Sweaty, Tired, Satisfied

We had a late start to the day after two hours of chilling by the lake, reading books, chatting, drinking coffee and guzzling down sweet, yellow, sticky bananas. Today we took it upon ourselves to see the city in an unguided, random fashion. Winding through side streets with young, naked children splashing in tin bowls; stumbling upon markets where the streets are filled with the scents of pungent, sweet mung bean cakes or blood and meat from open carcasses; hungrily searching for the street food stands that abound in Saigon yet seem to be absent in PP; strolling past snakes roasting on open fires. The street scene is more raw and in your face than it is in Viet Nam. All day we have been greeted by the sight of crippled or terribly poor people with very little besides the clothes on their backs and outstretched hands.

On our journey we managed to see Wat Pnomh, a temple on top of the sole hill in a city that is named after it. We climbed to the top where we observed how much more colorful and ornate the temple is than the ones we've seen in Viet Nam. We spent more time watching the monkeys playing, the elephants eating, the children going about their daily lives before getting lost in the city, generally aiming for the Royal Palace but really having no idea where we were headed. After filling up on Amok, fish in a yellow curry and Phat Khmer, a noodle dish we ordered just because we liked the name, we wandered through the ornate Royal Palace, observing the wealth and buildings, the Buddha's encrusted with enough gold and diamonds to feed the entire country and finally made our way home with sore feet, satisfied with a day of exploration in Phnom Penh.