A Series of Unfortunate Events

A short reflection after a couple days in Phnom Penh...

It's a much much smaller city than Ho Chi Minh City. One can traverse it with motorbike/rikshaw taxis that are all over the city. The traffic is ridiculous and seems to have no rules. There are tons of bikes everywhere honking and dashing in front of each other. On the streets, there are numerous little shops all over. At least in our part of the city, away from the center, all the main streets are lined with tiny shops and places which sort of pass for restaurants but I'm not quite sure. I remember in Greece we would complain about the uneven sidewalks. What we have here do not really even count as sidewalks. We found a couple nice cafes today to sit and chill and have a beer at. I had noodle soup for dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I think it's basically the same as pho, but they don't call it pho. It's very filling and I wouldn't mind having it all the time.

I don't really have time for a full run-down of everything I did today, but here are three unfortunate yet interesting items:

1. We were exploring the royal palace, which is full of beautiful architecture and Buddhist shrines and stuff. I got a lot of really cool pictures that I want to upload when I get a chance. I sat down on a bench in the shade and two monks sat down next to me and struck up a conversation. We chatted about what I was doing and they kept asking questions about English. They kept telling me to talk slower, and I did, but I also told them that for someone from the northeastern US, I talk very slowly. Anyway, my group had moved on, and when I finally bid goodbye to the monks I had to scramble to find them. They had just left the place and were about to leave before I ran up, but everyone was interested in the fact that I met two monks.

2. We were taking two rikshaw taxis to a welcome dinner at a nice restaurant, and one group went on ahead, so the two girls left behind and I got in the next one we saw, assuming it knew where it was going. The driver went on for about 20 minutes, all around the city, before stopping and asking where we were going, and we had no idea, nor the phone number of anyone there. We ended up going back to the languagecorps place, and someone there had the number of one of the people at the restaurant so we could get directions. We finally got there an hour late after everyone had eaten. I hastily ordered the first thing the waiter recommended, leading me to the third thing...

3. I was served a sizzling hot plate of duck and vegetables, which the waiter promptly lit on fire. The flame was enormous and continued to grow until I thought I would be engulfed, but I fearlessly gazed on stoically until it subsided. Peter: 1, Flame: 0.

All of these events I take in stride, though, and they make great stories. All in all a great couple of days. The area around where we're staying has already become really familiar to me, and I've walked up and down the main street to the market several times, coming to recognize the familiar faces and shops. This city intrigues me, and the people appear happy and eager. I can't believe how hard they work in their shops all day long. Only a few decades ago, the Khmer Rouge was committing genocide and destroying the country, and now The Kingdom of Cambodia seems to really be on the rise.

Tomorrow is Monday when our training begins. It is 10:30pm, I'm exhausted, and ready to go to bed.