"Hello sir, tuktuk?"

Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

NP: The 69 Eyes - Dance D'Amour

Mood: Placid

Phnom Penh was concrete and crowds and darkness. From the window of the bus I peered at the street names in this dimly lit city and found what I'd been looking for: We were driving on Monivong Boulevard, which is a big street running through the length of the city. The bus took a turn on Sihanouk Blvd and soon stopped. On the seat next to mine, Mika was snoring.

Immediately upon stepping out of the bus a flock of tuktuk drivers set upon us like birds of prey. They wanted too much, $4 for a short trip ($1 would've been a suitable price). We declined and opted to walk instead. One of them kept following us and told us the city was dangerous to walk in. I had told him we were going to Dragon Guesthouse and already had a booking, which we didn't really have. He told us we didn't know where we were going and he did...

The streets were numbered, so finding our way in Phnom Penh was very easy even though the streets were mostly dark. I had seen Monivong Blvd from the window of the bus so heading to the right direction right off the bat was also easy. The tuktuk driver wouldn't receive his pay from us tonight.

After a short walk we arrived at Dragon Guesthouse. Red towels, pink toilet paper and a room (double rooms cost $10) in disrepair didn't make me feel any closer to dragons (though pink toilet paper seems to be a thing in Cambodia) so we decided to change to another place after one night. Sunday Guesthouse just a few blocks away offered a sweeter deal ($10 for a twin room, so just $5 per guest) with accommodation in better shape, though the room was smaller.

The Genocide Museum of Tuol Sleng was a terrible sight to behold. A school converted into a torture center in the 1970s where men, women and children were kept in tiny brick cells, interrogated and tortured until they they confessed to crimes they didn't commit. Now it's a museum that houses photos of the victims (mugshots) and of their tortured, broken bodies. There is also a collection of skulls and bones to finish off the eerie feeling of the place. A very expressive sight, unlike the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek which was far too touristy.

We met a Finnish couple from Hyvinkää at Sunday Guesthouse. Such a shock to hear Finnish spoken by others all of a sudden! Tero and Nina turned out to be such fun company that soon we found ourselves having rom with them at a French bar and going to Heart of Darkness for a mixture of beer and Aikido... but I can hardly remember what happened next.

Suffice to say Phnom Penh kept us entertained for several days. The worst part was probably the early closing times and the darkness of the city. The best parts - cheap beer and the compact size of the center which enabled walking as a form of transport.

Doing that, you could never escape the often repeated shouts of "Hello sir, tuktuk?" though.