by Our last full day in Phnom Penh began with the Royal Palace firmly on the programme. We had kept putting it off, confident there would be time later. By 8 am the city was already very hot, but we took a tuk-tuk to the gates anyway. This was the day we discovered that “later” is not a reservation.
The Royal Palace: Outside Only
The palace was closed when we arrived. We were told there was an official event and that it would not open until 2 pm. That was the information given to us on the day, not its regular opening schedule. Waiting around through the hottest part of the afternoon did not appeal, so we took a few photographs outside and looked for somewhere cooler.
A nearby 7-Eleven supplied air conditioning, Thai iced tea and a place to reconsider the plan. It was not quite the royal visit we had imagined, but the temperature had made us willing to lower our architectural expectations.
Plan B: A Mall and Some Air Conditioning
We took a Grab to AEON for a little window-shopping and a break from the heat. My stomach was becoming troublesome again by then. The iced tea had seemed appealing at first, but I could not say what was causing the continuing problem.
Some of the mall prices surprised us. After the markets and street-food stops of the previous days, parts of the shopping centre felt expensive. That was our reaction to what we browsed, rather than proof about who shops there or what Cambodian life generally costs. A mall shows one slice of a city.
Lizz found a reasonably priced lunch at the food court; I was not feeling up to much food. We headed back to the hotel rather than trying to rescue the day with another outing. Sometimes Plan C is simply a cool room.
News from Home
Later, news arrived from Europe about my mum. She was due to leave hospital but would need further care and help, so we began planning to fly to Europe the following week. The focus of our plans changed quickly. We still had the final Vietnam leg ahead, but family now came first.
It had been a day of closed gates, stomach trouble and changed priorities. Not every travel diary ends with a wonderful discovery. This one ended with a much more practical appreciation of being able to change the plan.
The following afternoon we would fly back to Vietnam and continue to Saigon. Cambodia had given us a great deal to remember and more to think about than I had expected.
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