Hello all!
We have officially survived our first 24 hours in Cambodia after a few very long flights. Leaving the MSP (Minneapolis, MN) airport our flight was delayed a few hours but luckily it did not interfere with any of the connecting flights. We traveled from Minnesota to San Francisco. From there we took a very cushy 12-hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. We had fancy seats with our own TVs and they fed us every couple of hours. Our third and final flight was only a few hours long and we arrived here in Cambodia around 9am. (There is a twelve-hour time zone difference so this would be 9pm CST) By this time we were exhausted but after just sitting and eating for the past day and a half we were ready for some adventures.
Stepping out of the airport we celebrated our first steps on Asian soil as we took in the hot weather that would soon be our norm. We loaded up a van with all of our equipment and gear and set off onto the Cambodian roadways. At least for me, this was a shocking endeavor. In the US, it seems that people rarely honk and if they do it is usually because they are angry. Here in Cambodia, honking is constant but it is more of a friendly "Hey everyone, get over, I'm going to pass you/turn/change lanes". There seem to be very few 'rules of the road'... and if there are rules, they are more guidelines. The motorbikes and tok-toks (an open-aired taxi pulled by a motorbike of sorts) far outnumber the actual closed-in cars and they weave in and out of traffic as they please. There are two sides of the road, however it is more of a guideline to stay on your side of the road. To cross the road (by whatever means of transportation you have--including your feet), you 'simply' start to cross and the oncoming traffic generally yields (or swerves around you). All this said, there is definitely a certain organization to the chaos that all the drivers seem to somehow innately understand. But I digress; we reached the hotel, showered and stepped back out into this foreign land, ready to continue our adventure.
The rest of the first day we spent touring Phnom Penh (the capitol city of Cambodia) and meeting with various people. We also toured the National Museum and a few local Wats (monastery temples). By the time we arrived back at the hotel, we were exhausted but that didn't stop us from jumping in the pool to cool off from the humid heat.
I promise there will be photos to follow once I am able to upload them. :) And don't worry, we'll keep you updated on all of our adventures! Thanks for reading!
