My Cambodian Introduction

So after 24 hours of traveling I'm finally here! I've never been a diary type of person so anyone who reads this will just have to bear with me a little...

So I arrived on Saturday morning (Friday night US time) and found that after I got my visa straightened out, my bag was still in San Francisco. Luckily I had most of my stuff in my backpack so I wasn't in too much trouble. Someone from the program met me at the airport and took me to the flat I'll be staying in for the next 2.5 months. It's in an area called Bueung Tom Pon, which isn't very developed (no land line phones yet). Most of the buildings on our road are just shacks that are open in the front and on stilts in back (there is a swamp/lake behind our house.)

After I dropped off my stuff I decided to go right out and see the city with one of my flatmates. We got on a moto (small motorcycle thats the most common from of transportation). It was pretty surreal to be on a plane one minute (actually many MANY minutes) and then riding around on a moto through this crazy city the next!

Phnom Penh is a really interesting city. There is so much diversity in the buildings. You could pass a nice store with glass doors and right next to it could be a row of dirty tin shacks (see photos of my street!) There are Wats (temples) all over the city, which makes for a really exotic landscape. At first I was terrified to go out on my own because I thought I'd never be able to find my way back but by Monday I'd pretty much worked out some main landmarks to direct moto drivers. There is a monument called Kbar Knarl right near our street which is a good tool for direction. All moto drivers know where that is, even though they might not recognize Boeung Tom Pon.