Finally, the last day in Cambodia in Phnom Penh with a visit to the local hair salon...

After visiting the S21 memorial, I continued walking to the Russian Market. Earlier, I had coincidentally run into Mitch; the Australian from my tour in Kampot. He recognized me from afar by my long hair (unbeknownst to me at the time, this would no longer be my signature look) and called out to me across the square. He told me that his train ride from Kampot to Phnom Penh was very strange. He suspected that the seafood at the market in Kep was to blame for it. Apparently, the preventive stomach pills hadn't helped.

At the vast area of the Russian Market, with its indoor and outdoor sections, there is truly nothing you cannot find; starting with everything in the culinary department, through the entire construction and gardening market assortment, car engines and all automotive parts accessories, street kitchens wafting scents into the numerous surrounding clothing stalls... and since I had become a bit of a fan of Angkor and Cambodia in the last two weeks, I also expanded my collection of fan shirts there... After that, I took a Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel district and, after freshening up, headed to an adjacent sports bar for dinner, where I watched the scandalous match of Dynamo against the Kogge... I ended the evening there with a few loud English stereotype guys, enjoying endless Premier League matches...

On my last day in Phnom Penh, I didn't have any big plans and just wanted to walk around a bit and visit a few smaller places... While strolling through the streets, I passed a hair salon, and before I knew it, I had spontaneously taken a seat inside and pulled up pictures on my phone of how I could envision my airy new look... A long-haired European with my desired project would probably not be very common; in fact, I was likely the first. Accordingly, all eyes were directed at me, and there was constant photographing and filming as the mane of the last 20 years slowly disappeared... Then it was off with my airy new hairstyle and an unfamiliar feeling at the back of my neck for lunch, followed by a walking tour through the city. First stop: Wat Ounalom. A Buddhist monastery, which is also considered the center of Buddhism in Cambodia, although the remarkable overall site appears relatively modest compared to the many places visited before... Then off towards the Cambodian-Vietnamese Friendship Monument and after a few small detours, I made my way to the Independence Monument. Here, they commemorated independence from French colonial rule in 1953... Just upon my arrival, something happened that I had not experienced in the five weeks of my trip, although I had heard about it; it began to rain heavily and extensively... I quickly got soaked and so I strolled back the nearly 40 minutes to my hotel, where I then waited until evening... Around 10:00 PM it finally cleared up with the rain, and I went out again for a little something to eat, spotting a sports bar where the Bayern game against Frankfurt was airing and settled there. At midnight, my local time, the polling stations in Germany were set to close and I wanted to know the results of the federal election. I even stayed until 1:30 AM local time and enjoyed some of what would perhaps be my last moments in Cambodia before heading towards Vietnam the next morning...

After breakfast, where I almost completely spent my last Cambodian Riels, I am now sitting comfortably in a bus with reclining seats and plenty of space on my 7-hour journey to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, waiting to see what the local border crossing will hold for me...