From Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, Cambodia required no less than a a 2hr 20min bus ride to the border at Moc Bai, followed by another 2hr bus journey to Phnom Penh. In between there was the border crossing, which involved a short walk, plus the visa to cross into Cambodia. I had the foresight to purchase the eVisa online, which was approved in a couple of days. Well worth the effort to avoid sitting around waiting for the Visa to be issued. Winning advice, take a couple copies of the visa and make sure you have a copy for when you exit Cambodia.
Our accomodation in Phnom Penh, our first of two cities was the Diamond Hotel. Whilst on the bus, Bamboo gave us the option of attending an off-itinerary (kick)boxing match for USD20, so at about 7pm that evening we took a tuk-tuk. Took a tuk-tuk? Yes, took a tuk-tuk to the National Boxing Arena in south western Phnom Penh.
Our 20USD got us entry through backstage, past the waiting fighters and then a ring side seat. The remaining audience were seated in free seats but had to queue for nigh on 3 hours to get a seat. We definitely had the best seats in the house.
There were three fights in total, with two musical numbers in between each fight. The fights were amazing, and the music numbers performed by local star Seylalin Sok, were split into one slow romantic song followed by a sizzling dance number. I didn't realise until afterwards that the fight and musical number were broadcast on national channel Bayon TV. The online quality is not at all worth watching, it's so bad quality
After the fight, back in the Tuk-Tuk we stopped at restaurant Ambau Khmer on the edge of the Mekong River. The food was good, but more significantly, Bamboo had arranged for us to taste some Cambodian delicacies. On the menu, other than the food we ordered and some karaoke, we had beetles, frogs, crickets and silk worms. All fried of course. The beetles were difficult to crack into, and the silk worms were a little soft on the inside, but the frogs and crickets were actually quite more-ish.
Easily one of the best nights so far.
Footnote: Since having the new EOS R camera, this was my first foray into shooting a show at reduced lighting. I used the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 and shot fully manual. The first few shots I shot with an ISO of 12800 but gradually dropped it to ISO8000 as I slowed down the shutter speed. Pretty impressed with the noise levels!
