ਕੰਬੋਡੀਆ ਦਿਵਸ 1: ਫਨੋਮ ਪੇਨ ਪਹੁੰਚੋ

On 23.01., my flight departed from the 3°C cold Frankfurt via Hong Kong to the 30°C warm Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Thomas and I randomly decided to spend our vacation there because it offers a good mix of culture and beach.

The current situation with the coronavirus was already visible on the plane and also in Hong Kong. The entire flight crew and a majority of the people were wearing masks, which was not the case when I departed from Shanghai.
Before I even arrived in Hong Kong, there was already the first incident. A German man, who seemed to be mentally unstable, caused trouble on the plane and verbally abused people for no apparent reason. After the staff had moved all the people in his vicinity, he stood up during landing and started attacking another German man. Immediately, I and some other passengers intervened and wrestled the man to the ground, where he remained until the police picked him up in Hong Kong. So, that was a good start to my vacation, but after that everything went smoothly.

Thomas picked me up from the airport, and then we took a Tuk Tuk to our hostel in the city center. After checking in and having a cozy lunch, we walked along the waterfront right outside our door to the Royal Palace. Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, and these buildings host all the king's ceremonies, such as the coronation.

Afterward, we went to the Central Market and just walked around there. It's already so different from our markets. They have everything, like clothes, jewelry, food, paintings...

From there, we went to the pier and took a boat tour that ended just before sunset. We were almost alone on the boat, and it was really relaxing.

We then spent our evening on the hostel's rooftop terrace and took a stroll along the waterfront. At that time, the place was full of people, there were many small food stalls, and the temples were celebrating the new year.

Finally, we could go to sleep because the next day we had to get up early.

Written by: Friedemann