2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 49/105 - Sihanoukville, Cambodia
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| A tuk-tuk - the goose will come later |
Welcome to country #55 for us, Cambodia. We are docked in Sihanoukville, the capital of the Preah Sihanouk Province in southwest Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand. It is named for Cambodia's ruling prince in 1964.
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| Tour buses were ready to go as soon as we docked |
Our tour today was the optional Tuk-Tuk through Sihanoukville. The itinerary called for visits to Independence Beach, Victory Beach, the Independence Monument, Wat Leu temple, and the Golden Lions Monument. We didn't do that. We did see a temple in Independence Park, but not the Independence Monument. We didn't go to either beach. We didn't see the Golden Lions Monument. We did go to Wat Leu temple. We finished at the Phsar Leu Market. Not what we signed up for, but that's what we got. The other issue we had was that our guide used the Viking-supplied QuietVox (QV) listening devices to narrate. That works when you can see your guide. We were in 14 different tuk-tuks, spread out through traffic. We never heard our guide as he was out of radio range as soon as we started touring. We only heard him again once the tuk-tuks all stopped.
We took a very short bus ride, perhaps three minutes, to where our tuk-tuks were waiting. They handed out masks when we boarded.
About half the passengers actually put them on. We took ours off as soon as we were out of the bus.
Like the buses in Vietnam, the tour bus had embroidered seat covers and ornate curtains and valences.
Tuk-tuks are called that because of the distinctive tuk-tuk sound that their two-cycle engines make. They have a single front wheel and two rear wheels. The narrow front accommodates the driver while the wider back seat can hold two (or three small) passengers.
Sights we saw as we cruised around.
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| There are scooters and small motorcycles here, but nothing like Vietnam |
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| Scooter-based mobile shop |
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| If it can be strapped on, you’ll see it on a scooter
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| We think this mobile shop was selling sugar cane |
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| Scooting & texting |
Independence Park and shrine
Independence Park is an area built to celebrate Cambodia’s independence. We visited a shrine, but monuments honoring the king as well as an independence monument are located there.
On the drive to Wat Leu, as we got close, many Buddhist buildings and structures started popping up.
There are monkeys, more specifically macaques, in the temple area. They are wild and will steal anything that looks like food.
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| Hmm - I hate these pop-tops |
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| Maybe I can try this... |
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| Nailed it |
A guide at the temple explained the basic tenets of Buddhism and the concept of reincarnation. Buddhism is mostly a theory of life – do good, put out good into the world and it will come back to you – the theory of karma.
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| A monk |
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| Wat Leu Temple |
Buddhist temples are extremely ornate, dare I say gaudy, with lots of gold and bright colors.
The inside of the temple.
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That is an intricate, animated LED display behind the head |
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| Cobras for handrails |
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| It is a definite contrast between the temple and modern Sihanoukville |
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| As promised – goose, or geese |
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| Arlona, pretending to be a witch |
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| But the pups knew better – dogs know a nice person |
We got back in the tuk-tuks and headed for Phsar Leu market.
Phsar Leu Market
This is a covered market jam-packed with little shops. From gold to money exchange to hairdressing and manicures to souvenirs to all sorts of food – it’s all here. It reminded us of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, on a much smaller scale and with less expensive wares.
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| The entrance |
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| There are a couple wide aisles and many, many narrow ones |
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| Many of the gold shops also did money exchange |
The food was amazing (and a little scary).
The entire market is covered in a corrugated tin roof. As we explored, we started hearing what sounded like a hissing sound. It kept getting louder until it turned into an outright roar. It was rain. It came down in buckets.
This delayed our departure from the market as the tuk-tuks were across the street. Ultimately, our guide said we had to go so the group made the charge through the downpour. The bigger issue is that the sewer infrastructure isn’t terribly robust so the streets flood quite easily. We had to walk through nearly ankle-deep water near the curbs because it was too wide to hop over. Oh well, we’ll dry.
The driver put the sides down on the tuk-tuk for our return to the bus.
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| Our tuk-tuk driver |
We made it back and took the short bus ride to the ship.
After a light lunch and a chat with the excursion team about our excursion experience today, we ended up at the Viking Bar, chatting with other passengers for about 90 minutes. We got ready for dinner and then headed up to the Explorers’ Bar for more conversation and to listen to guitarist, Indra.
When we were finally ready for dinner, we headed to the World Café. We were both in the mood for comfort food, so we asked the pizza chef to whip us up a pepperoni, sausage, bacon, garlic, bell pepper, mushroom, and double cheese pizza. He did, and we enjoyed it immensely. It was exactly what we wanted tonight.
I didn’t sleep very well last night so we decided to head to the room after dinner. Tomorrow, we’ll take the included excursion, Sihanoukville Discovery – a bus tour with several stops throughout Sihanoukville before sailing at 2 p.m. for Bangkok, Thailand.
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