Phnom Penh, Cambodia
At check-in in Bangkok for Air Asia the ticket agent was kind and charged me only $90 instead of the $150 I had expected for excess weight for my luggage. On the flight I sat next to a British man who has lived in Thailand for over 10-years and learned a lot of about living there as a foreigner. It was a good flight. Coming into Phnom Penh from the air it looks more like a large town than the capital of a country. I obtained a visa on arrival and was pleased that all my luggage made it intact.
The traffic is as crazy as I remembered. A motorcycle driver confided to me that it scared him driving here, so many accidents. I accepted the help of an employee of the Green Lake Inn to roll my luggage to their place and decided to stay there for the night. It was expensive by lake front standards, $10/night. But is was one of the few rooms that had good sunlight with two windows and was clean and kept up. Many of the cheaper rooms were like caves, almost no outside light coming in and not very well kept.
I wasn't able to really get hold of the director of the orphanage until in the evening, so I decided to wait until today to make the trip over. It turned out well anyway. I saw a group of people having a traditional meal on the floor of one of the nearby houses, one whole side of the room was completely open to the street, and I asked if I could take a picture. They immediately said "yes" and invited me to join them. They were very friendly and constantly encouraged me to follow their custom and chug the glass of beer they gave me when it was down to half full. I obliged a few times, but couldn't keep up with them by any means! I also tried a lot of the food, which was very good. There were curries, beef with spicy sauces, pickled vegetables, cashews, noodles and various other vegetables.
I am excited about heading over to the orphanage in a little while. Wish me luck!
At check-in in Bangkok for Air Asia the ticket agent was kind and charged me only $90 instead of the $150 I had expected for excess weight for my luggage. On the flight I sat next to a British man who has lived in Thailand for over 10-years and learned a lot of about living there as a foreigner. It was a good flight. Coming into Phnom Penh from the air it looks more like a large town than the capital of a country. I obtained a visa on arrival and was pleased that all my luggage made it intact.
The traffic is as crazy as I remembered. A motorcycle driver confided to me that it scared him driving here, so many accidents. I accepted the help of an employee of the Green Lake Inn to roll my luggage to their place and decided to stay there for the night. It was expensive by lake front standards, $10/night. But is was one of the few rooms that had good sunlight with two windows and was clean and kept up. Many of the cheaper rooms were like caves, almost no outside light coming in and not very well kept.
I wasn't able to really get hold of the director of the orphanage until in the evening, so I decided to wait until today to make the trip over. It turned out well anyway. I saw a group of people having a traditional meal on the floor of one of the nearby houses, one whole side of the room was completely open to the street, and I asked if I could take a picture. They immediately said "yes" and invited me to join them. They were very friendly and constantly encouraged me to follow their custom and chug the glass of beer they gave me when it was down to half full. I obliged a few times, but couldn't keep up with them by any means! I also tried a lot of the food, which was very good. There were curries, beef with spicy sauces, pickled vegetables, cashews, noodles and various other vegetables.
I am excited about heading over to the orphanage in a little while. Wish me luck!
posted by Chris at 8:06 PM
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