Super Adventurous Trip to Phnom Penh

One of our team members from School of Worship needed to go to the embassy in the capital of Cambodia, so both of us ended up traveling to Phnom Penh during a school week. With no knowledge of Phnom Penh (except the first night I arrived from the airport in June), I started to research and get information of how to get there, and what kinds of things we needed to do. 

It started with a 7-hour van drive from Battambang to Phnom Penh. Gladly, our friend was Alli was also traveling there. Her van was full but a tuk tuk driver took us to a transportation office where we found a van that could take us. It only had 2 seats left, just for us! 

The ride was good, I didn’t get car sick, and it was nice to see rice fields, banana trees, herds of cows, village houses, and lots of land. We stopped by a restaurant to eat lunch and then continued our adventure to the city. 

As we arrived, we could see highways, lots of motorcycles, cars, and the van just left us at a very random drop off place. We had several tuk tuk drivers help us get to the place we stayed at. The tuk tuk driver got a bit lost but managed to find his way back using my friend’s Google maps app! (lol) It was a nice detour, where we got to see more buildings and plazas. 

We walked around the area and we found the Phnom Penh night market and found nice street food. All the stalls were similar! The aunties were quite competitive, as they all sold similar dishes. One stand had papaya salad, which is a very popular snack in Cambodia! 

I was very proud of this smokey barbecue shot of a street food vendor. The smell was really nice too! We walked around the area and decided to go for western comfort food. 

The next day, we met a tuk tuk driver who took us to places we needed to go, as we were running errands. We found a nice breakfast place called Enzo Cafe, which I thought their branding was top notch!

While finishing all of our errands, we got to explore more of the city and walked around the area where most of the embassy buildings were. We passed by the Independence Monument, which I later found out it was an iconic tower. 

Since our trip was so sudden, our classmates called us while were were eating lunch. “When are you coming back?” Haha, I love our worship school. We also got to video call other missionary friends who are traveling overseas.

We got to see different areas of Phnom Penh after lunch. Phum Chamraeun Phal was less crowded. Then we went to Sangkat Tuol Tumpung area to meet up with our friend Alli for dinner. While exploring, we found a really nice coffee shop called Pleng Chan. Again, their branding blew me away and their menu was beautiful (design geek coming out!). 

I ordered an iced coffee green tea drink, which was pretty and had an interesting taste! I usually go for an iced caramel coffee, but it was nice to try something new. This drink’s aesthetic was nice!

As I’m thinking about today’s adventures, I’m thankful for God’s provision and the way He has taken are of us! All the errands we had to do were in faith, as a few months ago, we didn’t know what we needed to do. God was faithful to provide the money, transportation, and connections to help us! He is so good! We had a lot of fun being tourists and visiting different coffee shops, places to eat, and a few famous landmarks we drove past. We’ll be taking a 7-hour night bus back to Battambang and continue our school schedule of this week! These memories are definitely something to keep! It felt like like those spontaneous backpackers who travel in Asia. 

I’ve enjoyed blogging on site and sharing about these awesome moments in South East Asia. Stay in tune for more!