As I lay sleepless in my small room on the top floor of a Cambodian guesthouse, the chop and whirl of the ceiling fan above me, for some reason, of that song by the Doors. “This is the end. My only friend, the end.” The end of what though? It seems like a song about beginnings would be more appropriate. This is my first night in Southeast Asia. My brain feels cracked and scrambled from the 40+ hours of travel it took to get here and the 12 hour time difference from back home. It has become evident that no amount of exhaustion is going to overcome this jetlag tonight, so I figured I would just write until I’m delirious again and then try to pass out for a few hours.
Outside the walls of my guesthouse is the dusty sprawl of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Tomorrow, our LanguageCorps group will finally be complete, so we are going for a walking tour of the city’s major attractions and landmarks. Hopefully I will be able to get some good photos to post up here. I am excited to meet everyone in my group. There are 25 of us
total, but yesterday I was only able to meet the four other people that came in on the flight from Bangkok with me, and two were sent to the LC Villa about 20 minutes from here. I think this guesthouse where I am staying is housing for all the group members that are continuing on to Thailand or Vietnam. It’s called the Okay Guesthouse and seems to be one of the largest and most well known guesthouses in town – it’s even featured in my Lonely Planet. It’s got 4 floors of rooms, free internet, and cheap and delicious food served all day. So far things are good. It feels great to be out traveling again.
First Impressions: So what’s the first thing you notice about Southeast Asia? I think 100% of travelers to the region would unanimously agree that it’s the traffic. The only word I can think of to describe it is “chaos.” From a glance, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of traffic laws, or if there are, they are clearly not enforced. There is no system of lanes, traffic lights, stop signs, or turn signals to speak of. The only safety device drivers don’t mind
Training: I’ve been here for three days now. We started our two weeks of training here in Cambodia yesterday. Class goes from 9 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon, so the days are long but the teachers really try to avoid monotonous lecturing. All three of our teachers are interesting and entertaining in their own ways. Rick is an American expat that has been bumming around the world for the past 30 years. He could easily have been the runner up in Dos Equis’ casting of the “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials. Billy is the youngest of the three and probably the easiest to talk to and hang out with. Steve is a short, bald Irishman who would look more appropriate among a
I suppose that's all for now. I regret the brevity of this entry, but things are so busy right now that I barely have the time or energy to write. I’m sure that will change soon though. Until then, chao amigos…
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