11.5.09
This morning, Mackenzie and I gathered in the piano lounge at 10 to leave for CAMBODIA! We drove from the ship to the airport for our flight. Once we got checked in, we had some time to kill, so we walked around. Everything is SUPER expensive. For example, a Cosmo costs $15! We eventually just sat at the gate and jammed out to my iPod. When it was time for boarding, we got on the bus and drove out onto the tarmac. Our plane was a little worrisome. It was bright purple and about the size of my car and operated on propellers. So this was my first prop plane experience. Thank goodness it was as short flight. I sat next to Kaitlin and we chatted about WKU study abroad for a bit, but then we had to fill out our Cambodia paperwork. The flight was so short that before we finished the paperwork, we were landing.
We got into the airport and walked through the heat senser to make sure we didn’t have a fever and got in line to get our visas. Eventually, we had all paid our $20 and got our visas. I am going to have to get more pages in my passport if I go out of the country again. I only have a couple of pages without stamps on them.
We boarded our bus and met our adorable tour guide – Mr. Sun. He is probably the most adorable thing ever. We drove a little ways then one of the girls lost her money belt. So Dr. Stenecky went with her back to the airport to look for it, while the rest of us went on to the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace. It was absolutely beautiful and huge!!! There were flowers and pagodas and Buddha statues everywhere. Inside the Silver Pagoda the floor is covered with silver and also inside are about 900kg of gold and over 8,000 diamonds, with the largest being about 26 karats. It was awesome. We also saw where outside where monks write blessings on the leaves. It was really cool. We also walked through what used to be the elephant stables. Sadly, there are no longer elephants there. They all died of starvation during the Khamer Rouge. It was still really pretty. Mackenzie and I saw some monks playing these really interesting instruments that were making some melodious music. The instruments looked like xylophones. The best part was that they invited us to play with them. They showed us what to do and then it was show time. So I just had a jam session with some monks. It was marvelous.
We boarded the bus and went to the National Museum. We saw a lot of statues that showed how the Hindu and Buddhism have blended together and how Cambodians practice both. We stayed there for about an hour and it really wasn’t all that exciting.
Our next stop was a sunset cruise on the Mekong River. While waiting in traffic to get to the boat, I look out the window and what do I see…Jumbo the local elephant. Yep, an elephant. It turns out that Jumbo (how fitting of a name) is the only elephant in Phnom Penh and we were lucky enough to get to see her. According to Mr. Sun, Jumbo is very lonely, but there are no male elephants around for her. But come on, it’s not everyday that you see and elephant just walking down the street.
We boarded our somewhat sketchy little boat and cruised along the river. It was so relaxing and a neat way to see the city. It kind of reminded me of the Danube cruise we did when we were in Budapest.
Afterward, we were supposed to go to an orphanage center that was founded by SAS alumni. The traffic was really bad and we were wiped out so we decided to skip the orphanage and go directly to dinner. Sun told us how he eats spiders (yeeah!) and silk worms (You want the wom?). Luckily, dinner did not include spiders or silk worms, but rather of rice, rice cakes, spring rolls, a weird fish dish, a seafood soup and a platter of some sort consisting of shrimp, octopus and something else that I don’t know what it was, but it was good. I mainly stuck with the rice because I didn’t much care for the rest.
We eventually made it to our hotel, where we were greeted with what I take to be the Cambodian equivalent of a Shirley Temple. Our hotel is really nice. Mackenzie and I settled into our room with our bathrobes and our slippers. We ventured down to the spa. I got a pedicure and an hour and half long massage for $20.
We got the pedicures first. They didn’t really scrub our feet like they do in the states, but it was still nice. And even better it was only $8. Our massage was next and that was an experience in itself. Mackenzie went for the aromatherapy one and I went with neck, back, shoulders and head massage. They showed me to the little room, which was pretty nice. I changed into the robe, but didn’t get completely naked because that kind of freaks me out and even more because I am in Cambodia. But anyway, the woman comes in and I lay down on the table and she lays a towel over me and I just think I was going to get a normal massage. But I was wrong. The next thing I know the woman is wrapping the towel around my underwear and pulling it down. I was a little surprised, but I just went with it. Who knew that a head, neck and back massage also includes your butt. It was also a little awkward to have a small Cambodian woman straddling me and massaging my back, but whatever it’s an experience. Toward the end of the massage she left and washed her hands. When she came back she had me flip over and lay my head in her lap. She then massaged my scalp, face and ears. When she started massaging my ears, it took everything I had in me to not smack her, but she did feel me tense up. Overall, it was a great massage and it made it even better that it was only $12. And to think that I even overpaid because when they are not in a hotel they only cost about $7 in a 24 hour massage parlor…yeah that is not sketchy at all.