The King Grand Boutique Hotel afforded us the tiniest, least ‘grand’ bedroom of this trip around Asia. I guess the operative word was ‘boutique’, not the word ‘grand’. The swimming pool in the lobby area and the swimming pool on the roof, were also, not grand at all, they were tiny; you couldn’t really swim in them, they were a sort of plunge pool just perfect for cooling off in oppressive heat. If three or more people got in the roof pool at the same time, the water would overflow all across the floor and bar area; I was rather glad we weren’t in the room on the floor directly below. But we did use both of those pools after exhausting days tramping the streets around Phnom Penh.
On our last evening in Phnom Penh, after a day of shuffling along the streets and a rejuvenating plunge in the pool, we wandered down to push our way through the astonishing crowds around the enormous Independence Monument. In places it was impossible to cross the roads, which were just as packed as the pavements. Today was the culmination of the Water Festival, a very special day in the Cambodian calendar. As we walked along to the riverfront, hanging on to each other to avoid being separated in the happy, loud crowds, we heard an explosion and looked up to see the red sparkling lights of a huge firework. And then there were more fireworks and more. It was lovely and everybody, just like all over the world, stood mesmerised and uttering that universal sound “Oooo, aaaaahhh”. We, of course, joined in.
Finally, finding a restaurant for a quick cheap meal, we dived in to the air-conditioned back room of a Khmer restaurant. We ordered our meals and then spotted two young girls wandering through the restaurant trying to sell their scarves and bracelets and toys. One of them came up to our table with goods stretched out in front of her. She could only have been about ten. She told us we needed scarves for our cold country, so I told her we didn’t live in a cold country, “we live in Australia”. To which she replied “do not lie. You can lie to me, but do not lie to yourself”. Wow, that one took us aback! She then proceeded to tell us that her Auntie “lives in Perth in Western Australia and she pays for my schooling”. So I told her that Perth is colder than Sydney; absolutely not true and I’m now starting to feel guilty about lying. To which she came back quickly with “my Auntie has moved to Sydney and she has told me that the winter there has been very cold this year”, which was absolutely true!!! I apologised, but said we really didn’t need to buy any more scarves, or toys, or bracelets, so she turned to Rodney, tilted her head and with beautiful big brown pleading eyes said “Come on, be a man, open your heart and open your wallet”. It was a beautiful moment and as Rodney was about to reach for his wallet, our meals arrived and she just faded away back out on to the street. Sadly no sale.
