Exploring our 'Hood' in Phnom Penh ^^ (Day 114 of the world trip)

27.12.2019

As feared, the first night in Phnom Penh was super hot and I could hardly sleep :p We had the fan on, but positioned it away from the bed so we wouldn't get a draft. The legs could be packed under the blanket reasonably well, but in the middle of the night I woke up because I was itching everywhere :/

Every body part that wasn't hidden under the blanket was found by mosquitoes, so it was either itching or sweating like crazy under the blanket. Jonas took it quite calmly, but it really affected my sleep and its quality :D :D

In the morning, we got up as usual in the past week around 7:30 a.m. But since we didn't have any food for breakfast, our first stop was the supermarket. Besides the minimarts, there is a 'real' supermarket about a 10-minute walk away.

It's part of a small local chain and is called 'Super Duper' - sounds promising, doesn't it? ;-) :D :D

The chain is run by an Australian, so it's no surprise that you can also find imported products there - milk, cornflakes, and even different types of bread!! <3

We bought bananas, whole wheat toast, and two yogurts for $5. Compared to Vietnam, that was super expensive and on the way back we had a little debate about not being able to shop in supermarkets in Cambodia^^

I didn't care because I trusted the supermarket, but Jonas thought it was too expensive for regular shopping ;-) Oh well. We'll see how we handle it in the next few days :)

After breakfast, we rested a little bit more (there's not much else you can do in this heat - I'm trying not to mention it in every other sentence :p ) and then we went bouldering.

On the way there, I took some photos of our neighborhood. Besides the trash we noticed yesterday, it's especially noticeable that the poor and the rich live right next to each other... Behind an entrance, there is a slum and across the street, a fancy new building is being built :O

These fancier houses all have high fences, some with barbed wire, and almost all of them also have security cameras at the entrance. We also walked past a 'guesthouse' where you can rent rooms by the hour (which gives away the actual business there).

Oh well. There's also a canal filled with black, foul-smelling water, which reminded us a lot of India. Wow :D

The bouldering gym itself was in the direction of a slightly cleaner neighborhood, where there were also shopping stores and jewelry shops. Yes... cliché fulfilled!

The gym was pretty cool and even though there weren't that many routes, Jonas and I were there for three hours :)

I myself only had about six routes that I could climb, but I also tried the beginnings of a difficulty that was above my level. Jonas, on the other hand, was doing great again and climbed a higher difficulty than usual :) Well, you never know how difficult it really is, as it's up to the route setter, but still ;-)

Just like in Ho Chi Minh, Jonas was occasionally observed and congratulated when he completed a route. Besides bouldering, which we both enjoyed a lot, I also liked the 'playground' by the climbing walls. Monkey bars and hula hoops - yay! :D

While doing the monkey bars, Jonas even managed to take a photo as if I could actually do it :D :D :D

After bouldering, we had a chocolate croissant from across the street and then we went to the Russian Market. It's a local market that we've seen constantly in Southeast Asia, but it was recommended to us by our host, so we stopped by and Jonas got himself a fresh pineapple juice :)

By the way, the market is called Russian Market because a few decades ago, it was mainly visited by tourists from the Soviet Union and the market was then adapted to their needs. It has nothing to do with Russian goods or Russian food ;-)

On the way back, we stopped at another supermarket to compare prices. There we found out that Super Duper is really popular :p

Back at the guesthouse, we took a shower and had toast (we didn't buy ANY CHOCOLATE COOKIES!!! :O) and the fan is running at full speed^^ Later, we might only go out once more for dinner and yeah.

So, the first day in Cambodia was pretty relaxed (like almost all our days here :p). We let the impressions of the street scene during the day sink in and then tomorrow we'll probably explore Phnom Penh itself, the city center.