nan | 楠木

A good part of the morning was spent in agonizing cold on the Angkor Express back to Phnom Penh – the a/c was ridiculously low. Thankfully the driver responded to feedback.

It was already 2pm when we checked in. After a quick but expensive lunch at the hotel restaurant (it was French, which was it’s justification for the outlandish prices), we quickly walked to visit the National Museum and the Royal Palace. The museum was small, giving testimony to the deprived state of the proud Khmer heritage in Cambodia. The royal palace was certainly lavish, though that wasn’t too surprising.

We wanted to check out the Central Market, the Art Deco building which dates back to the 1930s, but the market was already closed. Disappointed, we headed back to the riverfront area and strolled around checking out various boutique stores. Dinner was grand – we flocked to Lemongrass, a highly rexommended Thai/Khmer restaurant with affordable prices. The highlight of the tour in terms of meals.

I did a traditional Khmer massage in the evening. It was very unique – a lot of bending and stretching, and I was afraid of my back breaking at one point. An interesting experience to end the trip.