Day 6: The loop to Phnom Penh - A long ride

Thursday 16 November 2023

This is a series of Mbah’s and Atok’s travelogs to Cambodia on 11-18 November 2023 originally published in Mbah’s Facebook (some original formatting have been modified to suit this blog page presentation). You can read the rest of her postings (and the originals in Facebook) here: 
Day 1 - Part I: Kuala Selangor - Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 11 November 2023 at 18:08) 
Day 1 - Part II: Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 11 November 2023 at 22:22)
Day 2: Route to Siem Reap (published in Facebook on 12 November at 20:49)
Day 3: Kampong Thom - Siem Reap (published in Facebook on 13 November 2023 at 21:50)
Day 4: Angkor Wat & Lara Croft (published in Facebook on 14 November 2023 at 23:20)
Day 5: Siem Reap round and about (published in Facebook on 15 November 2023 at 23:21)
Day 6: The loop to Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 16 November 2023 at 23:24)
Day 7: Phnom Penh round n about (published in Facebook on 18 November at 00:08)
Day 8: Phnom Penh (published in Facebook on 18 November 2023 at 19:02)

<< Day 5: Siem Reap round and about <<
>> Day 7: Phnom Penh round n about >>

If going to Siem Reap took us two days, the loop was to be in a day. We started the day earlier. Checked out at 6 55. Breakfast at the usual place. Wanted to buy pisang pulut panggang - ppp but none for today. Tak de rezeki. 
The first leg is from the centre to Damdek, roughly 40 km. While riding, we saw two young men riding alongside us, almost at the same pace. AK decided to follow them. Nearing to Damdek, a row of stalls selling something like lemang. We saw this the day we head to Siem Reap but did not stop to buy it. We asked a local and he said that the content is only glutinuous rice, coconut milk and some beans. Another Cambodian delicacy to try. We stopped at one of the stall simply because the two young men stopped there too. They bought a few. We only bought one. We should have bought more (menyesal sebab tak rasa dulu). 
The second leg was to Arafat’s stall. We had coconut drink and a bowl of soup. After trying many bowls of soups from different stalls, Arafat’s was the best. 
The third leg was what we thought was the halal bakery at Kampong Thom. We reached the place and tried to find the bakery. We even made a u-turn to check but to no avail. It was not this town. We actually got ourselves confused for this bakery was further down and along a different route. No rezeki to repeat. Adalah rezeki lain nanti. 
The fourth leg, straight to the muslim community place in Phnom Penh. Upin Ipin stall but the owner said that it would only be opened at four pm. We scoured around. Stopped at a corner stall, ordered seafood fried rice with telur goreng. Biasa2 aja. 
Off to our abode for the last two nights of our stay. AK put the location of the abode in Waze and it showed that we were to cross the river via a ferry. “Just check it out first,” I said. It turned out the best rezeki for today. The ferry crossing cost 1500 riel for roughly 5 minutes. Interesting and one that you should try if you are here in Phnom Penh. 
Diamond One hotel and service apartments is the abode. The apartment was just ok. The advertisement said there was to be a pool but the pool is now a children’s playground. Cleanliness, passable but not squeaky clean. The aircond, fridge, kettle and washing machine work well. Two sets of towel. Considering the price, ok lah tu. The only thing is that the person in charge for the check in was rather frumpy with less than little English. Sign language is therefore needed. The lesson from this is that: use Agoda for hotels and Air B&B for apartments. Stick to what they were originally designed to do. 
Yeay for the washing machine. No manual wash. While resting, we washed our clothes. Everything. Huuurrm. Nice smell. Once done, off to the night market. Nothing much. Same old same old. We spotted an ice cream parlour. Afociato and iced cappucino. We savoured them while watching the floating restaurants passed by. Calming. 
Reached the abode. AK felt hungry. A cup of Milo. Cecah roti. Yummy for the simple dinner. It should be dinner before dessert but the other way around it was. Oh well, each to their own. 
Today's journey was 327 km (6 hours 9 mins with stops in between). Not far to some but to us, that was enough to shake the bones. 
Night2 kids.
Night2 everyone.
<< Day 5 Snippets: Siem Reap round and about <<
>> Day 7 Snippets: Phnom Penh round n about >>















<< Day 5 Snippets: Siem Reap round and about <<
>> Day 7 Snippets: Phnom Penh round n about >>