The coach was fine, slow but steady, and whilst the incessant loud, tinny ringtones of the other passengers mobiles was a bit irritating, my ipod made everything better. The decor was very bizarre - everything was covered in a chintz pattern, even the televisions dotted through the length of the coach. Even the toilet, designed for midgets, was ok. We could only use it if bent double, but it was better than waiting for the alternative - what I shall refer to as "French toilets" at the next rest-stop. Once in Phnom Penh, we booked to stay at the same place as last time, "The 240" B&B. After the hotel in HCMC, which was really big and impersonal, we'd much rather stick with smaller places as then you feel more comfortable, which is nice when you're away from home for this length of time. It has amazed me how helpful the hotel staff are in this part of the world. In Vietnam the staff at various hotels organised flights, booked day trips, made phonecalls for us, and all for free - as JP would say, "brucie bonus!"
Once we'd dropped off the bags, we headed out again and I was really pleased to see "our" tuk-tuk driver outside the B&B. Phin is a student at the university, studying medicine to become a doctor, but he runs a tuk-tuk to earn money to fund himself. Whenever we see him he has a textbook with him, which are always in French as apparently that is the language he is taught in, despite being a Khmer university. We've used him a couple of times before and he'll take random detours to share something with you. I didn't get a photo of him, so here's JP on the tuk-tuk!
Today's destination was the Russian market, tourist central, but the best place to get a lot of souvenirs in PP. Here's our purchases for the afternoon.
I love markets in the east, they're dark and smelly and you need to watch your footing, but they are packed with stalls filled to the rafters with treasures, some tat and a lot of smiling people keen for "you lady, you buy something!", a familiar refrain which starts to haunt you after a while. It's a sensory overload as the noise and the smells overwhelm you at first, but after a few minutes you start to get used to it, and I like seeing all the random stalls in the market. In the main central market in PP , we've found aisles selling motorbike parts, we've found the aisle with the "beauty salons" (ordinary market area with sinks added), food stalls piled high with what looks to be hundreds of types of dried fish, and so much more besides.$20 lighter, and with replacement sunglasses, new flip-flops and lots more, it was back to the hotel to clean up, before we were off for "sundowners" at the Foreign Correspondents Club. The FCC is something of an institution here, at least for expats, of which there seem to be many in PP. There is a two-tier system in both Vietnam and here in Cambodia, whereby the expats seem to stay separate to the locals, but maybe that's an outsiders view. There are certainly enough westernised (i.e. expensive) places to support that, plus there is separate medical provision. Apparently the expats have regular get-togethers of their own national communities and then there are monthly get-togethers for the entire lot. Who says the days of national empires are over?
Then it was back to "Friends" for dinner, the charity place we went to on the first day in PP, as I'd been craving the aubergine dip. I hate aubergines normally, but if they are turned into babaganoush, i love them. They don't call it that here, but it is the same stuff.
By the time we were headed back to the hotel, it was dark, and we were surprised to see that the Royal Palace and several other places in the city were all lit up in honour of the Buddha's birthday. As this is a buddhist country, it's a big deal, and there are two big ceremonies at important shrines, but everywhere celebrates with a national holiday and they all go to their local shrines and give offerings and thanks. We saw lots of families having picnics on the open park in front of the royal palace, near the two small shrines on the riverfront. 
The shrines were heaving with people, very chaotic and heavily scented with incense. I watched for ten minutes and could not fathom any order to the throngs of people trying to get into the tiny shrine buildings, which could probably hold 10-15 people, but had dozens trying to get into them. I took several photo's to try to show the chaos, but none of them do it justice. As with most events here, it all follows rules I can't see in practise, but which keep everything ticking along all the same.All things considered, Phnom Penh turned out to be a good city to stop in and we've liked it as much as we did the cities in Vietnam. Off to Siem Reap next - another 6 hour bus tomorrow.
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