First day, a fresh new start :)

Now, let’s continue with our story. From the Asia Hotel, we went to our rent house at Psar Deoum Tkov in the Chankarmon district. Unfortunately the house owner was not at home so we just put our bags down and went out to go elsewhere. According to the itinerary, there were many things that we need to settle on the first day. 

street 510, Psar Deoum Tkov

Our new house

First, we went to the Sovanna supermarket. Outside the supermarket there was a Hello telecom shop where we bought our telephone sim cards. For your information, Hello is one of the members of Axiata group which is the same as Celcom. We chose Hello because the call rate from Cambodia to Malaysia is inexpensive compares to other phone lines. 

Sovanna Mall

Hello.Hello.Hello

Register New sim card

After that we were scheduled to go and have lunch at Café Malaya, one of the famous halal restaurants in Phnom Penh. We went back to Asia Hotel before going there. Unfortunately it was closed so we had our lunch at KFC just below the hotel. All the KFCs here are halal and the price is cheaper than at Malaysia.

Our next plan was to go to the well-known Central Market (in the Khmer language they call it Psar Thmey) to buy our households and needs. It is said to be one of the biggest market in the whole Asia. The market is located just near the hotel so we just walk ourselves there. We can get things with unreasonably cheap price if we know how to bargain with the shopkeepers here. We will describe more about this market in another entry. 

Central Market (Psar Thmey)

Our respective seniors taught us how to bargain with them. Firstly we must ask the shopkeeper for half of the price. They will tell us that the price is too cheap and offers a new price. We can buy it if we think it is affordable. If not, we can repeat the bargaining process or buy at other shops which offer cheaper prices. After we spent about two hours at the market, it is time for us to return home and have a rest.

 

At night we took a Cambodian rickshaw, tuktuk and went out to have our dinner at the Halal Restaurant near the riverside. It was the first time we ate loklak beef, one of the famous Cambodian dish. This is the first time we went out and back at home by ourselves without the guide by our seniors. We had a night chat before we went to sleep early as we were very exhausted.

To simplify what we thought about Cambodia, we asked each other and each one of us must provide our first impressions in one word about this country, before and after we arrive here.

Apai

Before:under-develop

After: historical

Ajib

Before: crime

After: friendly

Nana

Before: hardship

After: peaceful

Nani

Before: unexciting

After: intriguing

Bad

Before: poor

After: remarkable

That’s all for now, see you guys in the next entry. Toodles!