building and the only one with an escalator. definately the only one with a rooftop rollar skating rink. ate lunch in the food court. finally got to take a closer look at cambodian street food... sans flies. had something called lok lak, which was quite good. fried egg with rice and pork in a sweet and sour type sauce, along with a bouillion-like soup. better. i'm sure, than the mcdonald's rip-off a floor down. but thankfully, no american fast food chains... yet.
earlier today, walked around wat phnom, the main temple in pp. really interesting, especially the temple that, according to the lonely planet, is "popular with vietnamese residents." it was packed and people were making lots of food offerings... i am guessing because it is new year's for the vietnamese. there were 3 stone lion statues with big pieces of raw meat draped over their open mouths. lots of fruit, of course, but also roast ducks... and a whole roast pig!
at the temple, i also got to see my elephant from the first morning in action. watched her enjoying a bath with a hose, and getting a treat of bananas from some chinese tourists, and later giving a european woman and her two little boys a rocky ride around the park below the temple.
also saw lots of monkeys. 2 were having a little fight in a tree. another one was wearing a plasctic bag on his head like a hat.
then headed through the old french district... stopped in the national library, which is very, very small, but in a beautiful colonial buidling. had a brief chat with the librarian, who spoke better french than english and handled the "patrimonial section" which i believe he said was full of old books about cambodia... in french. they were closing up for lunch (everything shuts down between about 11 and 2) so then i stopped in the fancy raffles hotel to freshen up in their nice restroom and then made my way to the central market, which is a really incredibly shaped indoor market. i will post photos soon! after wandering around and taking photos of dried fish, i made my way down to this very different market. the AC is good, and it is interesting to see the first buds of renewed cambodian prosperity. this country has been through so much, and was so destroyed by war, i cannot begrudge them their mall.
oh, the rollar skating rink was playing loud rap music. that i can begrudge them! ;)
now i'm heading out to get a 2 hour spa treatment. don't begrudge me that. tomorrow i go out to a traditional dance academy that is run by the friend of a friend to see them rehearse. tomorrow i'm also moving to the scandanavia hotel. the hope and anchor has a great view of the river, but the area is very noisy and touristy. scandanavia is only $5 more expensive and is a boutique-y place with a pool, which will be nice in the heat of midday. (otherwise i would just have to come back here to the mall...)
back to beijing and the cold on saturday, though.
now i'm sitting in phnom penh's only shopping mall, which might also be the tallest building and the only one with an escalator. definately the only one with a rooftop rollar skating rink. ate lunch in the food court. finally got to take a closer look at cambodian street food... sans flies. had something called lok lak, which was quite good. fried egg with rice and pork in a sweet and sour type sauce, along with a bouillion-like soup. better. i'm sure, than the mcdonald's rip-off a floor down. but thankfully, no american fast food chains... yet.
earlier today, walked around wat phnom, the main temple in pp. really interesting, especially the temple that, according to the lonely planet, is "popular with vietnamese residents." it was packed and people were making lots of food offerings... i am guessing because it is new year's for the vietnamese. there were 3 stone lion statues with big pieces of raw meat draped over their open mouths. lots of fruit, of course, but also roast ducks... and a whole roast pig!
at the temple, i also got to see my elephant from the first morning in action. watched her enjoying a bath with a hose, and getting a treat of bananas from some chinese tourists, and later giving a european woman and her two little boys a rocky ride around the park below the temple.
also saw lots of monkeys. 2 were having a little fight in a tree. another one was wearing a plasctic bag on his head like a hat.
then headed through the old french district... stopped in the national library, which is very, very small, but in a beautiful colonial buidling. had a brief chat with the librarian, who spoke better french than english and handled the "patrimonial section" which i believe he said was full of old books about cambodia... in french. they were closing up for lunch (everything shuts down between about 11 and 2) so then i stopped in the fancy raffles hotel to freshen up in their nice restroom and then made my way to the central market, which is a really incredibly shaped indoor market. i will post photos soon! after wandering around and taking photos of dried fish, i made my way down to this very different market. the AC is good, and it is interesting to see the first buds of renewed cambodian prosperity. this country has been through so much, and was so destroyed by war, i cannot begrudge them their mall.
oh, the rollar skating rink was playing loud rap music. that i can begrudge them! ;)
now i'm heading out to get a 2 hour spa treatment. don't begrudge me that. tomorrow i go out to a traditional dance academy that is run by the friend of a friend to see them rehearse. tomorrow i'm also moving to the scandanavia hotel. the hope and anchor has a great view of the river, but the area is very noisy and touristy. scandanavia is only $5 more expensive and is a boutique-y place with a pool, which will be nice in the heat of midday. (otherwise i would just have to come back here to the mall...)
back to beijing and the cold on saturday, though.
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