Day 9: Siem Reap-Phnom Penh (18km)
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to board speedboat to Phnom Penh. This boat
trip takes 6 hours; the boat has life jacket and toilet. It is one of the best
boat trip to cross Tonle Sap lake, one of the biggest fresh water lake in South-East Asia. When the boat leaves the dock,
immediately you will be able to view the picturesque floating village. This
community comprise of Cambodian, Vietnamese and Muslim minorities. The market,
gas station and school are also floating. They move up and down depends on the
season. In rainy season, Tonle Sap lake reaches 10,000 square Km, but in dry
season it's got only 5,000 square Km. Arrive in Phnom Penh
port, afternoon visit Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and National Museum.
Overnight in Phnom Penh.
(B,L,D)
Up
at 5:15am, packed up and went downstairs for an early breakfast. The
bus was supposed to leave at 6:45am but pulled out at 7:10am. One or two from the other group which joined
our tour can’t seem to make the specified time for departure which results in
the majority of us sitting around waiting.
A 15 minute bus trip took us back to Lake
Tonle Sap for the 6-7 hour cruise to Phnom Penh. The boat
this time was much flasher than the one from Battambang. This one had aircon therefore it was fully enclosed. But the crew left the two entrance doors open
so nearly cancelled out the aircon. Nevertheless it was comfy enough.
The boat is somewhat faster too, cruising along at about 40km/h;
according to Kev's GPS. We were told the fuel cost US$1400 per trip.
The seating was padded with high backs and there were a few spare seats
so we were able to spread out a bit. There were three seats down one side
and two the other. Total seating of
about 70, not counting the lounge area up front. You could wander around
on the boat and deck but it wasn’t all that nice outside due to the heat on the
steel plate. While the other trip was
mostly along narrow passages and a river, the first three hours of this trip
was over open water. The boat reminded me of a large stretched speedboat.
The open water was choppy but you hardly felt it in the boat as it was a
hefty old girl. As we got closer to Phnom
Penh we started to see lots of locals in flimsy
fishing boats or dugout canoes obviously trying to make a living or feed their
families. About three hours out we
started to travel along a river (part of the Mekong)
and could view the local houses, farms, shops etc which made the trip more
interesting. A heck of a lot of floating villages / houses only held up
by floating bamboo poles attached underneath apparently. Arrived Phnom
Penh right on time at 2pm; a six hour trip exactly.
A
15 minute bus ride took us to the Ohana Hotel, a very nice 3-4 star place in
the city not far from the riverfront. The building looks like it's from the
French era as it had a grand high ceiling foyer tastily decorated with large
Cambodian paintings and wood and a very impressive marble stairway.
20
minutes at the motel then it was off again, this time to the National Museum
built in 1917-20. Surprisingly designed by a Frenchman but in the classic
Cambodian style. The French had a fair amount of influence during the
building of the museum too apparently. We
saw a lot of very old stone carvings and bronze statues not unlike the ones
we’d seen at the temples. A well set out and maintained museum.
The
bus later took us to dinner at a flash restaurant, nice but not special. We walked home via some markets.
Inside the “aircon” boat
from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh
The fast boat
The courtyard of the National Museum
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