Phnom Penh...

Once again we stayed in this town long enough to decide to upgrade to a better hotel. Harvey and I have moved to one of the newest hotels in Phnom Penh. Billabong was finished about one month ago. It has a beautifully landscaped pool deck that leads to a restaurant bar area. The rooms are clean and well designed, and the air conditioning makes the rooms as cold as you wanna be. All for $25.00 per night. Staying at a hotel with a pool makes it easy to spend the entire day lounging, but we still manage to get out most every day for a trip somewhere. We are planning a trip to Siemreab to see Angkor Wat sometime this week. I’m really looking forward to photographing it. I’ve become pretty comfortable here so, it’s a little difficult to tear myself away for some exploring, but that is what I’m here for (I think).

One of our friends recommended the FCC to us. FCC stands for the Foreign Correspondence Club, it’s restaurant bar/lounge that has great food. The upstairs patio is an open-air bar and dining room that has a really nice view of the Tonle Sab River. The best part of it is they are an Internet hotspot, so we go there with the laptops, and go online while we eat. I ran a speed test on their connection, and it was pretty impressive how fast they are. I’m not sure if the Photos I posted last time I was there showed up on my web log, but if not I’ll put some on. My battery was pretty low the first time I went there, so I didn’t really get much done. Finally we’ve found a good Internet connection, and a cool place to hang out.

Last week was Matt’s Birthday. So Dave arranged for a boat to pick us up in front of the California 2, and take us downriver to this group of floating restaurant/bars. It was a surreal trip down the river in this brightly colored boat, and since it was July 5th we had fireworks. The sunset colored the water orange and red, plus the fireworks, and if that wasn’t enough further down the Mekong there was an electrical storm providing us with an impressive display of lightning.

One thing I never wrote about is how we get around in Phnom Penh. There are taxis, but the best way to get around is with a motodop. That’s a guy with a 100cc motorcycle with a really big back seat on it. There aren’t that many cars on the road, so this is how nearly everyone gets around. The most people we’ve seen on one is seven, but two of them were babies so really five. Five people on one of them is fairly common, but still pretty shocking. Anyway these guys will drive you around all day, and all night for like five dollars. They’re waiting outside all the bars at night, but I try to get one I know and keep him with me through all my travels. Although it doesn’t sound all that safe these guys are really good at negotiating the crazy traffic patterns, and they serve as the designated driver. I’ve really started to enjoy the ride between bars at night, because the cool air rushing over me is both cooling, and a good wake up.

Well I think that’s enough for now, I’m gonna try to post more now that I’ve found FCC.