Meandering With @Sreypov In Phnom Penh, Street Art, & Other Tasty Things
Many of you know how incredibly bored we always were in Suriname, and we often joked about how easy generating Hive content from Cambodia would be.
Phnom Penh Is Content Overload 📸
In fact there is so much content it's hard to find time to post said content. Well, this post isn't exactly the best example, we're basically just hunkered down in the cheapest room per-day room possible here in the capital, awaiting the assembly of our Piaggio Ape Auto+ 🛺, the uber-efficient transportation that will be the backbone of our new Hive-based lifestyle.
We've already been here together in the capital for 7 days, but we haven't got half of things done we had planned. We just aren't city folks, so even going out to eat is often an energy draining task, something that would normally be fun in most circumstances. That being said, life is so user-friendly in Cambodia, and I wake up every morning before the family to run out and buy coffee, pickled fruits and veggies, soy milk, and other random pushcart-based snacks.
The Land Of Bright Orange Coolers 🟧
The Cambodian economy is mostly very competitive, but the icebox industry is not one full of competition. Bright orange is the only color, and sizes vary from 6-pack to the size of a Toyota Camry. In the countryside, the sight of a far-off bright orange dot on the horizon is like on oasis in the dessert.
Cambodian Donuts Are Legendary 🍩
If you've ever eaten a donut in California, chances are it was made by a Cambodian. I don't know why, but Cambodian immigrant communities around the world are often initially donut-based economies.
On this morning @sreypov and I grabbed a fat sack of donuts, some pickled mango, tamarind, and jicama, and headed back to the room to treat the @kidsisters with this bounty.
Balcony Street-View Better Than TV 📺
The above picture was taken not much before 6:00 am from our balcony. The girls across the street were playing with their poodle and taking silly selfies, the tuk-tuk driver was getting a can of beer and single cigarette for the road, and off-camera someone was violently dry-heaving. Oh how I missed all the action that Cambodia always has on standby ready to roll.
Naga In The Alley Next To Dry Cleaners 🐉
My family and I aren't overly familiar with Phnom Penh, so this surprise naga on the wall across the alley from the launderers was a welcome one. Pretty impressive shading and coloration to me, but I'm no art expert.
This was to the left of the naga, and @sreypov immediately commented on the "gigantic foreign nose," which I even thought was a bit much. Well, some proper content is soon to come, we pick up our Piaggio tomorrow morning if things go as planned. We'll be heading off towards the wild west and into (for us) uncharted territory, and the thought of it is so exciting.
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You mean a moving life ?
We will be nomadic for a time, I guess we kind of are now. We do have our Piaggo Ape Auto+ Diesel, and I must say it is awesome. We're going to attempt to move to across the country will all of our luggage in tow very soon.
Great to see you are all together once again, enjoy finding your way around the city and hopefully soon back to village life which is more suitable to your lifestyle.
Happy landings Justin!
!LUV to all your wonderful women. 💕
@joanstewart(3/10) gave you LUV.
Step-by-step we are slowly getting closer to our new life. Thank you my friend, it is so nice to see all the love from you Hivers.
You sound happier, that is what counts most finding a place to enjoy!
I totally agree.
That is big 😨😨. In Malaysia, the biggest is 75 litre box
At first glance, I thought that was a monkey 😅😅
Do you made any customization to the ride? Can't wait to see your content about this 😁😁
Purebred dogs is the newest trend for Phnom Penh's middle class. I am still getting used to it, but I am partial to the random Cambodian street dog, one of the world's most intelligent animals. We did some customization already, mostly reinforcements to the canvas shell. Little things like a fan and rain doors, but that's pretty much it so far. I've been documenting the process.
Sounds like continued forward progress! Having a goal and the means to move toward it is fantastic.
That art is pretty neat. I do think that street art is about a universal constant; wherever there might be a wall on a street, there will be an artist to cover it.
Street art is still new to Phnom Penh, and most of the more experimental or modern stuff is done by foreigners. The best Cambodian work can be found on the wall of preschools, Buddhist monasteries, and old signboards.
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The city has indeed a lot of story to tell and aside from which it's very picturesque as well! 😍 Would love to try Cambodian donut someday 😋 quite curious about how it tastes like! Take care always and spend lots of time with family 🤗
The Cambodian donuts in California are much more exotic than the ones here, but as far as what's available on the street, it's the just basic round donut with some sugar coating. If your timing is perfect, you purchase them just after being fried and eat while still hot.
Cambodia is almost similar to Bangkok. I like de javu when looking at the photo above the balcony, is almost the same when I first got to Bangkok. I so want to Cambodia btw. Very fun once had a balcony and could see anything from the top!
In some ways Phnom Penh is getting some of the same modern things like Bangkok. I heard this a 7/11 somewhere now in the city, but I haven't seen it yet. My wife and I are both countryside and small town folks, so life in Phnom Penh is very strange to us, so much activity.
I don't quite get the orang ice box idea, but I do find there's a lot of sugarcane, which is my favorite. I like to bite the cane and suck the juice, but that's like 20 years ago. I think if I try it today, I'll be leaving not only my teeth, probably my jaw at the cane.
Not exactly sure how the donut taste like, but they looked pretty normal, just like those in Dunkin. I'd like to try one if I ever had a chance. Other than that, am excited to see your new ride!
A post about the new ride is soon to come, it's pretty exciting. I don't know why the orange ice box is so ubiquitous, but I do know small businesses without any major signage don't have to pay taxes or deal with the government in any way. The orange ice box near the street is one way for a person to let the public know they sell stuff without placing a sign which would draw the attention of police and the taxman. The donuts are nothing special to be honest, but it's one of the few treats on the street that remind me of something from back home.
always healthy justin and also always happy.👍
Give thanks, things are looking really good for the future.
Yes, Justin, I hope so too.
Ah i see is orange in color there. In thai here is blue or red . Kids really grow up very fast. I almost cant recognize them. Cant wait for more hype from you sir 😊
Haha, I will remember blue and and red coolers for my next to visit to Thailand. More content to come soon, still catching up on errands, rest, etc.
You got it right sir. Can't wait for more. Have a good rest sir.
🙏👊
I love reading about your adventures...
Heading west means you can locate a spot where you can buy a plot of land and settle?
There is an outpost-ish type town called Pramoey which we just heard has a private English language school and affordable rental rooms, so that is enough for us to use it as a basecamp. For $50 a month, we can a tiny room with a bed and bathroom, a place to keep our bags and take showers, and we can use this room as a place to explore the nearby countryside for land purchasing opportunities.
The life look usual for people in Phnom Penh but for me, I am very curios of life in Cambodia with your stories and photos.
Usual for some Southeast Asians is exciting for others. For my family and I, we are used to a slower way of life and way of talking like in the rural areas. Even my wife sometimes has trouble with the accent of Phnom Penh people.
There were 2 things in your post that I loved especially - the sugarcane juice (we grew up on that in Trang) and the amazing street art - it reminds me of Bali. I didnt realize street art was also a part of Cambodian culture!
The street art like in this post is usually done by foreign residents, but the highest paid Cambodian talents are probably landing jobs at the Buddhist monasteries. Public schools also sometimes hire local artists for murals, which are beautiful too, but a very different style.
Truly looks like a country where you can make a lot of content from! Will be waiting for your blog about the wild west of Cambodia!
It's all too easy, but finding time to post it is proving the hardest part. We just need to get settled, that's all. It will happen in due time, but we still have many things to do in the capital first.
That's great! Hope you get settled as soon as possible!
So happy to see you all back in the kingdom of wonder.... get out of PP and come to the coast!!!!
It feels good to be back, but of course we're not fans of PP outside of the delicious eats available. We have so much luggage that we're heading straight to Pramoey for a rental room. Once we're settled there and have a lockable door, we'll hit the road in our tuk-tuk to Kampot, Siem Reap, Kep, and anywhere else we need to visit. Of course you're welcome in Pramoey for some adventures into the wild, the new ride comfortably sits six people.
Where is this pramoey. Never heard of it. Would love to go for adventure ride. Want to do a few more things before we leave.
It's near-ish to Pursat, but headed towards the Thai border, at the northern edge of the Cardamom Mountains park.
Maybe we ll come and visit you. Never been to that area of Cambodia. Planning to take some time off before we leave the country.
It's beautiful here, actually reminds of Ecuador and Colorado a bit. The mountains are huge and we up in altitude enough that there are no rice fields here. The weather is really cool, and I've been able to wear my thickest jacket on a few occasions. There are some really good guesthouses here for $15 to #20 a night that would cost $50 to $60 in PP.
Haha... we will come and have a look but I doubt any Cambodian mountain range can resemble the Andes mountains.
Well, definitely not like the Andes, there's no snow, we can actually breathe, and the mountains aren't easily accessible via a tour bus company. There are a lot of deciduous trees here though, which is strange, and it's the dry season, things are brown, so this place kind of reminds me of New Mexico/Arizona a bit. It's crazy that even here land is still more expensive than southern Indiana, actually still out of our reach. We have about $10,000 for land, but most of what we are encountering is $40,000+, and the Chinese are buying huge tracts of land, so nobody wants to break anything up here.
We're gonna venture to Veal Veng soon, where the land is cheaper and there are lot more creeks and rivers good for swimming. Hopefully we might find something remotely affordable there. I can't imagine going much wilder than Pramaoy, even 30 minutes down a rough road around here land prices are only half of what they would be in Kampot.
That's just crazy. Wasn't expecting that the Chinese were also buying everything this far out! Kampot and kep are lost. No more peace and quiet here... not even in kep... and land prices OMG... through the roof. More expensive than in Belgium! Well, good luck and hope to see you all soon!
I don't see you in any of the pics. Hopefully this means you guys are finally reunited though.
I realize I'm not in this post at all. Funny, @sreypov and I were just joking the other day that I should use her pictures for my posts and vice-versa because her pictures feature me and mine her. We're together, sleeping in random places and still not unpacked, but that's all in the process of being solved.
What is a piaggio??? I'm so happy that you got safely home 🙌
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A bike and car hybrid? Nice 🙌