Cycle Mekong Delta Day 2 Explore Inner Phnom Penh

Good morning Angkor International Hotel which is located at 50 Street 148, Phnom Penh (GPS : 11.568992, 104.927453). Our plan of the day was to cycle to the inner Phnom Penh.

Yes breakfast is provided, let's eat and get ready for the day.

Psar Kandal Market is just a street away from our hotel with a variety of local produce and foods found in the market. We took a walk and a look see of the market, truly interesting and an eye opener for some of the stuff sold in the market. 

The trishaw has a peculiar tall seat, the rider in an almost standing position while pedalling it.

Another thing that attracted me was this hanging prayer alter, it is commonly seen irrespective in the town or in the rural areas.

At a corner of the street we saw these dark skin sugarcane stalks in bundles and leaning against the columns of the corner shop. I guess the seller is a whole seller.

An old shop house at the neighbourhood of Phsar Kandal market.

One for the album at Phsar Kandal Market.

It was time for us to be back on our saddles and head for the rural scene of Phnom Penh.

Joseph has been to Phnom Penh many times, he lead us to a jetty known as Phnom Penh - Areykhsath Ferry Dock to begin our route into kampong.

Our honorable Treasurer as usual was Sooi Ying, she will handle our common expenses and in Cambodia we have to transact mainly in US currency. So fares like this will be settled by her. It was a short crossing across Mekong River to the other side.

Some stretches of the route was on earth roads, our Brompton bicycles are not only portable but also capable to ride on such dirt track. And we anticipated more of such challenging roads to come. 

Passing by a local market Areyksat Market or locally known as Phsar Areyksat located at GPS : 11.573610, 104.951143

Watch out for the cow she might be charging at those in red.

The village folks were friendly and do not mind taking a picture with us.

The village kids were happy to seeing us. How I wish I had some candies for them at that moment.

Motorbikes carrying big bundles of green produces overtaking us. The smell of the green was so pleasant so was the scenery.

Svaychroum Pagoda GPS : 11.595265, 104.952470 is the first temple we visited of the day.

We came across at least two monasteries found in the compound of the temples with young kids all in monk attire.

My Brompton matches the colour of their robes I guess my B ought be in the monastery.

A typical milestone of Cambodia seen as we rode on searching for a place for lunch in the commune of Prek Ta Kov.

After a short distance from our lunch place we arrived at this temple with prawn statues in front of it and it is known as Prek Bongkong Pagoda (GPS : 11.616161, 104.950609).

This reclining Buddha statue is also found inside the temple. 

After spending some time in Prek Bongkong Pagoda Joseph took us to another narrow dirt road which was supposedly leading to another river crossing.

I was impressed with Joseph we found the ferry dock and our adventure continued.

Another typical short river crossing with no proper jetty structure at all and with road that is naturally earthed.

Next to the ferry dock a herd of cows taking bath at the river side. The people was friendly waving to us as we alighted the ferry.

I like this scenic stretch of the route with a row of tall shady trees coupled with nice buildings.

Fenn noted a house with some weaving activities, we stopped by and ended buying some of its hand woven textiles.

This lady boss really knows how to handle her customers almost all of us brought at least a piece each from her.

While our buddies were busy negotiating with the lady boss I took a rest at the hammock.

It was about time to return to the city crossing a steel bridge as we pedaled our way to another ferry dock. GPS : 11.631752, 104.934426

Our last ferry crossing for the day at Kampong Chamlong Ronaes GPS : 11.631045, 104.931923. There are so many such ferry services in this part of the world. We were hoping to get a transport to the city from this point.

From the last ferry dock we managed to get two tuktuk to fetch us and our bicycles to Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. The ride was pretty long and were glad to be in a tuktuk on a hot day.

Three passengers with three folded Brompton bicycles in a tuktuk comfortably seated to our next destination.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum is one place that some wouldn't want to visit because the thousands of prisoners tortured and killed in this building during the Khmer Rouge regime.

A school that was converted into a torture camp, class room like this with cubicles forming tiny prison cells and some are of timber partition instead of brickwalls. There were also mass detention without partition at all within the class room. 

It was indeed creepy walking through the building and gathering information of the brutal action executed by the Khmer Rouge. It was estimated that nearly 2 million Cambodian were killed during this period between 1975 to 1979.

Even at the compound of prison it was used for torturing immates. So much of sad stories we continued our cycling to the Royal Palace of Cambodia.

We were late by the time we reached the Royal Palace of Cambodia it was closed. We could only view from the outside.

Wat Ounalom was established in 1443 and consists of 44 structures. It was damaged during the Khmer Rouge period but has since been restored. The main complex houses a stupa that contains what is believed to be an eyebrow hair of Buddha and an inscription in Pali. This is the most important wat in Phnom Penh and the centre of Cambodian Buddhism.

We were privileged at Wat Ounalom to have the monks specially open a sacred part of the temple for us to visit. This big ASEAN drum at the exit of the temple on the way out. This temple is very near to the Royal Palace of Cambodia. We were blessed with a wonderful weather despite the weather forecast was telling us otherwise.

Thank you so much to Joseph also known Jotaro Zen for showing Phnom Penh and its inner side of it. It was truly an experience cycling in this route.

Cycle Mekong Delta 2018 - Day 1 Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh

After much consideration as to where we should explore in Indochina with our small wheels, we decided to fly into Phnom Penh, Cambodia and fly back to Kuala Lumpur from Ho Chi Minh with a span of 11 days to spend. Malindo Air offered the best deal for the flight with less than RM400.00 in total. A return ticket inclusive of selection of seat, meal on the flight and 25kg checked in luggage. Thank you so much Malindo Air we hope to travel more with you.

I started my journey from Setiawangsa LRT Station to KL Sentral and hopped into ERL Transit with a senior citizen fare of RM38.50 to KLIA. We finally gathered at the airport and ready to see Indochina and especially Mekong Delta.

The weather was perfect. All radiant and eager to start the exploration.

We landed at Phnom Penh International Airport safely, everything was intact with all our bicycle unfolded and ready to roll into the city of Phnom Penh.

With the help of Google map and our GPS devices to set our direction towards our pre-booked hotel. It's always interesting and exciting to cycle in a new atmosphere and we has no problem blending ourselves in the traffic of Phnom Penh.

Food is always on our minds and we will stop wherever we see enticing corners for food.

The best local food is always found in the local market. We simply enjoy the local delicacies. It was our dessert after a good and yummy noodle soup.

We managed to locate the hotel and checked into Angkor International Hotel. I spent RM33.00 per night with 3 persons sharing a room. We stayed for 2 nights.

The remaining Day 1 we went sightseeing, visiting some of the places of interest like this monument known as the Peace Dove Sculpture made of old armaments such as rifles and machine guns.

We were lucky to reached FCC in time as it started to pour. FCC stands for Foreign Corespondents' Club which is a public bar and restaurant and located along Tonle Sap River, the view is spectacular indeed. FCC even have 9 hotel rooms. The rain has finally stopped we enjoyed the drinks and left FCC for Angkor International Hotel. 

It was wet at the river side as we rode back to the hotel. The pavement along Tonle sap is well built and friendly to cycle on it.

Joseph knows Phnom Penh well he brought us to see the Independence Monument which was built in 1958 to memorialize Cambodia's independence from France in 1953. 

Our dinner at a shop near our hotel which looks like fried "Lou See Fun" with luncheon meat. I like it, the luncheon meat tasted like fish cake and slightly chewy. So that was Day 1 of our Mekong Delta adventure.