A Day in the Life — The road liss traveled

So here's a little overview of a fairly typical day in Phnom Penh

EDIT: I indented each bullet point, which now appears as really weird spacing in each point. I tried to undo it, but it didn't fix it. Sorry!

11:00: Wake up. This also the time that the light gets through my window at the right angle as to shine on my face. Various faint construction noises can also be heard, but usually I'm good at drowning them out. I chug some water and pack up swimsuit, towel, and change of clothes.

my little studio apartment. I kind of like it.

11:15: Head out. I'm already starting to sweat as I walk down the staircase, it's a freakin sauna in there. As soon as I exit I get hailed by the tuk-tuk who is waiting outside, shake my head and keep walking. Also say no to the tuk tuks on the next corner. And the various other tuk tuks and motorbikes that go by. It's a never ending process.

11:25: Get to the hostel pool. They don't care if you use the pool as long as you're paying for something. I get the mango smoothie almost every time, then find a spot for my towel near the water. After half an hour I'm way too hot and have to hop in. Sometimes I'll chat up the backpackers if there are any already in the pool. There's also a nice shaded enclosure with big cushions and pillows to chill out. The only downside is the hostel plays the same crappy music list on repeat every day. Really the worst music.

Hostel pool. Sadly it gets hardly any sun in the late afternoon

12:30: Change clothes and head on over to Riverking to get the poker game started. It always starts around this time, which is pretty damn early for degenerate gamblers! You can keep your cash in the cashier, which is nice, because I don't like walking around the city with a few years salary of a poorer Cambodian in my pocket. There's free food and drink, so I'll start off with a coffee and then order some lunch. The food here is delicious actually. Normally the action is pretty tight, but sometimes you get the rich Cambodians who are waiting to play Omaha for much higher stakes and they'll dick around in the Hold'em game and give away some money.

3:30: The omaha game starts and most of the fish leave the hold'em game to play in that game. Sometimes I'll leave and sometimes I'll keep playing depending on the lineup. For todays example I'll head out and go to gym to pump some iron. The gym I normally go to is only a half block away from Riverking. It's just barebones work out equipment and it looks like a bomb went off inside, as none of the weights are racked. It's like a treasure hunt finding the matching barbell! The gym costs $1, and is populated by sweaty shirtless Cambodian guys. Well it's impossible not be sweaty because there's no AC and no fans. After 15 minutes I'm pretty much dripping sweat and after 30 I'm going to overheat. So I keep my workouts nice and short these days!

4:00: Massage time! My favorite massage place is actually located in the hotel that Riverking operates from. For $10 you get an oil massage as well as use of the sauna/steam room/hot tub/ cold tub. And it's a legitimately good massage, these girls get in there nice and firm. If you get a massage in the tourist area it will be $12 for an oil massage, no other amenities, and will suck about half the time.

Also some days I feel like switching it up and I go to the Seeing Hand massage place, where they train the blind people to give massages. This is where I go if I want to bring on the pain. They don't mess around here. Three out of the last four times I've been here they have given me this hulk of a woman. Normally I ask for a strong massage, but for her I say medium and she still has me crying out in pain at least a few times during the massage, which she finds amusing. Rather than be like 'sorry sorry!' she just says 'too strong' and chuckles. It's cheap enough though, at $6/hr for a traditional khmer massage.

5:15: For today's example I'm going to cook dinner for myself so now it's time to head on over to the local market for some fresh produce. My dinners are usually some forms of stir fry, but I'll switch it up with a salad, green curry, ramen, or a burrito bowl knock off attempt thrown in there. If my fridge is empty I'll pick up onions, peppers, tomatoes, chilis, garlic, ginger, cilantro, bok choy, eggs, chicken breasts, and maybe some fruit like a mango or mangosteens. All of this probably cost $5-6. If I'm getting ripped off it can't be by much! Plus I can at least ask how much and know all the numbers in Khmer, so I'm not a total noob.

some prices of western foods are kind of ridiculous

5:45: Normally I wouldn't cram this much stuff into one day, but lets say today I'm being super active and I want to go take some photos before the sun sets. I grab my camera and go down to riverside around the National Palace and hope to get a few good shots in. There's always a ton of people sitting around here, eating, selling stuff, monks wandering around etc. It's pretty cool.

6:30: Get back to the apartment, crank that fan and AC and relax for a bit. Maybe go on CNN and other fake news outlets and get annoyed with American politics.

7:00: Make dinner. Usually just roasting a bunch of veggies, putting on the rice, then doing a nice easy, tasty, chicken stir fry.

8:45: Shower, get ready for more gambling action. Casino time.

8:55: Walk down the street and find my motorbike guy. I don't have to bargain the price or tell him where I'm going, he already knows, Nagaworld!

9:00: Get to the casino, ogle some of the smoking hot girls working there, and make my way up to the poker room and hop in the action. Some days there are lots of fish, particularly from China, and the action is great and I will not remove myself from the table until the bad players lose all their money or the table breaks. These days I'm here until 4-5am usually. Other days there aren't many fish and it's mostly regulars and then I won't stay as long. I'll either go home or maybe see if other guys are hitting the bars and try an meet up with them. In that case I'll stay out till 3 or 4 am, which is when most bars shut down. On a very rare occasion I'll go Pontoon, which is the big club that stays open until 6 or 7am.

I got in big trouble for taking this photo! I took two but only deleted one, ha

what kind of casino wouldn't have female dance troupes out on stage every night playing obnoxiously loud music?!

So that's more or less what my days are like in Phnom Penh! It's not too bad!