Within 24 hours of landing in Phnom Phen, Cambodia I managed to injure myself twice.  The first was a head over feet fall in the street.  Went down with little grace, but with a will to protect my phone which I had clutched in my hand.  My only injury, mostly, was my left thumb.  Oh my god did it hurt.  I spent the next five minutes oblivious to my surroundings as I silent yelped in agony.  It just so happened that I walked directly through the Phnom Pehn red light district in that five minutes.  They must have thought I was a very weird foreigner.

The next injury the following morning I cracked my head quite badly on a low hanging metal bar that I didn’t see.  A couple of locals came rushing to my aid as they saw blood coming down the side of my face.  Near by a hosepipe, tissues and mirror mode on my camera to do a decent temporary clean up job.  I decided to go back to the hotel via tuk tuk to take care of it more thoroughly.  The shower ran red.

Cleaned up  I headed back with a new danger assessment strategy.  You would think this might have disheartened my spirits about Cambodia, but quite the opposite.

The unpredictability, the uncertainty are the adventure.  No matter how much AI, or satellite GPS or Google Maps should ever rob the traveler of that uncertainty.  Crossing the street is a danger level 6.3 I decided, the less confident you are the higher that goes.  If you scare and run it goes up to a 9.8.

I got myself on to one of those excellent Guru Free Walking tours.  Martin was a class guide, showing us Sunday evening bustling Phnom Pehn.  He spoke with a passion for his country, he was able to educate and make it fun, a great combination.  Lots of landmark, photo ops, street food and history. I’d highly recommend, Martin is a class guide and Phnom Pehn is a great city to explore. He took us the food stalls were we tried tarantula, sillk worm, cricket and some sweet tooth items.  It was quite the menu …..the tarantula spider was my favorite.  It could have been a bush tucker trial, but actually it was pretty darn nice.  Danger rating 5.2.

In a world were Australia is banning under 16 year olds from using social media, in Cambodia a family of 3-4 can be seen to ride on one motorbike, sometimes without one motorcycle helmet between them.  I like the fact that kids experience and learn how to navigate possible danger.

For me, walking the streets,  watching out for trips hazards or anything low hanging held me on a higher alert.  Danger level 7.7.

A new dawn, a new day. A great visit to the Royal Palace was followed up a visit to S21. 

What is S21? S21 is security prison 21, the most notorious  interrogation, torture and detention centers of the Khmer Rouge.  With Pol Pot as its leader.  The stories are chilling and as recently as 1975-1979 .  You transition through the displays guided by your personal narration….I can’t even begin to comprehend, but I did try.  Danger level unspeakable.

Time for Lunch

I went for a lovely lunch at One Eleven Kitchen as recommended by the Guru Free Walking tour guide.  The food was delicious, I was not surprised given Martin’s recommendation

Two Hotels in One

This is where the Cambodia trip took a new track  When investigating where to go within Cambodia, Angkor Wat was #1 by a mile. But Angkor Wat is In Siem Reap, and that’s 200 miles from Phnom Penh.

The plan was to do a round trip in one day, but one of the flights got cancelled by the airline. My plan B had me going on a Tuesday night and returning Wednesday afternoon.  Quite the adventure as I now had 2 hotels on the same night in different cities in Cambodia.

Because of my flight times I was committed to the ‘Sunrise Tour’.  This meant a 4.45am departure from the hotel I’d barely arrived at 6 hours before.  The Cambodia danger scale was high at Angkor Wat as it was pitch black dark on arrival.   My tour guide had a torch, but it still made every step a challenge.  He invited me to sit down on a wall to see the sunrise and changing levels of light and color.  What he didn’t share with me was there was a five foot drop ….and I blindly stepped over the edge.  All the surrounds are stone.  How I didn’t hurt myself really badly I really don’t know.  A sore heel, bruised hip and ribs and grazed elbow seemed to be the sum of it.  If incidents come in threes I should be ok from here on in, maybe.  Danger rating 9.3.  Once daylight set in it went down a little, but with uneven stones, almost vertical staircases, this was going to be interesting.

Speaking of Angkor Wat itself, it’s beautiful.

I cannot believe how well preserved it is despite being over 12000 years old.  I hope the photos do it justice.  I was fotunate to have Phyrom as my well spoken VIP guide.  He knitted together the history of Angkor Wat (meaning City Temple) and we were able to get some wonderful photos as the weather shone bright. With it being just a one person tour we were able to cram a lot into my short time frame. There are hundreds of temples but we were able to go to the main secondary ones of Ta Prohm and Bayon. The sunrise tour is magical and I was so pleased to have had the pleasure to visit.

A quick lunch back at my short stay hotel and off back to the airport.  Back to Phnom Penh for one more night.  I’m hoping to stay out of danger trouble before I head onwards tomorrow.

I caught a tuk tuk again from the airport to the hotel.  It takes an hour at the massive speed of 23 mph, but tuk tuk’s are fun.  Danger rating 3.4.  That said, this tuk tuk was motor bike powered, so I was sat in the back breathing in motor bike fumes.  Danger rating 5.5.

An uneventful injury free evening as I tried food in equal deliciousness.  I’m a pomegranate juice lover and I was delighted to find some available here.  I then moved on to dinner to try some super nice Cambodian food.  With no insects or spiders on the menu tonight, I tried Let Lak which is a beef Cambodian dish served with rice.  Lovely.

Despite some trials and tribulations, Cambodia has been fantastic.  I’ve enjoyed it enormously. I joke about the danger level, but it was mostly self inflicted by yours truly, Mr Clumsy. I loved Cambodia.