Well
I Have Got Here
19th
June 2014
This
will not be a regular or daily update – have given up on trying to
maintain a daily blog of my travels. In fact I have done a bit of
travelling since the last time I actually did maintain a travel blog.
Rather this will be just a few descriptive comments ( or rambles) as
the journey continues.
So here
we go with the fact that I got dropped off at the Auckland Airport
before the check in desks actually opened. A bit unusual for me. So I
joined the opening stampede once the check in counters opened, not
sure why as I already had my seat pre-booked for like or the sum of
an extra $25. It was at check in that I was told that the plane was
late arriving and would be that much late leaving. My bag was given a
'Hot Transfer' label. In the end the 12:15am departure was more like
1 am. That was to mean that I would have about 1 hour in transit at
Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The
economy class was full. My seat was 21 J, which was the aisle seat
with one other seat next to the window. I was thankful that:
a. I
was not seated in the middle of the 5 seat centre block
b. That
I had a friendly neighbour – an Early Childhood teacher from
Thames.
c. That
although minor turbulence stopped each hot drinks round, at least the
meals came through ok. A sort of potato and roast chicken with fruit
salad after take off and a fritta and fruit breakfast two hours
before
d. That
Malaysian Airways still has seat pitch (space between seats) of 34
inches.
e. That
the passenger in front did not ease his backrest into a semi recline.
In fact I didn't notice anyone doing that either.
At KL
it was a brisk walk to the inter-terminal railway shuttle and then
down H wing to the Phnom Penh plane. That boarded very slowly as
there was only one x ray machine and we even had to remove shoes.
The
flight to Phnom Penh was on a very modern Airbus and I had booked a
window seat so that I could look out on the cloud cover and then the
ground as we landed in Cambodia. Just a bit over one hour travel
time. A chicken and salad roll, tub of fruit salad and white wine
provided a pleasant snack and time filler.
Visa on
arrival went smoothly and quickly as did immigration and walk through
customs. Biggest hold up was organising a SIM card before finally
exiting. This turned out to be a Travellers' promotion with the
problem that you can not up grade the data amount as locals can via
SMART Exchange, where by $2 prepay is exchanged into $30 data. Sounds
a great idea, it works, just not for visitors.
It was
very nice to see my daughter and the four grandchildren waiting with
happy smiles. The ride back to their home was a quick re-introduction
to travel on the ground in Cambodia. The toll road which is supposed
to be quick was under repair but with little sign of actual work in
progress. So it was very rutted and pot holed, but still crowded and
slow moving. Then along various streets with varing traffic
densities, but mostly busy with tuk tuks and motor bikes and of
course varying condition of road surface.
It was
nice to arrive at my daughter and son in law's house. I had not been
to this one previously. It is located down a narrow single vehicle
width lane apparently without a name.
Their
home is double story with a large ground floor family room i.e.
lounge and dinning, plus a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. This bath
room actually has heated shower water which while not really 'hot' is
enough to take the temperature to a pleasant luke warm.
Upstairs
are bedrooms opening up onto an open common space. Also a bathroom
with a cold shower. I am particularly appreciativeof Toby's
willingness to give up his bedroom for me.
It was
pretty hot when I arrived, well into the 30's and very humid. That
and the long trip without a good night's sleep was the excuse to have
mid afternoon lie down which became a sleep. When I woke I really did
think I had slept through the night rather than the couple of hours
it had really been.
See the
video: LANDING AT PHNOM PENH 3' 59”
Day Two
seemed a little cooler. Perhaps even less humidity, although we did
have heavy rain mid afternoon. In the morning we drove into the City
Mall to book seats for the afternoon session of 'How To Train Your
Dragon Pt2' at the Legion Cinema on the top floor of the Mall
building. The interesting thing about the tickets for children is
that the right to a child ticket is based on height. So Pippa had to
stand against a wall measuring scale and this 9 year old found that
being just above the 1.3m cutoff point; she was an adult. I think she
rather liked that. Ticket prices: Child $US3, Adults $US5 and this
for a new release in 3D.
When we
returned for the afternoon screening complete with tubs of popcorn
and cans of coke, I found that our cinema (called a Hall) was every
bit as modern as anything back home. In fact it proved to be one of
my better 3D viewing experiences. Hall 1 would have seated around
200. They screened a cell warning. 'Turn it off before we come to get
it”
While
the Mall is modern and has many smaller shops, it is set out more
like a modern department store than the sort of Mall we know in New
Zealand. What did interest me was the DVD stand with a large range of
modern movies. I was able to buy several from recent NZ Film
Festivals
We also
called into a nearby Lucky supermarket so I was able to recall my
memories of Cambodian products and packaging. I always find it rather
fascinating to wander round supermarkets in overseas countries.
During
our travels around the streets I was able to try out a small and
cheap ($NZ63) Thompson Action Camera which I had bought just a day or
so before setting out on this trip. Looking at the test footage later
I was very impressed with what such a matchbox sized camera could
achieve.
See the
video:
THOMPSON ACTION CAMERA
REVIEW 5' 53”
Day
Three.
We
spent the morning around the house with everyone engaged in their own
quiet activities. Toby and I spend several hours sitting side by side
working through video editing and looking at his version of Sony
Vagas – a popular editing programme. I also worked on a couple of
videos to upload to You Tube at some stage soon. One is a review of
the little action camera. Have now worked out how to use my phone as
a wi fi hot spot – easy really.
We took
Pippa to a friends house for a sleep over. As a result, like
yesterday after the movie, we were driving in the Phnom Penh rush
hour. Well truthfully on the Phnom Penh streets, every hour seems
like rush hour. It was just that this time was worse, not only on the
main streets but also in the narrower side streets. Thousands of
motorcycles some with up to four some how fitted onto the cycle.
Often one would be an infant held in the arms of a rider or the
driver. There are also the tuk tuks loaded down with all sorts of
high loads as were some of the motor cycles too. Fascinating to watch
and wonder about the safety of the child.
There
are a few rules for driving here – in my opinion. Do whatever you
want too, but do it slowly and carefully helps. So if you want to
change direction and drive into the on coming flow just keep to the
edge – either edge that is – or wherever you want to go. Having a
large vehicle helps. If you have a large black Lexus with dark
windows, then you seem to have the right to drive with a sense of
priority over everyone else. And if you want to go down a road on the
opposite side of your street, then just aim for it and slowly edge
through the opposing traffic flow. Everyone will move around you
except perhap a Lexus or large truck.
In the
evening we drove to a small Indian Dosa restaurant. Cheap but so
nicely cooked and presented. I was very impressed. Only problem was
the traffic to go through to get to the other side of town. Next to
the Dosa restaurant was a DVD shop with more interesting titles. We
did have some discussion when I realised that I was being charged
$1.50 a disk instead of the more common $1 and the sixth one free.
The price came down.
So we
finished the day watching another episode of 'The Midwife' on DVD. At
present the family do not have TV and most likely will stay that way.
It is easy enough to get recent series on DVD and watch at your own
speed as it were. I was pleased to get two series of 'The Newsroom',
a show I have only seen part of one episode of previously.
Day
Four – Saturday.
An
early start to travel across town to pick up Pippa from her overnight
stay. Her friend lived more on the edge of Phnom Penh and we
travelled not only along some congested roads, but also over some
very rough surfaces. Then it was off to Mercy Clinic to get the
children's inoculations updated. Proceeds from this central clinic
fund work in the slum areas. Run by a local doctor who trained and is
registered in the USA.
Next
stop was one of the city's main markets. Orussey Market is one more
used by locals and it does not have the touristy stalls which the
Central and Russian Markets do. Here we were also able to book our
bus tickets for Vietnam. The bus company will also organise our entry
visas.
I
didn't find Orussey to be as crowded as the other markets and the
aisles were less congested. Less pressure to buy from the stall
holders. Or more like no pressure. It is always interesting to wander
around markets like this and although lots of stalls have the same
goods it is interesting to especially spot the local hardware needs
and the tools available. On the electronic stands there were lots of
USB flash drives with emphasis on 2 – 4 Gb and less on 8 – 16 Gb,
I did see a few 32Gb capacity. SDHC cards all seemed to be class 4
which is very slow and really totally unsuitable for any movie making
use. Low capacity cards were the order of the day. The two brands
were Adata and Transcend and their packaging did look like these
brands have back home. There was a stand with Sony 10 inch tv
monitors stacked up. But all analogue in a world fast changing to
digital.
We
stopped at an outside stall to buy cool drinks. The first quoted
price of 1500 R was quickly corrected by the boss (?) to be 2000 R.
So we guessed that the first was the locals price and we paid the
tourist price. Two tier pricing. 2000R = 50 cents NZ. We mostly chose
Coke or Sprite. The process of serving is for the bottle to be opened
and poured into a plastic cup filled with ice. A straw is put through
the round top cover and then the cup is placed in a small plastic
carry bag, while the stall owner retains the glass bottle. The Coke
tasted right, came in the traditional shaped bottle but was rather
flat. It lacked any real bubbles. But it was nice to have a cool
drink as the outside temperature was in the 30's and inside the
market building must have been higher.
Back
in the car which was parked on the roof car park and more driving
along a mixture of wide boulevards and narrow congested streets,
finally inching along to the car park enterance of Phnom Penh's
newest attraction, the Aeon Mall. Three floors of shopping and a
fourth for car parking. Having just opened this week, it was crowded,
actually very crowded. Full of excited shoppers especially
fashionably dressed young people.
The
ground floor included a huge fresh vegetables and fresh fruit area
every bit as y as any supermarket has back home. Certainly a vast
difference to the local market stalls. Next to it was a large wine
and beer area with a big range from around the world. Big price range
too. There was a big supermarket all neatly set out with a couple of
eager young staff to greet you at each aisle. My young researchers
also known as grandchildren, inspected the breakfast cereals
selection. Not big enough, not enough choice in the 'flakes and
things'. Was a larger range of international 'healthy' musseli
alternatives – at a price.
Ground
floor also had a range of meals and snacks for sale. All being
prepared in spotless kitchens areas. Noodles, sushi, bugers, pizza,
and varieties of local foods. Plus a bakery which would not be out of
place anywhere at home. Even with two payment counters and lots of
staff, the queues moved slowly.
Floor
two was fragrance level with lots of recognizable brands each with
there own stand and staff. That greeted you at the top of the
escalators, which were soon to brake down and stop working, resulting
in congestion as crowds squeezed in lines up and down the same
stopped escalator steps.
There
was a large area of whiteware and home appliances. Lots of Samsung,
LG and Panasonic. The same brands featured in the big television area
with Sony joining in. No unknown third level brands here. Samsung
where featuring their new curved screen tv sets. My first reaction is
that the more expensive 4K technology sets certainly had sharper
image but the actual sets are too small. Even a 55 inch curved set is
too small in my opinion. I feel that sets need to be really large for
the curve to engulf you into the picture. At one point two curved
screens were positioned next to each other to create a wider curve
and that did begin to work.
The
Mall floors were all ivory coloured glossy stone tiles. So everywhere
there were staff going around mopping them. One woman was on her
knees with a cloth spot cleaning. Lots of staff everywhere. Lack of
rubbish bins in the eating areas so that finished plasic containers
and bags and unfinished food were just placed on the floor beside
seating.
The
Mall is not yet completely finished and there were large areas still
curtained off with construction noises coming through.
While
the Mall is impressive, I am told that most goods can already be
found on sale in the city. But it is more 'up market' than other city
Malls I have visited here. The car park exits by ramp from the fourth
floor down onto a busy narrow street. Already regularly congested the
car park traffic just adds to the confusion. Whistle blowing security
and traffic staff only add to that. The exit took at least 20 minutes
and we had parked right near the fourth floor exit ramp. While other
Mall parking is 1000R (25 cents), here it was 3000.
I
guess for me the thing is the tremendous contrast that exists between
the two markets I visited today. That they represent the range of
life styles and economic levels existing side by side in the city.
There will be big sections of the population who will never visit
Aeon Mall, who will never be able to afford to shop here.
See
the video:
TWO MARKETS IN PHNOM
PENH
