Meetings - Blogabond

Set off for Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday 5th on the same flight that I'd been on two years before heading off on my big Thai adventure. Travelling alone for the first time meant a very boring (and slightly lonely!) few hours at Heathrow airport, but on the plane I found myself sat next to a fellow lone traveller...between chatting to him and the endless offerings of food forced on us by the Thai Airways cabin crew, the 11.5 hour flight passed more quickly than I'd expected. I left my plane buddy at the transfer desk at Bangkok airport and headed onwards to Phnom Penh, arriving at 9am on Saturday. This flight wasn't quite as fun, as I was seated next to the creepiest Cambodian man I've ever met (with one exception...) who insisted on leering over at me as I filled in my visa forms.

My project coordinator Kimlay was waiting for me outside the airport together with fellow volunteer Rachna, and we headed for our guesthouse for the week, the Narin 2. Within minutes of arriving we met the third member of our group, Alannah, who'd arrived the night before. The three of us were given a room together on the top floor, which is where most of the guesthouse staff live, sleeping in the corridor and showering on the balcony area outside our room!

The other two girls from our group had yet to arrive so the three of us headed out for a wander around the city. Somehow, we made our way by foot to the riverfront via the outside of the Royal Palace (turning down numerous tuk tuk drivers along the way). Not used to the heat of monsoon season, we were sweating all over the place within minutes, and were pretty pleased when it started to rain. We discovered aircon in a fancy restaurant where we felt slightly out of place, all sweaty and dishevelled. We made a good call when we decided to take a tuk tuk back to the hostel, as it started to chuck it down within seconds of climbing in. We passed the rest of the afternoon getting massages - unfortunately I ended up in more pain afterwards than before!

Back at the hostel we met Melissa, the fourth member of our group, as well as Jess and her mum Debs (Australians volunteering at a childcare centre) and we all headed out for dinner by the river. Kids selling books kept 'harassing' us while we ate, and one kid with a great personality and great English won us all over and got sales out of us. We later learned that we should avoid buying things from kids as every sale they get is another day their parents send them out selling things instead of going to school...but every night we ate at the riverfront, the same kids kept coming back so that we got to know them over the week and spent some time chatting with them even as they tried to sell us stuff, so atleast they got some English practise!

Back at the hostel, we spotted a rat near the kitchens. We decided to pretend we hadn't spotted a rat near the kitchens.

written by

lucy3119 on August 6, 2011 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

from the travel blog: Cambodia 2011

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