Tuesday Phnom Penh (Updated)

A nice spacious hotel room meant at we all had a good nights sleep (when we had overcome the kids unfairness protests that the adult 3 bed room was better than the children's 3 bed room) really there was no discernible difference!

Had breakfast listening to French - almost all staying in this particular hotel appear to be French and read the Phnom Pengh morning post (English language). I guess lots of French people visit because of historical connections, but English has taken over from French as the second language - probably because of the purge on intellectuals during the Kymer Rouge era.

Then we took a Tuk Tuk to the Russiam Market where we saw all sorts of things for sale from frogs, to motorbike spare parts to clothes to jewellery. We also visited the central market which is a lovely colonial old building.

For lunch we bought some delicious French bread (a legacy from the colonial era), some cheese, tomatoes and  exquisite pain au chocolat and a had a  lovely picnic by the hotel pool followed by a long swim as it was oppressively hot and humid.

Nic went out to meet his friends in the evening clutching avocados he had bought at the market. Jim was very impressed with his map reading skills, as the rest of us walked around a mile to a backpackers street where we had delicious food - Liz in particular scored a hit with her Bar Fish with ginger - and of course only for £1.50.

Of course this walk involved crossing a fairly main road twice, but somehow we managed it (the traffic volumes are pretty intense in P P and pedestrians are bottom of the pecking order!