Friday, May 06, 2005
First 48 hours
I am sitting at my local internet cafe. I've been here nearly an hour so the sweat on my shirt has dried and now I'm quite cool. It's very tempting to stay for another hour. Intenet use is US$0.50 per hour so maybe I will.
I have just calmed down from being really upset due to a bad miscommunication which lead to poor Jono travelling across the city in the heat to sit in a restaurant waiting for an hour for me then celebrating his first day at work by having lunch on his own. I didn't know that there is a Boat Noodle restaurant and a Boat Noodles restaurant.... I have to get my own mobile phone very soon. I had lunch with 3 AYAD girls after visiting the royal palace and shopping at the markets with them this morning - and I asked Jono to meet us for lunch - oops - I felt sooo bad.
I can't believe I've only been in Phnom Penh 48 hours. I am suffering some 'culture shock', particularly with the thought that I will be here for a year. The main shocks are just how completely 'different' everything is (for example seeing 'roadside dentists' - a dental chair on the side of the road), the heat of course and the crazy traffic - I know it's meant to be calm here compared to Vietnam etc but it's not!!! (for me anyway). I've had lots of moto taxi rides already which is the standard way to get around. The women ride 'side saddle' which I was originally too scared to do but rode that way after only about 30 hours of being here, my confidence buoyed by Jono giving me his motorbike helmet to wear. By the way, only about 1% moto drivers wear helmets but I've heard that it's good not to take a moto driver wearing a helmet because they think they are invincible.
I hope to get over my culture shock soon. I have already crossed a couple of roads by myself without too much hesitation, so maybe I'm starting to get used to it here already!
Our house is nice! The landlord, who lives next door and is always available for questions and odd jobs, speaks French which has been really useful! We have a really plesant front yard with flowers and very comfy outdoor seating which was bought yesterday at the rattan markets along with other furniture inluding 3 bookshelves, laundry baskets etc. The funny thing was transporting all this back to the house, which was on a moto trailer - piled very very high. We took photos which I am not technologicially adept yet to attach to an email but will soon. I just found out today I can get a CD burnt with a full memory card from the digital camera for US$2 so I will start taking more photos I think!
Back to the house, Jono and I have 2 flatmates, Stewart and Anthea who are both really lovely. There are 3 bedrooms each with a bathroom (plus a fourth bathroom, of course...). Actually all these bathrooms come in very handy when you have 4 people having at least 2-3 cold showers a day due to the heat. I know some people are very interested in toilets so would be happy to hear that we have a 'normal' flushing toilet which you can actually put the toilet paper into.
The other funny but kind of comforting thing about the house is that it comes with a 'guard'. Not an armed, uniformed kind of guard (fortunately) but a tiny little Khmer guy in oversized clothes with very few teeth who's name none of us has been able to remember yet. He's meant to 'work' (sleep) in our front yard from 6pm to 6am but he always around, I suspect he doesn't have anywhere else to go. He opens the gate for us and decides which moto driver will take us (every time the gate opens at least 2 but usually more rush to us). In fact it is very hard to walk anywhere because everyone asks if you want a moto or tuk tuk. I need to learn more khmer quickly! So far I can only remember how to say thank you, no and one dollar (which are quite useful at the markets).
I have been living in sensory overload for the last 2 days and there's plenty more I could write but I think you would have all had enough. I promise I won't write this much every 2 days but I will try to write regularly.
I have just calmed down from being really upset due to a bad miscommunication which lead to poor Jono travelling across the city in the heat to sit in a restaurant waiting for an hour for me then celebrating his first day at work by having lunch on his own. I didn't know that there is a Boat Noodle restaurant and a Boat Noodles restaurant.... I have to get my own mobile phone very soon. I had lunch with 3 AYAD girls after visiting the royal palace and shopping at the markets with them this morning - and I asked Jono to meet us for lunch - oops - I felt sooo bad.
I can't believe I've only been in Phnom Penh 48 hours. I am suffering some 'culture shock', particularly with the thought that I will be here for a year. The main shocks are just how completely 'different' everything is (for example seeing 'roadside dentists' - a dental chair on the side of the road), the heat of course and the crazy traffic - I know it's meant to be calm here compared to Vietnam etc but it's not!!! (for me anyway). I've had lots of moto taxi rides already which is the standard way to get around. The women ride 'side saddle' which I was originally too scared to do but rode that way after only about 30 hours of being here, my confidence buoyed by Jono giving me his motorbike helmet to wear. By the way, only about 1% moto drivers wear helmets but I've heard that it's good not to take a moto driver wearing a helmet because they think they are invincible.
I hope to get over my culture shock soon. I have already crossed a couple of roads by myself without too much hesitation, so maybe I'm starting to get used to it here already!
Our house is nice! The landlord, who lives next door and is always available for questions and odd jobs, speaks French which has been really useful! We have a really plesant front yard with flowers and very comfy outdoor seating which was bought yesterday at the rattan markets along with other furniture inluding 3 bookshelves, laundry baskets etc. The funny thing was transporting all this back to the house, which was on a moto trailer - piled very very high. We took photos which I am not technologicially adept yet to attach to an email but will soon. I just found out today I can get a CD burnt with a full memory card from the digital camera for US$2 so I will start taking more photos I think!
Back to the house, Jono and I have 2 flatmates, Stewart and Anthea who are both really lovely. There are 3 bedrooms each with a bathroom (plus a fourth bathroom, of course...). Actually all these bathrooms come in very handy when you have 4 people having at least 2-3 cold showers a day due to the heat. I know some people are very interested in toilets so would be happy to hear that we have a 'normal' flushing toilet which you can actually put the toilet paper into.
The other funny but kind of comforting thing about the house is that it comes with a 'guard'. Not an armed, uniformed kind of guard (fortunately) but a tiny little Khmer guy in oversized clothes with very few teeth who's name none of us has been able to remember yet. He's meant to 'work' (sleep) in our front yard from 6pm to 6am but he always around, I suspect he doesn't have anywhere else to go. He opens the gate for us and decides which moto driver will take us (every time the gate opens at least 2 but usually more rush to us). In fact it is very hard to walk anywhere because everyone asks if you want a moto or tuk tuk. I need to learn more khmer quickly! So far I can only remember how to say thank you, no and one dollar (which are quite useful at the markets).
I have been living in sensory overload for the last 2 days and there's plenty more I could write but I think you would have all had enough. I promise I won't write this much every 2 days but I will try to write regularly.
