Cambodge !

Well, we're here. We were met at the airport by a driver from Em's work (which we expected) and Em's boss (which we didn't!). I think Em was a bit surprised but it was really nice of him, we got a whistle stop tour of the city and a security briefing on the way in. We've spent the last 2 days walking around, catching tuk-tuks (which are a bit different to Bangkok - a scooter with a chariot trailer attached) and getting the lay of the land. Phnom Penh is a much smaller city than Bangkok and already we have a pretty good idea of where things are. Last night we visited the FCC (foreign correspondents club) during happy hour, here's a pic of us from the first floor overlooking the confluence of the Mekong & the Tonle Sap river. Note, Em says her dad will love this place...


First impressions of Phnom Penh...crossing the road is quite hard. Basically, pedestrians are the bottom of the food chain. No-one walks apart from westerners. You are constantly propositioned for tuk-tuk's & moto's (in a friendly way). I don't think they understand why you would want to walk. I got even more offers coming back from the shop with 6 bottles of water. Why is the crazy barang walking with all that water when he could catch a ride ? Further to this, the pavements are always used by local industry / shops / scooter parking etc so you have to walk in the road. I guess it's cheaper for them to use the pavement than pay for more real estate. The traffic is pretty crazy but more on that later. There are quite a few beggars here, and amputees presumably from landmines or poor health. People are very friendly, and you can be understood in English nearly all the time, pointing and smiling is good, smiling while negotiating prices seems to get you a long way. Next challenge is Em starting work on Monday, and Pete looking for a house. Anyway, that's probably it for now. We think we're going to like it here.


Ps. as some of you know I really enjoy a good zombie film, before I came I read that the Khmer film industry only consisted of Zombie, Werewolf & Vampire films. Well, here's the evidence, the local cinema is showing "Khmer Zombie 4" or something like that. I'm trying to persuade Em to come along.


Pps. you can buy potatoes in Cambodia and they're really big and cheap :-) We've also seen great bread (french baguettes etc), good coffee, cheese, happy herb pizza's, and even steak (a bit thin and about $1 US but still)... so we don't think food is going to be a problem.