Bits and Pieces of Our Lives in Phnom Penh
Just a few remembrances of our time in Phnom Penh.
Volunteer House - wonderful housemates Heidi from Canada, Rachelle from Australia, and Ruchika from India. No hot water in the house - dishes are done in 3 large tubs with the first filled with water and suds, the second for a first rinse, and the third for a second rinse, then into the drain board. No hot water for showers, but in the hot season who wants a hot shower??? The house was 4 stories - ground floor kitchen, dining/tv room, and one bedroom & bath - second floor was our room with bedroom, study and small bathroom - third floor with one bedroom & bath, extra bathroom, teacher study area with computer and books, balcony - fourth floor with 2 bedrooms & bath. Our cook (Mony) made our meals during the weekdays - everything was always fresh, bought the same day at the market in the morning. There was lots of rice, pretty much at every meal. Interestingly there is a lot of diabetes there because of the quanitity of white rice that people eat. We finally switched to brown rice! Meals were often vegies and rice with some chicken or pork. If there was ground beef to be made for pasta, Mony bought the beef and pounded it until it became like ground beef. The heat was the most challenging aspect of our time here (At least the classrooms were air conditioned)- everywhere in the house there were floor and ceiling fans - but during the hot season it was still very, very hot. A shower before bed (sometimes again a quick rinse in the middle of the night), a cold cloth on the head, even a spray bottle to spray water on at night - all helped to some degree. Now about bathrooms for those who have not been in Asia before. Most times the shower head is mounted on the wall and not enclosed, so the whole bathroom becomes the shower - floor and walls are all tiled with a drain in the floor. It's convenient and easy to use. The toilets were western (not squat) with another hose from the wall (not the shower) for cleaning yourself after using the toilet. Now that is something that western cultures should embrace! All tissue goes in a bin, not in the toilet - it's difficult at first to remember after years of putting it directly into the toilet!
Azahar Yoga Studio - Jackie introduced me to this wonderful studio with excellent, friendly, caring instructors. Jackie, Ruchika and I would usually go twice a week - on Saturdays to a Vinyasa Flow class and then on Tuesdays to a Fly Fit class. The Fly Fit class was really fun - there are large slings hung from the ceiling which you use to do many of the traditional yoga moves along with many different ones including aerial and unside down!
Phnom Penh Sports Club - this is the health club that we went to. In the realm of health clubs it was nothing special but it had many varied machines (most of which worked at any given time), free weights, lots of room, ping pong tables and a great lap pool. It was a quick 5 minute walk from our house so was super convenient, the main drawback was its lack of air conditioning - you could work up a good sweat just standing there! Heidi was the ping pong queen and we had some fun times at the club with her.
Tuk-Tuks and PassApp - we traveled everywhere buy either tuk-tuk or auto richshaw. The tuk-tuk is a motorcycle and trailer for passengers which fits 4 comfortably while the auto rickshaw is a 3 wheeled vehicle powered by CNG of LPG. The vehicles are convenient and there are many so that you never have to wait long. There is an interesting old/new dichotomy with an old style of transportation mixed with an electronic ordering system. You download the PassApp app onto your phone, it knows where you are by GPS, you key in where you want to go, what kind of vehicle you want and it shows all the vehicles near by. One of the vehicles will accept the ride and it tells you how long it will be until they arrive (for example 1 minute 23 seconds) and shows on the map the vehicle approaching. This service is also nice because there is no bargaining - the prices are usually cheaper than vehicles that don't use the app. So convenient!! (Although sometimes the drivers had a hard time reading the map on their phone to see exactly where to go!)
Cafes and Restaurants - Phnom Penh is great because you can get most any kind of food you want - Italian, Mexican, American, Indian, Thai, Vegan... There were so many small cafes tucked away on side streets where you could get a good meal in a lovely atmosphere. Most meals were $6 or less, unless you chose a high-dollar restaurant. Often the cafes were connected with an NGO to help local people, some employed girls taken off the streets or out of the sex-trade industry. There are many NGOs in Cambodia - more than we have seen in any other country - to help in many ways such as education, water sanitation, training, upskilling, tourism, supporting women and children and much more. There is street food all over the city - small restaurants that set up on sidewalks with grilled meat and vegetables, freshly squeezed orange or sugar cane juice. There was one interesting street side restaurant near the school - by day it was a wide sidewalk witrh a mobile moto repair truck and by night it became a full restaurant with tables, stools, meat, seafood, rice and more.
Traffic - we've talked about the traffic before, but until you see it working in action it's hard to wrap your head around! There seems to be about 80% motos (small motorbikes under 150 CC, then the tuk-tuks and auto rickshaws, then cars and commercial trucks. Most cars there are high-end cars, as only the rich can afford them. Everyone drives a moto - girls/boys/women/men, young, old, mothers, fathers... The motos fill every inch of space on the roads weaving in and out, lanes are non-existent, going down the road the wrong way is normal, the few sidewalks there are make extra lanes, making a u-turn in the middle of traffic is common... what is most surprising is that it all works pretty well! There are never horns blown in anger, everyone co-exists and makes way for each other. We have decided that it only works because of a low-speed environment.
Wedding Tents - roads are closed when a wedding tent is set up for 2-3 days right in the middle of a road. It's a big business as tents, tables, chairs, music, portable kitchens arrive to make the party.
Markets and Grocery Stores - there are local markets everywhere which offer fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat. There is a wide variety of fruits such as dragon fruit, rambutans, mangos, longans, watermelon, jack fruit, durian, 3 varieties of bananas (very small, medium size but fat, and long 'regular' ones), and much more. Then there are markets which include soft good such as clothing and shoes and some are geared to tourists with clothing and souvenirs. The 'Russian Market' (Toul Tom Poung) was close to our house - it is a large enclosed market with narrow isles selling food, fruits, meat, vegies, clothing, silk scarves, DVD's, hardware, moto parts, and every kind of souvenir imaginable. There are also western type grocery stores where you can get most items, just realizing that you have to pay a hefty price to have some of the more familiar food from home! I mean, what would life be without an Oreo now and then!
Volunteer House - wonderful housemates Heidi from Canada, Rachelle from Australia, and Ruchika from India. No hot water in the house - dishes are done in 3 large tubs with the first filled with water and suds, the second for a first rinse, and the third for a second rinse, then into the drain board. No hot water for showers, but in the hot season who wants a hot shower??? The house was 4 stories - ground floor kitchen, dining/tv room, and one bedroom & bath - second floor was our room with bedroom, study and small bathroom - third floor with one bedroom & bath, extra bathroom, teacher study area with computer and books, balcony - fourth floor with 2 bedrooms & bath. Our cook (Mony) made our meals during the weekdays - everything was always fresh, bought the same day at the market in the morning. There was lots of rice, pretty much at every meal. Interestingly there is a lot of diabetes there because of the quanitity of white rice that people eat. We finally switched to brown rice! Meals were often vegies and rice with some chicken or pork. If there was ground beef to be made for pasta, Mony bought the beef and pounded it until it became like ground beef. The heat was the most challenging aspect of our time here (At least the classrooms were air conditioned)- everywhere in the house there were floor and ceiling fans - but during the hot season it was still very, very hot. A shower before bed (sometimes again a quick rinse in the middle of the night), a cold cloth on the head, even a spray bottle to spray water on at night - all helped to some degree. Now about bathrooms for those who have not been in Asia before. Most times the shower head is mounted on the wall and not enclosed, so the whole bathroom becomes the shower - floor and walls are all tiled with a drain in the floor. It's convenient and easy to use. The toilets were western (not squat) with another hose from the wall (not the shower) for cleaning yourself after using the toilet. Now that is something that western cultures should embrace! All tissue goes in a bin, not in the toilet - it's difficult at first to remember after years of putting it directly into the toilet!
Azahar Yoga Studio - Jackie introduced me to this wonderful studio with excellent, friendly, caring instructors. Jackie, Ruchika and I would usually go twice a week - on Saturdays to a Vinyasa Flow class and then on Tuesdays to a Fly Fit class. The Fly Fit class was really fun - there are large slings hung from the ceiling which you use to do many of the traditional yoga moves along with many different ones including aerial and unside down!
Phnom Penh Sports Club - this is the health club that we went to. In the realm of health clubs it was nothing special but it had many varied machines (most of which worked at any given time), free weights, lots of room, ping pong tables and a great lap pool. It was a quick 5 minute walk from our house so was super convenient, the main drawback was its lack of air conditioning - you could work up a good sweat just standing there! Heidi was the ping pong queen and we had some fun times at the club with her.
Tuk-Tuks and PassApp - we traveled everywhere buy either tuk-tuk or auto richshaw. The tuk-tuk is a motorcycle and trailer for passengers which fits 4 comfortably while the auto rickshaw is a 3 wheeled vehicle powered by CNG of LPG. The vehicles are convenient and there are many so that you never have to wait long. There is an interesting old/new dichotomy with an old style of transportation mixed with an electronic ordering system. You download the PassApp app onto your phone, it knows where you are by GPS, you key in where you want to go, what kind of vehicle you want and it shows all the vehicles near by. One of the vehicles will accept the ride and it tells you how long it will be until they arrive (for example 1 minute 23 seconds) and shows on the map the vehicle approaching. This service is also nice because there is no bargaining - the prices are usually cheaper than vehicles that don't use the app. So convenient!! (Although sometimes the drivers had a hard time reading the map on their phone to see exactly where to go!)
Cafes and Restaurants - Phnom Penh is great because you can get most any kind of food you want - Italian, Mexican, American, Indian, Thai, Vegan... There were so many small cafes tucked away on side streets where you could get a good meal in a lovely atmosphere. Most meals were $6 or less, unless you chose a high-dollar restaurant. Often the cafes were connected with an NGO to help local people, some employed girls taken off the streets or out of the sex-trade industry. There are many NGOs in Cambodia - more than we have seen in any other country - to help in many ways such as education, water sanitation, training, upskilling, tourism, supporting women and children and much more. There is street food all over the city - small restaurants that set up on sidewalks with grilled meat and vegetables, freshly squeezed orange or sugar cane juice. There was one interesting street side restaurant near the school - by day it was a wide sidewalk witrh a mobile moto repair truck and by night it became a full restaurant with tables, stools, meat, seafood, rice and more.
Traffic - we've talked about the traffic before, but until you see it working in action it's hard to wrap your head around! There seems to be about 80% motos (small motorbikes under 150 CC, then the tuk-tuks and auto rickshaws, then cars and commercial trucks. Most cars there are high-end cars, as only the rich can afford them. Everyone drives a moto - girls/boys/women/men, young, old, mothers, fathers... The motos fill every inch of space on the roads weaving in and out, lanes are non-existent, going down the road the wrong way is normal, the few sidewalks there are make extra lanes, making a u-turn in the middle of traffic is common... what is most surprising is that it all works pretty well! There are never horns blown in anger, everyone co-exists and makes way for each other. We have decided that it only works because of a low-speed environment.
Wedding Tents - roads are closed when a wedding tent is set up for 2-3 days right in the middle of a road. It's a big business as tents, tables, chairs, music, portable kitchens arrive to make the party.
Markets and Grocery Stores - there are local markets everywhere which offer fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat. There is a wide variety of fruits such as dragon fruit, rambutans, mangos, longans, watermelon, jack fruit, durian, 3 varieties of bananas (very small, medium size but fat, and long 'regular' ones), and much more. Then there are markets which include soft good such as clothing and shoes and some are geared to tourists with clothing and souvenirs. The 'Russian Market' (Toul Tom Poung) was close to our house - it is a large enclosed market with narrow isles selling food, fruits, meat, vegies, clothing, silk scarves, DVD's, hardware, moto parts, and every kind of souvenir imaginable. There are also western type grocery stores where you can get most items, just realizing that you have to pay a hefty price to have some of the more familiar food from home! I mean, what would life be without an Oreo now and then!
