Frog legs and curry in a coconut

That's what we had for dinner last night at a traditional Khmer restaurant (well, traditional in so far as they served traditional food, but it was a fairly upmarket type place and not frequented by locals).

The food was good, although the frog legs looked a fair bit like frog legs and it was hard not to imagine them as live frogs while eating them, but they did, as you would predict, taste a bit like chicken with a slightly fishy character. The coconut fish curry, served in a coconut, is the national dish and was awesome. We also had a plate of our new favourite morning glory, which as usual was really nice.

Before dinner we had 70c beers at a riverside bar, and then after dinner we went to a little supermarket to buy more water, and George was seduced by the $7 bottle of gin, which no doubt will taste like crap and we'll probably not get anywhere near through, especially since the many many bars here are so cool. Speaking of which, we then went to a swanky looking bar for some very nice $3.50 cocktails and had a long chat with a Canadian photographer who worked there at nights 'for something to do'.

After this we walked back to our hotel, and I passed out before George had even got out of the shower (at about 10pm). After our many successive days of 5.30-6am starts, we slept like logs until 8.30 this morning and have since had a very slow start to the day, involving breakfast, organising our bus to Battambang, and washing most of our clothes in the sink. We're making an attempt to upload our photos thus far, but the internet here, albeit free, is probably the slowest in the whole bloody country, so I don't think it's going to happen. Apparently our hotel in Battambang has the fastest internet in the country, so at the least we'll be able to do it there.

Our impressions of Phnom Penh so far are very good. The people are really friendly, and generally have very good English, and they actually walk away when you say 'no thank you' to the balloons, dvds, books, etc that many of them are trying to sell. The city is busy, but without the craziness and chaos of Ho Chi Minh City, and it's quite beautiful as well with all the French and Khmer architecture. There are so many restaurants and bars, and the toilets are clean and have toilet paper, which is a big plus after HCMC!

Anyway, we should probably actually get out and see some of it soon since it's already 11.30 and we haven't done anything yet. I'm sure we'll be checking in again soon since the internet is free and our hotel is so welcoming!