August 12—Phnom Penh National Museum, Russian Market, Olympic Stadium, and the Locals at Riverside

Dear Family and Friends,

Day 90, Sunday, August 12, we awoke near 10:00 AM and headed down to breakfast at Angkor Café right next door to our new pad at Sakura Hotel, #70 on Rue 242. We paid for two more nights in Room #401 with its yellow walls and glorious air conditioning. We each ordered a coffee and a fruit shake, but with the language issue, we each only received coffee. Dani picked up yet another set of digits from a local gentleman, as our waiter, Sat, offered us to call him to spend some time with us to show us around and so he could practice his English. Of course, he also mentioned to Dani how pretty he thought she was.

Caffeinated, we walked to the National Museum, where we took a few minutes before entering as Dani needed some time to get past the ‘strong coffee on an empty stomach’ nausea issue. A sweet refreshing Fanta, some water, and some sit-down time did Dani some good. In the meantime, Martha explored the National Museum’s four-rows of artifacts displayed in the open air in a square around a beautiful center garden area. The collection included many references to the Buddha triad, Hindu goddesses and deities, bas-relief extractions from Angkor, an incredible loom with divinely detailed wooden pieces to work the yarn or silk into place, theatrical costuming, porcelain, and more than the small open pagoda should be housing. (The collection sprawled out into the courtyard.) The presentation of these luscious pieces of ancient artwork was better than in Bangkok, however, as at least some of the valuable pieces were encased in glass for better preservation.

After enjoying the National Museum, we caught a tuk-tuk for 2 USD to the Russian Market, where Dani finally felt much better after lunch at local joint where we watched the Khmer version of ‘American Idol,’ called ‘Teen Idol.’ Lunch cost us less than 4 USD among the locals, and we soon headed back to walk through the Russian Market.

We entered the Russian Market on the side where the food providers gather, which did not make for an inviting entrance as the ground was littered with waste and the practices we witnessed were less than hygienic. Plus, there seemed to be no running water or electricity in that area. The rows of the market were tighter than what we had seen in touristy Siem Reap, and the stalls were overflowing with collections of scarves, woodwork, t-shirts, toys, and other tourist memorabilia. In another section, we found kitchen ware; in others, clothes, motorcycle parts, more food and household goods, and mountains of shoes! (EEEEEEEEEEE!) We purchased little, but enjoyed the eye candy.

From the Russian Market, we started walking towards home, intent on seeing whatever we could; stopped at a Wat along the way to get a peek at the Cambodian flavor of a Buddhist temple. Outside of the temple gates, many people lounged in hammocks in the shade during the mid-day heat. A sweet young monk offered to open the gate so we could get closer to the Wat, and although the outside walls were as far as we got, they were magnificent. The tan outer structure of the temple displayed the incredible stonework abilities of the artisans in Cambodia as every inch was covered with clearly-repeated patterns. Certainly, this amount of detail should not have surprised us after seeing the prowess with stone that the Khmer people showed at Ankor!

Just across the street from the exit we took was the National Olympic Stadium (no, the Olympics were not held in Phnom Penh). We climbed up the ramp to the stadium to find an open field and typical bleachers for 50,000 fans. The stadium was built in 1964 and modeled with Angkor Wat’s aesthetics in mind, though difficult to picture in the finished product. Three people were running in the afternoon heat, which amazed us even more to note that they wore long sleeves to protect from the sun. Kids were flying kites, women were selling water or snacks, one vendor was frying donuts another had a scale to measure peoples’ height and weight, and young gentlemen were just hanging out. We sat at the top of the bleachers and drank some of the water we were carrying, enjoying the sunshine and a glimpse into the exercise life of the locals.

Back down the opposite ramp of the complex, we crossed the street to reach Rue 242. Perhaps you have heard about crossing the street in many Asian countries; it’s not always an easy task as motorbikes and cars come at you from all directions. We’ve been getting pretty good at starting at a reasonable, predictable speed and continuing to maneuver our way through the traffic. Thankfully, although there are a multitude of vehicles, they do not go overly fast and most times are on the proper side of the road, so it has been pretty easy to make our way across the streets in Cambodia.

At the hotel once again, Martha worked on the computer for a while to keep up with writing blog entries while Dani succumbed to the heat and went to the local hair cuttery to lop off that big wad o’ hair! She returned gorgeous, light and free, having paid just 3 USD for the top professional at the salon to style her new do. A woman who also worked there would have charged 1 USD, but did not feel comfortable cutting Western hair, nor was she at all comfortable with giving a short hair cut. “It will not be beautiful.” So she turned it over to the guru of the place and Dani returned very happy.

Ready to hunt/gather for dinner, we headed to the open-air stand across the street that Dani had her eye on since we got to Sakura. Any place with that many plastic tables and chairs must be popular and good! We ordered the kabobs that appeared to be the specialty of the house. Grilled meat on a skewer—yum. The barbeque (old oil drum filled with charcoal) was around the corner on the street, filling the neighborhood with great smells. The plate full of little kabobs came with a pickled salad and sweet garlic bread and two drinks for just 3.50 USD. As we sat, two Cambodian school-day chums moved to our table to sit with us and talk. The woman, Rachana, was an accountant and the man, Swiepa, was a teacher. Both spoke great English and we had a nice time chatting over dinner about schooling systems, work, living with elders and 9:00 PM curfews (even though Rachana was 23-years-old, her aunt and uncle with whom she was living were pretty strict, but then again, the rules for dating and galavanting seem to be pretty conservative in Cambodia), and our impressions of Khmer life before parting ways. We were honest with them, speaking about our hopes for the people of Cambodia after the darkness of their Khmer Rouge past: how hard we saw the people working towards a better future for their children. Afterwards, Martha wondered what Swiepa might have lived through at an age not much older than our own.

Not yet tired, we walked East to the Riverfront, which turned out to be a great idea that gave us an incredible glimpse at a hot local hangout—few tourists, lots of open stands with hanging dried squid and other fishy items, corn cob vendors all along the highways, bowls of snails and cuttlefish waiting to be opened and savored. We passed these picnic markets that spread mats out like blankets upon the sidewalk. Families and groups of friends gathered to eat family style upon the ground.

What fun! We walked to the end of the line, tried unsuccessfully in the darkness to ‘see’ the rivers colliding at that point on the water beyond the sprawl of people, and headed back to bed. Our final stop of the day was at local convenience market—UStop—for crackers and cheese to settle Dani’s tummy which hasn’t been happy for a couple of days (not to worry, there are no other signs of Dengue Fever). Settled in the room, we ate crackers and watched Poseidon Adventure (the original) on HBO.

In love and light,

Martha and Dani