PP Stinks
Phnom Phen, Cambodia
If it wasn't for the rotting garbage, festering sewers and dusty roads, this might be a very attractive city. It looks like they spend as little money as possible to build and maintain PP. Other than the main streets, the rest are bumpy dirt roads, right in the middle of town. There are virtually no traffic lights or street lights so it gets very dark and at night and crossing the road at any time is a nightmare. Literally every street corner has a couple of guys sitting on their scooters and tuk-tuks waiting to give you a ride: "hey man, moto?, tuk-tuk?". I used to respond out of politeness but now I just pretend their not their. Even looking ahead of you and seeing the next gang on the corner has them off their bikes looking at you with their hands up. I'm actually starting to say yes to the Moto guys, it's too hot to walk far in the day and at night it's just too scary to walk in the dark.
The nights are beautiful. Last night I met Lara, Chris and 2 other Canadians at the FCC (Foreign Correspondants Club) where journalists used to hang out when Cambodia was in the news. They've got a great open bar on the 2nd floor overlooking the point where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers come together.
Found a few stalls in the market selling Alias software. Maya goes for $2 and AutoStudio for $4 (that's before bargaining). To get a better perspective on the price, Maya costs the equivalent of 4 bowls of the noodle soup I had for lunch at a market stand nearby. It's nice to see Alias making inroads in SE Asia.
Disturbing visit to the Tuol Sleng museum this morning. This is the place that the Khmer Rouge processed over 17,000 of the 1-2 million people they exterminated in the killing fields. It's hard to believe that this was going on in 1978.
I think that this is enough of Pnohm Penh for me, back to Vietnam on the boat tomorrow.
Paul
If it wasn't for the rotting garbage, festering sewers and dusty roads, this might be a very attractive city. It looks like they spend as little money as possible to build and maintain PP. Other than the main streets, the rest are bumpy dirt roads, right in the middle of town. There are virtually no traffic lights or street lights so it gets very dark and at night and crossing the road at any time is a nightmare. Literally every street corner has a couple of guys sitting on their scooters and tuk-tuks waiting to give you a ride: "hey man, moto?, tuk-tuk?". I used to respond out of politeness but now I just pretend their not their. Even looking ahead of you and seeing the next gang on the corner has them off their bikes looking at you with their hands up. I'm actually starting to say yes to the Moto guys, it's too hot to walk far in the day and at night it's just too scary to walk in the dark.
The nights are beautiful. Last night I met Lara, Chris and 2 other Canadians at the FCC (Foreign Correspondants Club) where journalists used to hang out when Cambodia was in the news. They've got a great open bar on the 2nd floor overlooking the point where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers come together.
Found a few stalls in the market selling Alias software. Maya goes for $2 and AutoStudio for $4 (that's before bargaining). To get a better perspective on the price, Maya costs the equivalent of 4 bowls of the noodle soup I had for lunch at a market stand nearby. It's nice to see Alias making inroads in SE Asia.
Disturbing visit to the Tuol Sleng museum this morning. This is the place that the Khmer Rouge processed over 17,000 of the 1-2 million people they exterminated in the killing fields. It's hard to believe that this was going on in 1978.
I think that this is enough of Pnohm Penh for me, back to Vietnam on the boat tomorrow.
Paul
posted by Paul at 10:39 PM
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