Welcome to the Penh!

So I have officially survived my first few days in Phnom Penh. I landed in the Penh around 11pm on Saturday night and it was 29 degrees out. Im not 100% sure but by the amount I persperated it must have hit over 30 on Sunday! Out of pure coincidence I have two Canadian girls as my roommates! They are social work students at U of Vic who are here working at an orphanage for children with disabilities. The three of us are liked-minded individuals with similar interests.... (all pretty awesome people if you ask me)... and we are in the midst of planning weekend trips around the country :) My room is on the 3rd floor of a guesthouse/hostel with two tempermental outlets that are primarily used for fans because there is no air conditioning (although we have heard rumours some of the other rooms have AC!). There are 66 steps to our floor... yes, we counted!

So some lessons I have learned during my first two days here:


1. How to cross the street

There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE with very few streetlights and crosswalks. It might possibly be the most organized chaos I have ever seen. Traffic actually crosses diagonally across intersections but everybody just putts along on their bikes and goes with it. Its amazing to watch actually! It does make crossing the street quite frightening at first though because you have to walk a few steps but then stop so the motorbikes can go around you. There are also very few sidewalks and when there are they are usually taken up by vendors or randomly parked cars so you have to walk on the side of the road. It's amazing how normal this became after about 20 minutes of walking.

This picture doesnt really do it justice. I will post a better one soon!

2. Stay out of the rain

We are still in the rainy season until the end of the month so it has been overcast and spits quite often. We experienced our first monsoon rainfall though which was slightly terrifying at first. I couldnt believe how violent and aggressive it was. We were inside when it came down and it lasted for just over an hour - I don't think my umbrella would have stood a chance!

3. My math skills suck

Today we went to this huge market they call the Russian Market... not sure why its called that but I dont really ask questions... just go with it! They had anything and everything you could possible need. I bought lunch, a scarf, power adaptor, and sunglasses for under $10 US... I love Cambodia!!!  I also got to test out some Khmer phrases although most people speak English well. My terrible math skills are definitely being put to the test having to calculate the US/Riel conversion rate... and the fact that the locals can calculate it in about 0.5 seconds makes me feel even more stupid.

In the food section of the Russian Market.

4. A smile goes a long way

Overall this has been such a fun experience so far. The people are amazing and all it takes is a smile for someone to help you out :)