My first week in Phnom Penh

12/01/09 – 18/01/09 My first week in Phnom Penh. The butterflies that have been rampant in my stomach since getting up this morning have finally stopped as I take my seat on the plane. Mum and Dad were there to wave me off, it must have been about 30 years since that last happened and it was really nice. But now the goodbyes and strict luggage checkpoints are behind me and I’m just excited that my journey has finally begun. I’ll worry about what lies ahead of me when I get off the plane, for now I’m relaxed and ready to enjoy the flight as I have the luxury of three seats to myself! My flight from Singapore to Phnom Penh is spent observing the Cambodian father and son sitting next to me. They’re wearing matching sapphire and diamond-like rings and enjoy (very quickly) a bottle of wine each. The father gets quite merry and vocal while the poor son gets more and more flushed until I think I may have to resuscitate. The descent for me is amazing as I get to see Cambodian from the air for the first time. The sun glints off rice paddies through the haze and what looks like roads, as we get closer reveal themselves as canals. I begin to see houses on stilts and it looks just like a toy village created out of matchsticks. I’m ready to burst with anticipation and can’t get the smile off my face. My bags arrive all in one piece and for the first time I’m one of those people who has a card held up with their name written on it as Soma and driver are there to meet me. Soma briefs me enroute to the hotel while I keep an eye on the chaos that is the traffic in Phnom Penh. Massive 4x4’s, expensive looking cars, motorbikes, pushbikes, cyclos and Tuk-Tuks all jostle for position inches apart as two roads intersect with no traffic lights. The traffic comes to a stand still until eventually someone gives way and inch by inch we move again. Even though it’s dark when I get dropped off at the hotel I can’t resist going and checking out the neighbourhood. I poke my head out of the open hallway window and see a building that looks amazingly like the photos of the apartment I’m supposed to be moving into. And even more amazing, it actually is! That’s one hurdle out of the way. I only wander around for about 15 mins as I’m getting some strange looks from the locals (“crazy barang”). My first night in P.P ends to a lullaby of voices from the Tuk-Tuk drivers downstairs, not a word of which I can understand. My escorted tour of P.P starts at 9am. The city seems huge and confusing but Soma assures me it’s actually quite small. We go to Phsar Toul Tompoung known to Westerners as the Russian Market. They’ve got it all here, skinned black chickens (??) with the heads and feet still on, eel, numerous fish and any cut of meat you want, all sitting out in the open. There’s some really interesting looking vegetables, stall after stall of clothing, handbags, watches, gems, and tailors all beavering away in front of you, etc, etc. The senses are in overdrive and I already have a mental list of the Buddhist carvings I want to take home. I’m taken to a sumptuous buffet lunch and my fist Angkor beer. Then I arrange to view my new apartment. Although it’s only a one bedder, it’s massive. The previous tenant has left me a lovely welcoming message written on the wall (all the walls are tiled) and kindly donated a boxing bag, some hand weights, some books etc. Great! with my yoga mat and exercise ball I will have my own wee gym at home. Hour our In-Country-Manager briefs myself and another Volunteer on culturally differences. One of the interesting points being that Cambodians don’t like to say no and will therefore nod and agree even when they don’t. Also, the Western symbol of fingers crossed for good luck actually means to Cambodians what our middle finger raised in disgust means – have to watch that one. I’m not sure the fingers crossed thing will work back in Australia in moments of road rage. Hour also takes us out to dinner and we get to sample a chilli soup complete with fermented fish – very tasty if you didn’t think too much about what was actually involved in the whole fermenting process. Next day we get to talk to a volunteer that’s been around a while to pump him with questions. He’s a lawyer and is working on the land grab issue. It was reported last year that the government had sold off approximately 45% of the land to foreigners. Poor people get relocated with little or no compensation and have to rebuild their homes wherever they get moved to and however they can. I have some free time and manage to find a post office for stamps, a supermarket to supply me both with an iron and Vodka cruisers at $1.20 each! Then it’s off to work for a couple of hours to meet my new company of 14. I’m part of the Organisational Development team of 4, two of which they’re still recruiting and one of which is in the field. Everyone speaks English to some degree and are all extremely polite and smile constantly. I’m shown to my office that I share with one of the doctors. I have my own wooden desk complete with laptop and two in trays – that’s it! The bonus is the bathroom off our office which comes complete with bath and shower! I’m left up to my own devices so I have a look through the files on the Laptop left by my predecessor then totter off in my heels along the gravel road to find the main road and some mode of transport to get me home. Amazingly easier said than done (normally Motodops (Motorbike taxis) and Tuk-Tuk’s are at you from every direction) but not this time. I try ringing the “safe” Motodop recommended by Vida but he’s busy and cannot pick me up for over an hour. Eventually a guy on a motorbike turns up and has no idea where I want to go – his English is almost as bad as my Khmer. Another motorbike turns up and I point out on my map to both of them where it is I want to go. I’m still having no success, when another motor bike turns up and he explains to both the others for what feels like an hour how the first guy is supposed to get there. I just keep smiling at them and although I’m hoping for the best there’s no way I’m crossing my fingers. On I clamber, feeling a bit special with me heels and handbag and we’re off. I thought the traffic was bad enough from the relative safety of a car, start of peak hour on the back of a motorbike weaving and ducking and diving in between any number of different vehicles was a whole other level of chaos. All the same quite exhilarating as I can’t help but be impressed with my drivers skill and lightning speed of reaction. I book him for 7.30 the next morning and wonder if he’s actually understood a thing I’ve said as he smiles and nods and says “yes, see you” I take a walk to the Olympic Stadium where Cambodians come out to exercise. They’re either running around the stadiums concrete seats or doing aerobics on the very top platform of the Stadium where every 50metres or so massive sound systems have been set up and are pumping out anything from hip hop to local music all fighting against each other for sound space. I think I'll have to come and join them one day. I’m feeling like I’m getting my bearings in my new neighbourhood and find somewhere for a dinner of ginger chicken and Angkor beer then head home to pack ready for check-out prior to work in the morning.

I spend the whole day reading files, we all share some Jack fruit for morning tea off a tree in the Medicam grounds. I go for a wander at lunchtime and find a supermarket with Australian red wine! My lovely driver is back for me at 4pm and drops me back at the "Home View Hotel" for the last time. I haul my bags across the road and move into 27a. Then it's Friday but there's no casual days here. I attend a meeting where (thankfully) everyone speaks good English. More reading and the receptionist asks me a couple of times to do some proof reading of his English for him. I'm quietly very chuffed and feel like I've actually achieved something today.

Yeah! it's the start of the weekend and Mike (an American that's been living here for 18 months and is on the Board of Directors for Medicam) comes and picks me up for dinner. We go to the legendary Foreign Correspondence Club where photos adorn the walls from the photographer portrayed in the Killing Fields movie. It's full of foreigners (oh yeah, I'm one of those) and I relent and have pizza while we have a great view over the Tonle Sap river.

My Saturday starts with me sleeping in - my bedroom is like sleeping in a dark cave and I think I could almost snuggle up like a bear. I still have time to get ready and walk to meet Peta at the Java Cafe although in two different jandels (thongs). People don't tend to walk in P.P so I'm propositioned by Motodops etc constantly offering me a lift. But I just smile and shake my head and most of the time they just smile back at me, which is nice. I get to have my first Chai tea in P.P and it's devine. There's a great menu of western choices here and I'm not doing so well on "doing as the locals do" so far. But still, I'm thinking this may become a regular haunt for me on a Saturday morning as they have free internet and it has a comforting feel as it's a lovely old colonial building with Rattan furniture and ferns etc all around. Peta generously shares with me lots of advice and suggestions for places to go and then takes me on the back of her motorbike (this girls a pro) to go check out some drawers for the apartment. I find what I'm looking for and it's so much easier with someone who knows the language to do the haggling and to organise the delivery of my goods and me home - see photo above.

I spend the rest of the day cleaning the apartment, (it has 2 months build up of dust in it - this sure is a dusty place in the dry season) and trying to make it feel like home. There's no gas for the cooker so I end up having pot noodles for dinner 'cause luckily there's a jug, and drink my red wine which is a little on the sweet side. I sleep like a log as I must be learning to ignore the tiny yappy "guard dog" from downstairs. He's blind poor thing but he sure doesn't miss a beat, I can't make a move out of my place without his vocal cords being engaged at full throttle. Mike picks me up late on Sunday morning and takes me looking/shopping for a TV and DVD player. I come home with a rice cooker and hand weights. I can't believe all the stuff you can buy here - just about everything you could want from home. Some things are expensive though, a 500ml bottle of olive oil cost me $8US. It's a great day being chauffeured around and we go to a lovely French cafe where the food is (again) not Khmer but very good (the baguettes are to die for) and full of French people. I take my laundry into a place around the corner for $1 a kilo and back the next day then clean some more, decorate some more and then try out the new rice cooker. Unfortunately the instructions are in some foreign language so it could be a bit of trial and error for a while. And so there ends my first week, pretty much settled into my new home and quickly finding my feet. Looking forward to what lies ahead of me at work and a trip to the Australian Embassy tomorrow, to let them know I'm here, I think. They have drinks every Friday night but this Friday I'll be going to the Vida drinks to meet some of the other Vida's and Ayads.