Assalamu’alaikum, hey there! Hope
you doing well today. So, I wanna continue my story or experience in Phnom Penh
in October 2019. If you have not read the first part yet, make sure you read
that first so that you know the whole story XD.
As I told you, I visited Phnom Penh
not for holiday, so the second day was working time haha. We got up so early, okay
it’s not “got up” because I believe we do get up early every day for praying. I'm
gonna change it become “prepared”. We prepared ourselves so early because we made
an appointment with the first NGO in the morning around 9. We also did not know
the route or the condition that might come up. So, it was better to be early than
late. The meal we got for breakfast were only instant foods we brought from
Indonesia because it is fast and halal ofc haha. It was cereal and noodles.
Some of us ate had cereals and some of us has noodles as the breakfast. Morning
view from our guest house was really nice, calming and peaceful. After we prepared
and did some briefing in the lobby, we went out of the building.
Fig 1. Morning View from the Guest House
We decided to take a walk for a
half of the journey then we continued to order the tuktuk for the rest of the
journey. The road had already been crowded with the vehicles because it was
rush hour I guess. There was a city bus passing by. We were interested to take
a city bus but we do not understand the route and I think it is hard to
understand the route of the city bus. We did not want to take a risk because we
made an appointment haha. We also thought our destinations was not really near with
the shelter so, we prefer to walk or order online transportation.
We walked around 30 mins until we
decided to order the online transportation, it was tuktuk. Oh when we were in
Phnom Penh, there were 2 people who in charge to bring the money (in riel and
dollar). It was me and a friend of mine. I don’t know why I’m telling you this,
but I guess it was kinda funny haha. The group of tuktuk has been made up
correctly this time. It was much better than the first time we ordered the
tuktuk hahah.
Okay, so we got the driver and we
went to the first NGO. One more thing about the road in Phnom Penh, they were
seemed in hurry and there was a guy who control the traffic there. Not a police
man but an ordinary guy standing in the middle of the road. It was terrifying as
the vehicles were so close like about to hit each other. But, the people there
were so chill, they even did not use the horn as I told you in the first part. They
were not angry as well. It was so unique. So, another impression come up.
Cambodian people are so chill which is cool!
We finally arrived in the first
NGO. We were too early for about 30 mins or something. At first,we did not
notice the building because of it did not show the name clearly so it is hard to notice that it is that NGO’s
building. We were even separated, the first group of tuktuk and the second
group of tuktuk. We called it junior group and senior group by the way based on
the batch haha. I was in that group who separated too far, so our tuktuk did
not notice the building and we passed it for about 500 m(?). It was kinda far. We
also did not notice about that, that is why we stopped there until we realized
that we had to walk again haha.
We met an indonesian there again.
He was from Java, or something. I forgot anyway. We had small talk and leave. There
were some fancy cars parked there like Tesla, Ferrari, etc. Then we spent those
15 minus to take pictures there til finally the time showed 09.00. We were
there, in the first NGO for about 3 hours. So, at 1 pm we left. The people were
so nice anyway, we discussed many things. They were so friendly too.
It was so hot there (ofc, it’s 1 pm).
We decided to look for place for us to pray but there was no mosque near there.
We finally found a mall near there (around 1 km). there must be praying room
there. We decided to walk to that Mall. It was Aeon Mall actually. It was so tiring
and hot, not gonna lie. We finally arrived at the mall. It was so fascinating
when you are from outside with hot temperature then going inside to the
building with cool temperature hhhaha. There were a lot of visitor at that time.
Fig 2. Near the Royal Palace
By looking at map, we found the
praying room. We took a rest for a little bit in the praying room. The praying
room was so clean, neat and seemed elegant. There were only us who pray at that
time. We actually planned to have lunch there, but one of the employee at the
mall said that most of the meals there were not halal. So, after praying we
went out from the mall and ordered the online transportation to go the halal
restaurant. It was actually Indonesian restaurant and it was near the destination
we would like to visit. As always, the junior group got tuktuk so late while
the senior tuktuk always had their tuktuk so fast.
Fig 3. The National Monument
Finally, our tuktuk had come. Here’s
another funny thing. So the driver was not alone. He was with a girl that we assumed
she was her wife or her girlfriend. But, they were so young, so maybe her girlfriend.
They were so romantic. They listened song together through one earphone while
the driver was driving. The driver seemed so pro at driving. We barely got hit by
the big truck but luckily we were safe :”). After that, the journey felt so
long, I and my friend feel asleep. In tuktuk. Those rocky roads woke us up and
we had not been in the restaurant yet.
Okay, so finally we arrived in
the restaurant. Our senior group had been waiting for us. We even did not
believe whether we were still alive or no hahah. Long story short, we ordered
the food and ate it. The taste was so nice and so Indonesian haha. We exchange
some money there as well, riel to dollar. So we had more dollar. Oh the
destination we visited was uff I forget the name. It was national monument or
something. But the point is we were just strolling around to get there. We passed
the beautiful huge park. There were so
many people there as well. They were playing football, dancing, etc. We surely took
pictures there. A lot of pictures.
Fig 4. River view
Oh I got it! we planned to visit
the royal palace but it was closed because we were late. So we just stroling
around it as many people chilling there. It was also near the big river. We sat
there and played some games. It was so fun. There were also some sellers sold
unordinary things like spiders and other unordinary insects. We could see the
sunset there actually. But we left it before the sun went down because we wanted
to go to the next destination, night market.
The night market was kinda far
from the Royal Palace. But, we decided to walk because we wanted to see
the city night view in Phnom Penh. It was colorful, many lights light up this
city. It was actually tiring, but with that view, the crowded, I did not feel so
tired. Long story short, we arrived at the night market. Guess what?!1!!1 it
was not the night market we would like to visit! Well, it was such a nice place
too, so colorful and the music was too loud haha. But, it was a place for kids to
play :’). It was more like amusement park. Then we realized that it was not the
Night Market we planned to go. Our Cambodian friend also told us the same that
we were at the wrong place hahaha. So we just bought some mineral waters there.
There were ice creams but we did not know whether it is halal or no.
Fig 5. Night River View
Because we did not know what to
do, we ordered tuktuk to go back to our guest house. This time, the driver was
hard too find. I mean, we found them, but they could barely find us. After a
few times trying, we finally get the driver who could find us.
Fig 6. Evening City View
We finally arrived at the guest
house, we did some evaluations for today in a lobby and short briefing for
tomorrow. Then we went to our bedrooms to take a rest and sleep.
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