June 13: A Boring Day
I woke up at about 7:30 AM. I was planning to get up a bit later because I had gone to bed late the previous night. I felt that the quality of my sleep was not great.
I got up and checked out, receiving my $10 deposit back. I told the receptionist, a young guy, that I might book another stay later online. As usual, I was looking for a coffee shop where I could update my blog and decide what I was going to do that day. I happened to find a Starbucks nearby, so I went in.
The place looked empty. There were only a few customers. Although I often see many people having coffee outside, there are usually not many people inside coffee shops in Vietnam and Cambodia. I think older people tend to wake up early and enjoy having coffee with their friends. I assume that it is an important daily event for them. I think it is the same no matter which country I go to. When I see that, I feel that getting older is not necessarily a bad thing.
The Starbucks looked very modern and had two stories. I moved to the second floor and found a good spot where I could relax and charge my electronic devices. I sat down by the window. The reason I chose Starbucks despite the relatively high coffee prices was that I had found a laundry shop nearby.
Since I had to wash my judo uniforms as well as my clothes, doing laundry was the first thing I wanted to do. Before entering Starbucks, I had tried to use the laundry shop, but I was told that it would open at 9 AM. From the Starbucks window, I could see the laundry shop, so I could easily check whether it was open.
When I saw that it had opened, I took my laundry there and asked a young boy, who looked like a teenager, about the service. He told me it would cost 16,000 riel ($4), which I thought was expensive for washing and drying. However, I had no choice. I paid and was told to come back at 11 AM.
I returned to Starbucks and stayed there until about 1 PM. After leaving, I started looking for a place to have lunch. I headed north toward a more touristy area. However, it was surprisingly difficult to find somewhere to eat while walking around. I eventually walked for more than an hour without finding a suitable place.
I reached the riverside area and entered a fancy-looking restaurant, although I am usually reluctant to go into places like that. I ordered a cup of coffee because it was already late afternoon and I was planning to skip lunch.
As I was sipping my coffee, I saw a tourist-looking guy eating pizza, which suddenly made me crave pizza. Although I knew I should not order it considering the price and the time of day, I ordered the cheapest pizza on the menu, which cost $8.
The fact that U.S. dollars are accepted in Cambodia helps me understand prices more easily. To me, $8 for one meal in Cambodia was very expensive.
After about 15 minutes, the pizza arrived. As I was eating it, I regretted ordering it. It was definitely not worth paying $8 for.
As I noticed the atmosphere of the riverside area becoming livelier, I left the restaurant and continued walking among the many shops. It was interesting to see the difference between the afternoon and the evening. It almost felt like a completely different place. During the afternoon, many vendors either take a break or prepare for the evening rush.
There were so many street food stalls that I could not see everything and had a hard time deciding what to eat. Although I was not hungry because of the pizza I should not have ordered, I bought a fried rice dish for takeout. I sat by the riverside and ate it on the pavement.
There were many people around, but I did not see many tourists. I do not remember the exact price, but it was around $2—four times cheaper than the disappointing pizza.
After finishing my meal, I went back to the hostel and went to bed at about 9 PM.
During a long solo trip, it is inevitable to have days when you do nothing, especially if you are a budget traveler. You need to accept days when all you do is eat, sleep, and relax. That is something I have learned as a solo budget traveler.
I used to be the kind of person who hated missing out on anything a place had to offer. However, I am gradually learning to accept the limitations of time and energy.
June 14: Visiting Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum / Boarding a Bus to Laos
I woke up at 7:30 AM. This time, I chose Rosemary Sandwich Café as my coffee shop for the morning.
I prefer coffee shops that are a little farther away from where I stay because the walk helps wake me up. There were no customers when I arrived, and the space inside was quite small. A young man and woman were working there.
I noticed a display case full of pastries, which intrigued me enough to buy one. Ever since visiting France, I have loved chocolatines, or pain au chocolat (a croissant with chocolate inside—you need to be careful what you call it in France depending on where you are). I ordered one along with an iced Americano.
The staff member warmed up the pastry and served it with my coffee. Unfortunately, the pastry still had a long way to go before reaching the quality of what I had in France. It made me miss French pastries.
I started writing in my personal journal and updating this blog. While I was doing so, a group of three women who spoke English entered the café. They looked to be in their late twenties, around my age, or perhaps a little older.
They sat at a table facing me. I am fairly sure they were American because of their accents, their conversation about Trader Joe’s, and the fact that they talked quite loudly the entire time.
Although their conversation distracted me, I kept writing and found myself missing the United States a little. Two of them did not like the smoothies they had ordered because they were too sweet, while the third woman seemed satisfied with hers.
They eventually left with two smoothies that were still mostly full.
Later, another group of three women entered the café. They looked very similar to the American group, and I thought, “Not again…”
Fortunately, they sat near the entrance, so I could not hear much of their conversation. Their accents sounded different, and I think they were British. Thankfully, I was able to continue focusing on my writing.
I left the café at around 11:30 AM because I had learned that many restaurants close after lunchtime.
I quickly found an open-air restaurant with plenty of seating. I asked for a popular local dish and ordered Beef Lok Lak.
The meal arrived quickly, and it tasted amazing. I especially loved the lime-and-pepper dipping sauce, which I had learned to enjoy during a dinner with Japanese residents after judo training. I paid about $4 and left.
From there, I took a tuk-tuk to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I had recently learned about the terrible genocide that occurred in Cambodia about 50 years ago.
When the Japanese residents told me about it, I realized that I knew almost nothing about it, which once again reminded me how ignorant I can be. Since then, I had been determined to learn more about the tragedy.
Honestly, I was reluctant to visit the museum because I knew how brutal and heartbreaking it would be. However, I felt it was important to see it with my own eyes, so I decided to go.
The ride took only about ten minutes, but it suddenly started pouring rain—a daily occurrence during the monsoon season—while I was in the tuk-tuk. Fortunately, the tuk-tuk had curtains on both sides to keep the rain out.
When we arrived, around ten people were waiting near the entrance because of the rain. I bought a ticket, which cost $5 without the audio guide or $10 with it. I chose the audio guide and waited about twenty minutes until the rain eased.
I then began exploring the museum.
The Japanese audio guide helped me understand the exhibits in much greater detail. At the same time, the experience felt emotionally overwhelming. I do not think I could have stayed there in the evening.
I spent several hours there, trying to understand and reflect on what had happened.
After leaving, I headed to a coffee shop I had found along the riverside. Since there were only a few customers inside, I decided to go in. I relaxed there until it became dark and the street food vendors began opening their stalls.
When I went outside, it was raining again. I took out a small umbrella that I had bought cheaply in Beijing, China.
I noticed that many local people were not using umbrellas. Despite the rain, there were still quite a few people around, although fewer than the previous evening.
I bought a meal similar to the one I had eaten the night before and ate it while watching the riverside.
Afterward, I headed to the bus station to begin my journey to Laos. I took another tuk-tuk and arrived about an hour before departure.
When I arrived, I felt a little worried because I saw only local people. Sometimes, seeing other tourists makes me feel a bit more relaxed when I am in unfamiliar places.
While I was waiting in the lobby, one of the female staff members, whose children were playing nearby, asked me in English whether I had a ticket.
After another staff member, who did not speak English, issued my ticket, the first woman kindly explained how I would get to Pakse, my destination in Laos.
According to her, I would take a sleeper bus for about 12 hours to the border. After completing immigration procedures, staff from the same company would find me and guide me to transportation heading to Pakse.
Her explanation reassured me.
I handed over my backpack and hoped it would not get lost along the way. The luggage compartment was already packed full, so I was worried there would not be enough space. Despite my concerns, I trusted the staff and boarded the bus.
The sleeper bus had bunk beds on both sides, and my assigned bed was on the upper level.
Unfortunately, there was no bathroom on board, so I tried not to drink too much water.
The bus departed a little late and was completely full. At first, it was rather chaotic because of the voices of children and elderly passengers, but things gradually quieted down.
The bed was comfortable enough, and I think I fell asleep a couple of hours after departure.
