Becoming a resident of Phnom Penh

The six hour bus ride (which departed an hour late) was certainly an experience; there was Cambodian karaoke on the TV at the front with some awful singing with over-dramatic music videos, alternating with live comedy which was not a patch on Live at the Apollo and seemed more like pantomime. The Cambodians on the bus seemed to really enjoy it, laughing along. Along the roadside were houses on 4-6 foot stilts to keep them dry for the rainy season, but currently there was only a small pool of water in front of the garden, which often had water buffalo in them. The houses lined the street almost all the way, not seeming to resemble villages. The break stop we took had a variety of snacks available including fried tarantula and scorpion, but I left the opportunity at this point. (I’ll keep that for another time).

My first impressions of Phnom Penh were good – a vibrant city with a lot going on, especially on the roads where there is an endless stream of motos and tuk tuks! I have now got used to it and the best way to deal with it is to just walk across the road and let them swerve around you, it’s all a matter of confidence (and basically shutting your eyes).  The key to understanding the traffic is that no-one wants to stop, so if you join a main road with 3 lanes each way, you join on-coming traffic until you can dart across, in order to avoid waiting! It actually works surprisingly well – and none of the traffic is going very fast on the whole, so it’s generally pretty safe.

I think I am doing pretty well so far at blending in with my surroundings, I have; eaten street food, traversed a main road alone, had a full body massage, eaten fried frog, learnt a Khmer saying (if you want to learn to swim, eat the bitter part of the coconut tree), got used to the bum gun instead of toilet paper and ridden on the back of a moto (partially hands-free)!

Drinking coconut milk straight from the coconut

The funniest named bar ever!

I have started working at the Cambodian Women’s Development Agency (CWDA) and it has been a very exciting first week! I have been working with the girls at the shelter, who are really sweet and friendly, it is so much fun helping them with their English and taking them to the Olympic Stadium to play games. The Olympic Stadium is not what you would imagine; it was built in 1964 so it’s more like a Greek-style open air stadium. It is well used today with plenty of volleyball courts, café areas and all along the top of the seating area, locals do outdoor aerobics. You can just about make out the instructor with a microphone, by the booming speakers, as the sun sets.

We also take the girls to skate-boarding once a week, to an initiative called Skateistan, which aims to improve the confidence of under-privileged children through skate-boarding.  I was lucky enough to have a skate-boarding celebrity rock up in my first trip there; Javier Mendizabal, a professional skate-boarder from Spain, gave the girls a workshop in how to put together a skate-board and gave them a few pointers as well! The girls loved it and went home all excited with a poster of Julian and a Quicksilver sticker.

This week I also got to attend the UN Women briefing on the Commission on the Status of Women, which aims to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls. It was a really interesting insight into the work that is in progress to improve the lives of women in Asia and worldwide. The women who attended from different Gender-based NGO’s in Phnom Penh are very focused and determined to improve the current situation, which I found inspiring and I look forward to following the progress of the CSW in the next few months.

I’m still in search of an apartment, I have looked at a few places so far and hopefully I will find the perfect place! 

My favourite meal so far!