more happiness in PP

we decided the next morning that it was time for some culture, which led us to the royal palace in the middle of this cool city.

phnom penh is a colourful fabric made from the grandeur of an ancient kingdom, interwoven with the modernity of a world city. it's not your sky-scraper landscape either, but rather has an olden-day charm much like cape town's.

the wats (buddhist temples) and palaces have been immaculately preserved, the grounds manicured and kept pristinely clean. it was such a pleasure to view such ancient monuments that had been cared for with such respect and appreciation.

the entrance fees were a little steep and after viewing the royal palace (including the silver pagoda which we so unimpressive that i had no idea we had already been inside it, by the time we left) we decided to give the wallets and culture dose a rest for the day.

back in town, we stopped at the pink elephant for some happy pizza and watched cambodia go about its day. the street that followed the river bank was bustling with happy herb street cafes, hawkers and food vendors kept the sales soundtrack on repeat and then out of nowhere, a mahout and his elephant strolled down in the slow lane.

it's not that cambodia wasn't as poor as people had said, or that the country's scars from the khmer rouge genocide were not still very fresh. they were all there.

but then so were the breathtaking sights and the cheap beer and great food and the amazingly friendly people, and the electric energy and the exoticism of it all with its wats and highway hephalumps.

and of course, there was happy.
everywhere.

and all this together meant that instead of the depression and anxiety we had been told to expect, we felt nothing but utterly happy, really.