Tag 54 - intrusive

23.06.2019

After a very restful night's sleep, we wake up around 08:30 and know that the first item on the agenda is to withdraw money - we literally don't have a single cent left. We leave the hostel shortly after 09:00 and promptly meet the TukTuk driver from yesterday, who ignored or misunderstood our statement 'we want to go to the Killing Fields at some point' and is now firmly convinced that we are going to get into his TukTuk to do the tour with him (we never negotiated a price). Accordingly, the man becomes grumpy, who by the way speaks hardly any English, when we try to make it clear to him with hand gestures and broken English that we absolutely do not want to go today. We are pretty sure that he is trying to make us believe that he only drove us yesterday on the condition (for €1.50) that we would do a tour with him today. We stay very friendly the whole time and try to brush him off; the driver laughs in disbelief and we believe he is cursing at us in Khmer. The fact that the man, around 50, doesn't give up easily, is proven by the fact that he follows us with his TukTuk to the ATM and waits for us in front of the stall where the ATM is located, probably with the belief that if we finally have money, we would either pay him or book a tour. We return to the hostel to pay our bill and ignore the TukTuk driver a bit more consistently this time. He drives alongside us and repeats the sentence 'I know you from yesterday, we said 9 o'clock!' countless times. We enter the hostel, pay the bill, and put a large part of the money in the room - we have heard that more theft occurs in Phnom Penh than elsewhere in Cambodia. The driver parks in front of the hostel again and now makes an agitated phone call to someone. We are on the verge of asking the reception for translation help, but then decide against it and quickly sneak out of the accommodation without the man noticing - we've gotten rid of him!

We haven't planned anything for today and just want to stroll through the city. After stocking up on a bottle of water at the supermarket and a lemon iced tea at a street stand, we stop at a restaurant and have breakfast. There is a bacon baguette with salad, onions, and tomatoes (€2.70 - 8/10) and toast with sausages and eggs (€2.25 - 7/10). Afterwards, we simply wander through the streets and are positively surprised by the city. It is very green and lively, at least in the city center. Many bars, restaurants, markets, traders, museums, and galleries shape the cityscape.

We reach the museum, which is located in the middle of a park. We had planned to visit the museum, but when we see the entrance fee of €10 per person, we decide against it - I like to spend money on culture and especially museums, but only if the price is in reasonable proportion to the value and does not seem arbitrary.

We continue along the Mekong and visit some boutiques that offer fair trade and locally made products. In our search for food and drink, we stumble upon the Central Market, which is not much different from the markets we already know, except that it is covered with a dome.