2008-10-18 - Roaming the Streets

Once I got motivated to leave the guesthouse, there were a few simple jobs on the todo list – visit the DHL office to see what it would cost to send a package to Australia, recharge the local mobile SIM that I have here, and get some stamps form the post office.

The phone SIM was easy, and was done around the corner at one of the countless mobile phone shops here. Next was the DHL office, which is on street 110, about 20 mins walk away, just past the Central Market which I’ve walked to before. Because of the grid-like streets, you can just walk down the next street over, and you get an entirely different set of scenery.

Abandoned building

New tuktuk colour: purple!

Rare 4-wheeled tuktuk

Street sign

The countdown traffic lights again

Markets

The "Happy Man Bar" - can't argue with that

Bank in a nice restored villa

The row of car accessories shops - the cars out the front are in the "fitting bay"

Merc S600 - if ever there was a car that was wasted on these streets.....

Highrise under construction - still rare

Approach to Wan Phnom - 7-serpent-headed railings

Once arrived at St 310, there was a bit of a walk to find DHL, and on the way a whole row or car parts / accessories shops were found. This wasn’t so much mechanical, more replacement tail lights, lots of chrome bits to stick on your car, and car stereos and DVD players. Picked up a Toyota bonnet emblem and some AMG badges on the way through.

Having finally found the DHL office, I asked the lady inside how much it was to send a 10kg package to Australia – my benchmark. She worked it out as $292. I told her that FedEx and EMS charged $120 for the same thing. She says “different price”. Indeed.

Next stop was the post office, just a few blocks away. On the way was a bunch of street stalls selling second hand clothes, where you can get some quite wacky T-shirts, for the princely sum of 2,500 to 3,000 Riel (75c) each. The post office is a nice old building, probably built by the French, which is actually open on weekends. I picked up my stamps and also had a look at their stamp collector’s displays – there was quite a lot on offer for a country that largely does without a postal service.

Post office

After that was more expenditure at the central market, on paintings, carvings, more T-shirts and a few other bits and pieces – Christmas is now officially sorted. Purchase of the day was a very large painting of a rural scene – very much cookie cutter work, but still hand-painted on canvas, and still looks great. They take the canvas off the frame and roll it up – hopefully it will make it back to Australia and get framed by me in one piece.

Also stopped at the nearby mall to withdraw more money and have lunch at Masters – a KFC-like store. This has a nice spot on the 5th floor of the mall, with great views over the city. The staff:customer ratio was about 5:1 – there were even 2 guys standing in front of the counter on either side, kind of like royal guards. Another novel touch is sinks in the main restaurant area, to wash your hands before/after eating.

Central market from the Masters fast food store

Skyline

Towards the river