Cambodia: Day 1
Start at the beginning.Flight
It was a long flight. Newark to Seattle. Seattle to Taipei. 5 hour delay before Taipei to Phnom Penh. While I was waiting at Taipei airport, I met this girl name Nealy. She's Cambodian and Christian and Texan, imagine that. It was nice making a friend and having someone to chat with. The introductions began when she noticed that I wasn't Cambodian.
After awhile, I whipped out my cards and got some people together to play. We started off with some 13 cards, moved on to Big2, and then some Hold'em. Hold'em was kind of silly and stupid.
As I was flying over Cambodia, I saw huge veins of brown, which, I'm assuming, are rivers and streams. All across the countriside were rice patties and farms. As we approached Phnom Penh, you could see the huts on stilts.
One thing I noticed right away was the construction of the huts. In Honduras, they were more like shanty houses. Curriagated sheet metal and wood, hobbled together to form what resembled a building. These huts looked as if they followed a plan. They still looked cheap, but much better constructed.
Jeff was waiting for me at the airport and we headed out to Kampong Chnang. Our journey was waylaid by the Prime Minister of Thailand. We saw his motorcade coming down the road. Police cars, miliatry police, police scooters, all protecting a few S-classes. Once they finally passed, we journeyed on.Trip to Kampong Chnang
In the car, we talked about Cambodia and its situation. We saw huge Budhist temples sponsored by the state. We also passed the Dovenor's estate which covered 4 square kilometers.
Further from the city, the huts became more sparce. They were replaced by rice patties. Every once in awhile, you would see another temple.
We finally arrived in Kampong Chnang. We dropped Jeff off at Grace School while I went back to the hotel to drop off my stuff. The place is nice. It's better than a lot of the hotels I stayed at in the states. We have two huge beds, tv, and a mini-fridge.Hello Grace School
When I got to the school, Jeff introduced me to the class. He had the kids ask me questions in english. The questions were basic and I had to control my speech so it was slow and clear. Afterwards, Jeff got back to the lesson.Surprise Buns
Class dismissed and it was time for dinner. We stopped by the roadside and picked up some steamed buns. I was kind of expecting the traditional chinese bun, but it was very different. I found a few whole peppercorns, which suprised me, and some eggshell, which surprised me more. It isn't that the buns are bad, they're just different.
The adventure begins.
posted by w3y at
8/10/2006 11:14:00 PM
