31st Jan, Last day in Cambodia! 3284km.

 En-route to Vietnam, passed by this ferry terminal where there was ferry service to the opposite side. I was cycling around the place for 30mins or so, jus going back and forth trying to find a road/bridge to cross over but eventually found out that the ferry service was the only way across! or at least the only way in the vicinity. hmmm...

lots of vendors on foot selling bbq birds, corn, bananas, bread, drinks, and all kinds of food to passengers while on the ferry.

slept in another high sch but this time i learnt my lesson and woke up at 6am before the whole sch arrive to see a weird-looking boy in their sch. the care-taker of the sch was really nice and opened the office for me to use the toilet and shower at night as well as the lights, and asked me to sleep inside the building lest it rains.

finally found my waffles after having a craving for it the past few days! yummy waffles with peanut butter =P

Gdbye Cambodia!

29th Jan, Phnom Penh, the only place in Cambodia where ppl actually exercise for leisure... 3080km.

the central market in Phnom Penh. this is 1 section of the market, and there are 4 identical sections leading up to the massive building in the middle. all the sections sell diff stuff, from clothing & silk-pots & pans-backpacks- food.

tons of stalls selling North Face, Camelback, other well-known brands. apparently they are all produced for the international market in Cambodia but some of them have minor flaws so they get "leaked" into Cambodia. generally of very good quality except for a few minor flaws that you might not even notice.

the cleanest and most sanitized market in Cambodia i have seen so far...

first time seeing a playground in cambodia. didnt even see any in Siem Reap...

only place in Cambodia where ppl actually exercise for leisure. everywhere else you only see ppl finding ways to survive...

Phnom Penh Night Market, which was very tourist oriented. nth much of interest here.

S-21 prison facility in Cambodia where Pol Pot minions tortured and killed thousands, even including their own and senior govt officials who were found to be "disloyal" or "traitors"

maggi goreng with beef for 2500riels =P

a temple close to Phnom Penh where i slept for the night, en-route to Vietnam

invited me to sleep inside their home and joined them for breakfast as well.

the monk giving me his contacts (again) and writing the name of the temple

sth i noticed while eating with families/monks/random ppl in Cambodia is the sequence of eating.
The monks will always eat first and everybody else will jus hang around and wait until they are done. Then, the men will start to eat after the monks are done. Finally, after the men are done, then the women will come to eat so usually they get everything thats left over. When i ate with another Cambodian family (see http://alvingys.blogspot.com/2011/01/27th-jan-stupid-army-sandals-broke.html) the mother ate the burnt pieces of rice that was stuck on the sides of the pot and only at the end when we had all finished.

seems like they are still very particular about the social structure and women are prob not given much equality especially in the poorer regions. hmmmm...

27th Jan, stupid army sandals broke... 3020km

saw quite a few weddings in cambodia and usually it takes place just outside their house with alot of loud music and bright clothing

guest house that was supposed to open on 8/8/08 but wasnt opened yet...

before throwing away my army sandals, jus had to take a photo of the leg tan that i got from the sandals =D

the desserts here are one of the highlights of culinary adventures in cambodia. really good and they have a wide variety of diff stuff.

wanted to sleep in this temple but this village guy saw me and invited me to his home to stay instead.

the blue guy invited me and the red guy was his village fren.

looks familiar anybody? haha

they still use a charged batt for electricity around the house. when its exhausted, they will get it recharged at a local batt shop which uses a generator to charge it.

spread some flour over the pan and wait for it to simmer for a while...

and you have a omelette/pancake/crepe with pork fillings and veggies inside

manual sugarcane machine that looked pretty hard to turn. or mayb she was jus tired.

voila! and the juice flows out from the side.

really good and cheap beef+pork noodle for 2000riels

the dog and chicken helping me to finish off the disgusting fats which was really chewy, like rubber.

the temple i stayed in near phnom penh

and for some strange reason, the monk kept insisting that i take a photo of the monks working. had to listen to him or he would bother me the whole day.

25th Jan, really nice young monk in Wat Stoeng. 2862km

a pipe that leads from the rooftop into these 2 big pots/containers.

the dude at the temple said that i could shower with the water. since the cambodians can do it, then so can I!

bamboo rice along the side of the road

it gets bbq until it turns black, then they chop off the burnt parts...

and then when all the burnt parts are removed, they are put over the fire again! repeat until rice cooked

chunky red beans and coconut shreds with sticky white rice.

the rice at the side was all burnt and you could see parts of the bamboo stuck to it. very diff from thailand's version. sadly the beans and coconut shreds are only found at the top. if they can put them in btw the rice at regular intervals, it would taste much better! hopefully some cambodian reads my advice and acts on it =P

i nvr knew a 125cc motorbike was capable of this until now...

another temple that i slept in Stoeng.

the bed that they provided me with for the night.

and the really cute monk (only 15) and some other dude whom i slept with

showing me around his pagoda

goodbye! thx for everything! =D