Another new first for me today. I got my first foreign haircut and Cambodian ear cleaning. The haircut turned out well. The barber was extremely attentive to my desired cut. Following this cut and a pleasant neck massage, he sold me on an ear cleaning. Not knowing what to expect, I followed him upstairs to a massage table. This was the strangest experience so far on this trip. This ear cleaning felt odd and almost sexual as he (barber/ear cleaner/masseur) thrust a cotton stick in and out of my ear several times. After each ear had been cleaned, he'd rub some sort of feather over my ear and neck to stimulate the healing process, according to him.
With clean ears and a fresh cut, I headed back to the hostel to do some work. The chosen sightseeing adventure for the day was the Royal Palace. The buildings were impressive as are most of these ornate, imposing Khmer temples. I also enjoyed the vibrant and well-manicured grounds. The Silver Pagoda was striking with its copious gold Buddha figurines. Siting atop a gold plated structure, the Emerald Buddha glowed light green. Pictures were prohibited unfortunately.
For my exercise of the day, I returned to Crossfit Amatak and knocked out a quick WOD consisting of 10 minutes of max distance rowing. I believe I topped the leaderboard for the day with a distance of 2727 meters. I grabbed dinner nearby at a burger joint run by a man from Hawaii. He said he'd been here in Cambodia for 9 years now. I'm starting to understand why he stayed.
In the evening, I realized I screwed the pooch with the visa process with Vietnam. For some reason, I thought the bus company would be able to help acquire the visa on arrival at the land border of Cambodia and Vietnam. I found out that the only visa I could get was an e-visa which takes 3 working days to process. Therefore, I'll probably be staying here in Phnom Penh for an extra 3 nights. But, there are worst places to be stuck. I'm enjoying the laid back vibe of this city (apart from the traffic).
Other notes:
I'm addicted to the mango smoothies here in SEA. The recipe seems to be fresh mango, condensed milk, and shaved ice. I'll definitely be taking this recipe back home to try.