December 2011

Every morning, I order hot coffee and condensed sweet milk for breakfast. Throw in some deep fried dumplings and it's a complete breakfast. Jose prefers noodle soup. But the best thing of all is it all cost less than $2.50.

If you're looking to get some place long distance, then there are plenty of charter buses to choose from in Phnom Penh. We rode along the river front and found a sign for travel and tour and walked in inquiring about bus tickets. It took a phone call from the agent to the bus companies to confirm availability and seating arrangements to Siem Reap and 7 bucks per person later (for a 6 hour ride), we were issued our tickets. Easy as pie.

Street food. Only for the adventurous. Our first day out eating in Phnom Penh was at a road-side shop that specialized in kebobs. I asked my cousin what kind of meat were being grilled on the open bbq and was told beef. Beef liver, beef strips and something resembling beef meatballs on a stick. It smelled wonderful and tasted yummy! You're charged by the stick. I had 3 and Jose had 14.

The easiest way to get around Phnom Penh is by tuk tuk. Picture a small carriage pulled by a moped. It can be quite a harrowing experience. Traffic in this city is madness. There's no rhyme or reason to the way people drive here and no rules on how many people you can squeeze onto a vehicle. We've seen cars driving on the opposite side of the road onto oncoming traffic and mopeds with 3 peoples squeezed on a seat back. Sometimes even inches away of nicking each other. I recommend these cardinal rule: keep your hands and feets close to your body, hang on for dear life and bring sunglasses to protect your eyes from the dust.