Kambodża KambodżaPhnom Penh11°33’14” N 104°55’34” E
2 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Drove over to Mum and Dads to drop the car off - they are going to take it for a service while we are away.
We picked up Joey at Epping station and dad drove to the airport.
We are flying with Qantas - they only have the self serve check in which is BS.
Some lady was coughing in the tsa area. People were giving her dirty looks lol.
A lot of people with masks on but not as many as I thought.
FYI: Coronavirus is causing world anxiety at the minute.
Had maccas for breakfast (Tom was already in his 3rd beer), went to our gate, sat with Sabdys maid of honor and eventually jumped on the plane. They have all of Big Bang season 12 which I’m excited it’s watch.
The seat next to be in empty; delightful.
I always like when the seatbelt fits. Makes you feel normal sized not obese.
Very sleepy but having the usual problem of havubv nowhere to put my neck. My wrist is also hurting supporting it so poo.
Need to have my cyst removed when back.
Reminder of change of flight saga: they cancelled our connecting flight from Singapore and did NOT email me to tell me. It is by luck we found out through Tom who made an off handed comment when playing Xbox with Will.
They had put us on a new flight but it left Singapore at 1pm and our first flight wasn’t arriving until 4pm.....
So I spent an hour on the phone with Expedia and they fixed it - we are now flying through Bangkok instead. I’m just flabbergasted by the whole thing not because it was cancelled but because they dis the mention it!?!?!
Urgently hanging out in Thailand. We have a 5 hour lay over.
So far we are outraged by the lack of WiFi but also the price of food. NOT ONLY THIS —— but we bought 2 meals from Burger King which were fenced but changed to our phone anyway. SEVENTY dollars.
Fuck off.
they gave us a meal and we will have to dispute their her transaction when home - don’t want to do it now in case they cancel our card lol.
We have been sitting on chairs playing games of ‘would you rather’ have found WiFi but I think it’s off a plane nearby not the airport.
Nadia (maid of honor) by some miracle found us.
This airport is MASSIVE and yet so unbelievably boring. And like no seating?
We got a cute little group pic in front of our connecting flight sign.
Lots of face masks now. Lots!
Our plane is empty 😂 youuuuuuu beautyyyyyyy.
We are all tired and delusional. Joey had a coconut while we were waiting - best coconut I’ve ever had. Keen to eat more once we get there!
I’ve needed to pee so many times. Always feels like it’s gonna be 7L and ends up being 5 drops. 🙄
It’s Toms birthday today. He is miserable about spending his day in an airport.
There is only max 20-30 people on our plane. Had great flight. 1 hour so just up and down. Yew.
Just started our decent into Phnom Penh. Keen to get there and go to bed. DELIGHTED that we arrive at night and not our usual 7am where we hav to wait hours to check in. Bloody cheering.
Customs was quick cause there was no one to process 😅
I had pre arranged an airport transfer so our dude was waiting for us and drove to the hotel.
Checked in and went straight to lie down haha.
Our room is stuffy but hopefully once the air con kicks in it will be niiice. Czytaj więcej
KambodżaPhnom Penh11°32’52” N 104°55’4” E
3 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Workers started early this morning. 😪
Very loud. They are drilling the road so literally the loudest possible tool - a jackhammer. I feel rested enough; It was an odd sleep though? Not as deep as I would have liked.
We went down to meet Tom and Joey for breakfast which we are currently under the impression is included.
Great spread! I ate so much mango and the french toast was note worthy good.
Tom needed to get fitted for his traditional wedding stuff so we went with him to the shop. We have agreed we will just pay $4 per tuk tuk. Probably more than we should pay for some of the local journeys but it’s $1 each. More than reasonable.
It was a bit of saga getting this fitting done.
First off we went to the wrong shop and had to call Bobbin to clarify the shop (there was 3 with the same name all next to each other) . He sent us to the right one but then no one spoke English 🙃🙃 so then we had to call Sabdy to talk to them for us. We had played charades for 10 minutes with no success. Sabdy legit said 2 words to them and then all 3 workers let out an OHHHHH if sudden understanding. Bloody hell.
When they saw Tom their eyes nearly popped out of their heads. Genuine concern they don’t have enough fabric/time. 😂
The lady literally shooed is our the show.
Hey, at least she gave sign language a go. A skill I’ve learnt Asians struggle with.
We then walked to the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum or S21. We were meeting up with Steven, Jordan & Vanessa so we popped in to a local shop for a drink. I got my coconut - yum!
It would be super cheap here if our dollar was such a piece of shit at the moment. It the lowest it’s been since 2008 or some shit. Standard. I travel and the dollar goes bad.😬 This time coronavirus is to blame. Alas.
We met up and all walked in together. We chose not to get the audio guide.
The building use to be a school before converted to a prison.
There were several buildings.
Building A was large rooms with metal beds in them. Most of them had a photo on the wall of a victim in the bed. The rooms were massive and presumably multipurpose. There were 3 levels.
There was a sign with the prison rules.
I remember the rules from last time. They were just as horrifying this time.
You may not cry when being whipped or electrocuted.
They had the bars and pots on display from where the prisoners would be hung up, half drowned then the process repeated.
Building B had photos of the victims and some of their clothes. Also some horrendous torture photos of the methods and instruments.
Building C were the jail cells I suppose you would call them. Some brick and some wood. Some still with drops of blood.
Building D was more photos and skulls of victims.
Maybe not 100% accurate. I was more focused at looking at the displays than taking note of order and building letter.
It was sobering.
For me a highlight was meeting one of two remaining survivors, Bou Meng.
12,000 went in. 7 came out.
He showed me some of his scars, and a photo of his wife who was killed. I bought his book and he insisted I get a photo with him. I didn’t know whether to smile or not?
I told him I’m so sorry it happened.
The group then went walking and found a cafe to hang out in and have some drinks. We got told to shut up by a person trying to do work. Will and Tom are so bad for each other lol.
We then got tuk tuks to the national museum which frankly was not worth the $10USD entry each. Lots of Buddhist statues and not much else. The actually building itself and garden were beautiful though and had some awesome fish in the ponds .
Next Tuk tuk was to the central markets. Our driver spoke great English so we exchange numbers for if we need a driver. He couldn’t remember his number because “ ahh I’ve had too many beers” oh that’s great... hahaha jeez.
We had a look around and all bought some stuff. Tom bought the stupidest Gucci man bag thing. It’s ugly and some bejeweled watch that looks fake AF.
Will bought a wallet, Joey a statue and I bought 2 shirts and a necklace.
I’d like to go back cause I was just so tired and couldn’t really engage.
We started a fight with the tuk tuk drivers. Tom promised one dude and another dude chucked a toddler tantrum.
Cambodia, Thai and Vietnamese all have awful accents/high choppy, whiny voices.
Back home and I had a nap while the boys went for a swim. So damn tired.
Will booked a Resturant. It was traditional Cambodian food - super fancy. Tom accidentally ordered a $60USD steak. The table was in hysterics at this mistake.
He did get it changed in time. Shame. Would have been hilarious.
I had saramam beef <— definitely not correct spelling.
So good!!
We then went to the casino. We walked past these night eatery places with the flashing (Christmas) lights everywhere. Good vibes.
The casino was both weird and generic.
First to get in they took out temperature in an attempt to stop the virus spreading. Fair enough. They had awful entertainment. It was like eisteddfod standard and so cheesy! The audience was like 4 people. Awks.
Will bought a round for everyone and then pissed of with Tom and Steven to gamble. I spent the nugget mostly talking to Jordan and Nessa.
The casino had the COOLEST room which was like old school china buildings with a painted blue sky roof which was a major trip. BLOODY LOVED IT. Couldn’t take photos unfortunately. I got one up my nostrils tho.
Prostitutes were casually hanging out at the bar waiting.
I’m crashing so I’m now home. So is everyone but Tom and Will who are celebrating Bobbins bucks.... with out Bobbin. 😂 Czytaj więcej
KambodżaPhnom Penh11°33’7” N 104°55’36” E
4 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
So tired eek.
Thankfully everyone is dead too so we didn’t get moving this morning until 12. Tom got a foot massage and apparently the lady was beside herself with his size asking how much he weighed and just totally flabbergasted hahaha
We jumped on one of the tuk tuks waiting outside our hotel. We negotiated $18 for a return trip to the killing fields. It was a bloody long way or at least it felt like it cause we were going through little communities. Asia just looks all the same, dusty, piles of bricks everywhere, shop fronts selling junk and small children out and about in farmland.
The killing fields are how I remover but also different. I feel like last time I walk the circuit the other way??
Anyway, the audio guide was excellent. Informative it not too much.
Each station was very interesting.
The first few were this is where the truck stopped as prisoners got out, they is where the chemical shed stood etc. the next majority were the different mass graves. Bone and cloth still beneath the soil - cleaned up every few months before fresh ones rise to the surface.
It was a solemn walk. Everyone in total silence. There was a grace for women and children. Most naked. A tree next to it had been covered in bright bracelet things. This tree was wee guards held babies by their feet and smashed their heads against the tree before throwing them into the grave.
There was another tree called the magic tree where they had speaker phones attached to hide the moans of victims to keep it all a secret.
I think the most impactuous thing I heard today was music. This music was played from the tree, it was the last thing the victims heard before being slaughtered.
The big monument in the middles houses a lot of the skeletons. They are categorized into sections with sticker codes. Gender, age and cause of death.
We went to a tiny museum attached next door which had the Khmer uniforms and murder weapons.
We also watched a movie which was awful - a year 5 PowerPoint presentation at best. They should update..
We caught our tuk tuk back and got stuck in a mad traffic jam and then suddenly it was like the flood gates open and everyone just started moving again.
We went to kfc for lunch as if was next to the mumu place we planned to go to which was closed. Nothing special.
We went back to hotel, I went upstairs and hung my legs in the pool. I got bored so I went down stairs for an unsuccessful nap.
Our phones have been dinging all afternoon cause everyone is so confused by the wedding Andre are trying to sort out information. Me and Will are ignoring at the moment cause we have chosen not to go to the 1st day ceremony. Having 3 ceremonies that are so different from each other seems to beyond everyone capability to understand lol.
I need to go shopping tomorrow for a different dress for the morning ceremonies tho.
We went to a sports bar for dinner. I had ice cream cause I wasn’t really hungry. Will had nothing. Tom and Joey enjoyed their food though.
We then played a game of pool. It was 50c per game. We decided to get rid of some of our Riel.
So stupid. It’s 1000 Riel for 25c. They have notes of 100 Riel so 2.5c worth. Painful to add up.
Jordan sent through a pic of us on a tuk tuk from yesterday. I like it :)
Back at the hotel now. It’s 8pm. Happy to have more down time. I think it’s the heat that is taking it it of me.
I think my main observations of the day are that I am yet to see a person missing a limb and the road safety has drastically improved. 99% have helmets on an 80% have one the one person the bike.
Max I have seen is 3.
2 adults with a child squashed between. But only like 2 of them.
So so so different to last time!!
Also, I did not like that the mass graves had money in them or more over, I didn’t like that it was only even 100 riel (2.5c) which seems more like an insult to me as 99% visiting are tourists with money. If you can pay the entry fee you have more than 2c. It seemed inappropriate. Czytaj więcej
KambodżaPhnom Penh11°33’14” N 104°55’33” E
5 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
8am and we went down stairs for our yummy brekkie before I came back upstairs and went to back to bed. Haa
We caught a tuk tuk to the central markets again so I could buy a dress. Very limited options. I bought one for $30. It’s something a mother of the bride/groom would wear.
At least I can now attend cause I have appropriate attire. Lol.
As we were walking around the markets Bobbin called Will and told us that Jordan ate street food and is so sick he can’t be best man anymore. Apparently when he told Sabdy she just gave him a look and walked away. That look would have had 1000 words in it.
Oh dear. He called cause he was looking for Joey as a possible substitution.
We then left and went to the Aeon Mall.
Weird layout - it’s like walking into coles. It has like isles but they aren’t actually in a shop with walls?
The rest of the shopping center was normal just the place we entered from.
We had pizza which was actually really well done.
We wandered around because he palace wasn’t open yet.
We decided to go home so I could get a massage :D
Got one. $15 for an hour. + $3 cause She asked for a tip.
I did 2 dick things.
1 - I got dressed before the massage was over because she left the room and I thought that meant it was over... it did not haha.
2. This was the worst.
The masseuse and I caught the lift back down together and she asked how old I was. I said 27. She said I was very beautiful. I then asked how old she was and she said 27 -
AND THEN I SAID “...BUT IM REALLY TALL”
What the actually fuck angharad. Couldn’t give her compliment back, you had to point out that you were way taller. Fk me.
It was like a 6 year old in a school yard ha ha I’m taller
Wtf was that.
Oh also I have left over fake tan on cause I did a trial run at home before coming and it’s reaching the end. I had a shower and tried to scrub it all off but getting it off my back was a challenge.
She probably thinks I haven’t showered in weeks because presumably I missed patches and her rubbing would make it come off.
It would look like dirt..
We did some ironing this arvo in prep for tomorrow. My dress is such a hassle. So much fabric 😂
We went out to dinner on a cute date - everyone else was still at the first wedding day ceremonies. We went to a Cambodian Resturant - we walked there - we haven’t done much walking this trip, it’s just so freaking humid!!
We had some lovely food. Just beefs really to play it safe with the flavors.
We got a free dessert. It was sweet potato covered in coconut cream and some other desserty syrup. What an odd bloody combo.
We then walked home - past the awesome lit up place.
I met up with Tom and Joey up at the pool once back to talk about their day and organize tomorrow. We are gonna go together tomorrow which means the taxi is arriving at us at 4:30am. 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 Joey is coming in case he has to step in for Jordan.
They said today was boring. A lot of waiting around.
Organized for tomorrow - we are taking everything with us (both outfits) and went to bed. Naturally the first time this trip I’m not tired is the time I need to go to bed early 😪🙄😬 Czytaj więcej
KambodżaOu Baek K’am11°33’1” N 104°52’44” E
6 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Up at 4. This is going to be a looonnng day.
Decided not to do my makeup and wore my hair out - clean cause I washed it last night.
Wore me new nana dress and headed downstairs. We were the first ones there. Our taxi was $15.
Sabdy’s parents live in a gated community. We were met last the guards and at the end of the street was an extravagant tent joining to the side of her house.
Inside was fucked. What an extravaganza.
Pictures don’t do justice but do a better job at retelling what it looked like. Lots of tables set up and then foods and gold. Gold everything.
We went into Sabdys house and got told we could have our hair and make up done so that works out well lol.
Lots of waiting around. They asked if I wanted straight or curly. I said straight and feel u got rippedoff because everyone got an up doo. I just got my hair straightened haha.
My make up was far more natural than everyone else’s.
The groomsmen outfits are hilariously. Tom looks like a bellboy.
They had a waffle truck for breakfast.
The tent was airconned.
So I’ve actually lost track off what happened today cause it was just the most out roof days but it went something like this...
We got given gifts to walk down the street with. Normally it would be from the groom to the brides house but as bobbin doesn’t live here we walked down the road, lined up then walked back again. Lol. I was carrying this pyramid package that because very heavy after a while. The bestmen has umbrellas held over bobbins head. People played music as we (Nessa and I) walked.
We gave our presents over to people then found a seat. We then got told to sit at the top of the tent where all the action was to take place and important people sat.
All white people must be family. Duh. 😂
Boy did we regret this.
No English translations. No sight of Bobbin or Sabdy. I have no idea what the crap was going on. Lots of bowing.
People filled bowls with food.
That part eventually ended and we ran away.
Some government person came. Deputy prime minster I believe. Lots of photos.
I cannot believe the amount of costume changes of mother of the bride and bride. Over 10 each at least.
There was a hair cutting ceremony that took a billion years. People pretending to cut the bride and grooms hair.
The best part about this was that it was all pretend but they still showed them the “results” with a gold mirror like they do at the salon.
“Does it look ok?” 😂
This is where I stopped paying attention but I know there was a lot of chanting, people touched bride and groom on the head with roses and threw spaghetti flower stuff onto them and gave them red envelopes with money.
Also some Bow-y pray thing with candles
I think there was a ring exchange at the beginning.. 😅
There was a coffee cart with free drinks like ice tea and frappes.
Insane.
This tent is honestly something else.
Chandeliers on the ceiling.
We were starving. It was 11:30 by now and the tumm pains had arrived.
Eventually got fed but they have a fucked up rule thy if you’re table isn’t full they won’t bring you food.
Lots of fish with bones hiding.
Chicken head that no one ate.
We sat next to a Norwegian Mum and daughter. The Mum though Will was flat out hilarious. She also insisted sheep head is delicious. No thanks.
At the reception later on the daughter was like thanks so much for being so nice to my mum she rang my dad to tell him about you guys ❤️❤️❤️
Decided to go home for a nap cause it was such a long intermission.
Our tuk tuk driver didn’t know where to go but we got there lol. I like the tuk tuk community, they help each other out, they give each other direction and help break bank notes for each other. It’s really nice. All in it together.
What a wonderful nap we had. It felt like a deep sleep. Both just passed out for 2 hours.
I got up and redid my makeup and decided to rock a ponytail.
My dress is way too long but I’ll manage.
Got ready tuk tuk there with our driver friend who camps out the front of the hotel. Cost us $7. More than reasonable. About $1 per km.
We HAD to be there by 5. No idea why. Guests started to arrive 6:30 🙄
This was the most impersonal load of shit we have ever experienced.
So the food rule came back into play. They wouldn’t feed us until we could get randoms to join our table.
The father did a speech and not a single person out of the 700 guests stop to listen.
We were all shocked by the rudeness.
The whole thing was so inpersonal I couldn’t believe it. It was just a chance to flash your money as nothing else.
The 2 dads did a speech and Bobbins dad obviously did his in English - only English of the day - and it was very political as if he was being made to say it. It was all about combining our two great countries.
Almost like there were some behind the scenes political crap about trying to justify why it was ok that Sabdy was marrying a white boy.
Groomsman had to stand out the front and meet every guest. It took 3 hours and they were FERAL.
Everyone is so pissed about the lack of forewarning and getting in trouble for things that weren’t specified.
For instance Stephen got in big trouble for his suit. Now while stupid looking, no one said he had to wear a certain color.
When we arrived we went in but actually lead so we could renter and do the proper greeting crap with the bridal party. I had trouble doing the bowing to everyone cause I had to use my hands to hold up my dress.
The food was shit hahaha majority was seafood.
I did enjoy the rice and some mi go reng type noodles.
100 years later Bobbin and Sabdy joined the wedding and had to walk to the front through a tunnel of people. It would seem that tradition is if two people opposite each other hold hands, when the bride and groom reaches them they have to kiss before they can continue.
They then did a dance and cut the cake with hat looked like a samari sword lol.
The background music was like a cd. Perfect but also not good. Just background noise you’d hear in the foyer of the hotel.
The Cambodians dance was hilarious. Such small movements. No real boogie. 🕺🏻
They did have one dance though that everyone knew. Like their version of the nut bush. Haha.
Half the guests left after 30 mins.
Made Will get some photos together lol.
In conclusion.
We all had a terrible time 😂😂
It would have made no difference if we were there or not. That statements true even for the groomsman. No purpose.
Too long, too impersonal. No translations didn’t help either.
Caught a tuk tuk home. Will felt like he was gonna vomit but thankfully didn’t. We both crashed :)
- we left early like 9:30ish. Half the tables had already been packed away.
Sabdy made a point that the evening was for fancy dresses. The Cambodians wore the exact same style peplum dresses sooo?? Czytaj więcej
KambodżaPhnom Penh11°33’13” N 104°55’34” E
7 marca 2020, Kambodża ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
A great sleep 🙃
Met in the breakfast room. Gonna miss the mango. Saaaa guuuuuud.
I think all passion fruit is giving me super water poos hahah
We went up and sat by the pool for a while. Em messaged saying her deda died overnight so I was talking to her - the boys went swimming.
We went to lunch at a burger place. Joey is such a nervous nelly. Every guideline is a law and if disobeyed a jailsble offense. Chilaxxxx.
I got a kids meal because I couldn’t help but noticed he icecreamery next door 🤗
Two scoops of heaven.
I don’t know if I had a nap now or not or if we were only at the hotel for a short while... either way we went off the the royal palace. Went with our favorite tuk tuk driver dude.
The palace was $10 each. I think this is the only place that can justify that price based on that there’s many things within the walls.
First their was the palace I remembered. We could look inside but couldn’t take photos. It looked kind of like a hallway with a throne at the end. My highlight was, as it often is, the ceiling. The paintings are always breathtaking.
There were lots of mini buildings with the same palace roof tiling vibes. Couldn’t go in them though. We walked through the complex past beautiful wall paintings, a mini Ankor Wat, and intricate gray stupas I think you’d call them. I love the carvings. We found 2 cats. All the cats here have fucked up half missing tails. It’s very odd. Almost to the point is it genetic? You can’t ALL have been abused?
We went up this garden spiral thing to find a Buddha shrine. Joey is loving this place. He has become just a mellow, guy. Love a good meditation.
We then found the place of the emerald Buddha. Couldn’t take pics but it was cool. Not super large but still cool.
We went out and I found a cat friend and this was essentially the highlight of my day....
I was just chatting to the cat and it walked inside a side museum thing and jumped onto an artifact an just began angrily meowing at me.
Get off
MEOW
that’s a 1000 years old, we gonna get it trouble
MEOW
Get off
MEOW
Hilarious.
Sitting next to big bold lettered DO NOT TOUCH signs 😂😂😂😂
There was also a section that had lots of past Kings thrones - carry seats.
We finished and went looking for our driver cause he agreed to wait for us. Couldn’t find him so we assumed he must have gone to get a drink so we just sat around and waited. The sun was piercing today.
He eventually turned up and he drove us to a temple - Wat Phnom.
Joey paid for our entry cause he was the one that desperately wanted to come. Entry was only $1 but the gesture was appreciated.
I liked inside. The main highlight for me with this tells was watching people put makeup on a Buddha statue. I asked a guy nearby if he spoke English because I wanted to know why but he said he didn’t. After several google searches I still do not know why.
But yeah, I watched 2 different people apply eyeliner, lipstick, powder, perfume, pretend to brush its hair, put a phone up to its ear and put a watch on its wrist etc.
Very interesting.
We drove back to the hotel and I think I had a another sleep.
We went out to dinner at a place we know did interesting food.
Stephen came too.
For entree we got served tarantula, mini frogs and crickets.
Everyone was very adventurous.
Tom and Joey at a while spider. Me and Will ate a leg.
Tom, Will and Joey ate the crickets and frogs.
I ate a whole cricket and that was enough for me.
Look it didn’t taste that bad. I wasn’t immediately repulsed by the flavor but when I though about it bing a cricket I started to gag.
But I did it. Hurrah.
The rest of the food was average but I’d rate the place high for novelty alone.
Back to the hotel and our lazy asses have decided to pack tomorrow instead.
Tom had 2 major dilemmas today.
1. He lost his stupid Gucci man bag which had his wallet in it. I am the hero of this story and found it under his suitcase after he had already checked everywhere and was mid heart attack.
2. The other dilemma was his safe failed and locked him out but it had his and Wills passport in it :)
That all got sorted - lucky!
8.3.20.
Just the usual checkout business and Tuk tuk to the airport.
Sabdys dad got involved with our check in cause the bobbins were on our flight too.
The corruption is disgusting.
We got fast tracked through check in then he took our passports and disappeared somewhere. Came back and our passports had been stamped and we were right to go. Didn’t check our photos...
We also didn’t need to remove our shoes like every other person in the airport had to.
I’m not into it.
So corrupt.
Bought my magnet and flew home. 💕 Czytaj więcej
