Advertisement
Published: March 27th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Hello everybody. Well it is a bit over three weeks that I have been in Cambodia and I am beginning to feel comfortable. There is so much to tell you. We had an orientation week and those who are my friends on Facebook know that we did part of that week in a small village on the Mekong in a home stay. The village ISP Koh Preah, the name of the island too. 1,470 people live there, no power or running water, thus no toilets or baths. Our house was spotless. The community governs the tourism Industry which is just starting. If your house is dirty or your property has litter you cannot do home stays. I took a teenagers bed, she was very sour ha ha but she got over it and before I left she had allowed me to have a photo with her. There was a big party at our home stay one night, many villagers from babies to seniors came. The ladies were dressed in their finest. We helped move sand from the river to the school yard, we were assisted by a very eager group of grade 4 students. The drive to the village was 8
hours in a van over very rough roads, my kidneys will never be the same, at times we were going do slow we were virtually stopped at other times we were doing well over a hundred k part of the problem was when the driver misjudged the depth of the pothold or the distance he needed to slow down before a pot hole. The road, pavement would be non existent for a kilometre for so. Then we were three hours on a very small boat.
Enough about that. Phnom Penh is a very interesting city.some parts are run down, other parts are quite nice. The Riverside is a great community area, always lots of people there. Some residential areas are also very nice. I live on street 432 off Mao Tse Toung Blvd in the west end, I think! It is a very Khmer area, businesses, industry (small) you don't see a lot of white people here. I have become fairlfriends us with our security night guard. We chat by the hour and he is not adverse to having a beer while he works. Last night another security guy joined us. They have a small office at main entrance
where you can watch life go by. 432 is a busy street. I have also found some places that serve western foods. I go to one for breakfast, eggs and bacon are $1.75. I go too one after I finish work at night, a beer and a good meal is $4.00. They have live music, some songs in English, it ia brother,sister and a friend in the band. The brother always makes a point to drop by my table and have a chat. A group of us are giving there for dinner tonight. I also live close to the Russian Market which is four square blocks, it is soooooo hot inside. They sell everything including meat which they cut up in front of you,no fridges either. Yesterday I watched a lady taking the hair off a Pig's head.!
We are a group of 10 volunteer teachers, I am the third oldest, there are a two older ladies, a group in their early 20s and the rest in their early 30s. Five of us live in our own apts, the rest live in the volunteer house which does not have air! We have been in the high 30s since I arrived and they say don't worry it will be warm soon! Glad my place has air. I am the only Canadian, there is an American and the rest are from England and Australia.
PP is an interesting city, the most interesting daily challenge is walking to and from school and general walking around the city. Number one rule, the bigger the object the more right away they have. So as a pedestrian you have NO right of way. I saw a security guy with a big stop sign trying to cross a Main Street in a crosswalk and it took him 10 minutes! So the rule is hold up your hand to indicate you are going, dont think they will stop, step of the curb, move very slowly edging yourself into traffic and slowly walk judging cars and bikes and if you see them slowing or swerving around you take a few more steps till you get across. I saw a poor young westerner trying to cross, he looks at me and says how do we do this? I said come with me, when we got across he said you are a pro! Also you are not safe on the sidewalk, if there are no cars completely blocking it, parked which is usually the case the motorbikes use it as their freeway, going in both directions. I have seen small cars youse the sidewalk. Yesterday I was in a tuk tuk and we went down the sidewalk, on to the street going the wrong way and the cut the traffic off in both directions so we could get going down the street the right way. Guy looks at me and laughs. Guys that drive moto taxi and tuk Turks are country guys in when there is no work on the farm they have no idea where they are going. I asked one guy to take me down town, he said ok but we did a complete tour. I told him to stop so we could look at the map then we finally made it. Another time the driver stopped three times too argue with me that my directions To him were not right. I said go my way or I get out, he finally relented and took me and I was right on. He at least looked a bit contrite.
Finally, robberies are frequent here so if you have a nice car and you park at the market as an example, the tuk tuk driver will help you park and for a price they will watch your car. So everybody pays, very funny to watch. Sometimes the street is nearly blocked by these parked cars. Not sure what happens if you do not pay. Or what happens when the guy who is protecting your car gets a fare, Han ha.
Ok that is it for now!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.245s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.058s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
acadian450
Barry Gallant
Forgot to label the pictures.
The school yard with the kids, my home stay mom and the teen whose bed I took and finally the school. By the way at the home stay everyone sleeps in the same room little privacy curtains for the visitors and of course the net!