first impressions never last

I arrived in Phnom Penh last week and was SHOCKED. No pestering drivers, no chaotic traffic, no immediately pursuant beggars. As far as first impressions go, this city is incredibly manageable. While I spent the first day or two wary to eat or venture out on my own, within 5 days I was able to set myself up with a pretty sick apartment and a sense of direction.

Phnom Penh Basics

-Main modes of transportation are tuk tuks (moto with a carriage attached to the back) or a motorcycle. The motos are tough in the sense that they don't wear uniforms or anything. So anybody could theoretically pick you up as a 'moto driver'
-Generally speaking, you can DRINK THE ICE and WATER served at restaurants. This is totally alien to me, but it certainly eases water contamination paranoia.


I think one of the reasons that it is fairly easy for foreigners to get set up is that there just a ton of them here. Last weekend, I went to a concert that one of my friends put on at the Romdeng Friends House. I was so surprised to see the place totally packed with foreigners, mostly French and American. While there seem to be many foreigners here, boy is it a small world. It’s a small pool of professionals and NGO workers alike and EVRYONE knows EVERYONE.
Did I mention it’s rainy season?



Which means that when it rains, man does it ever! One of my first few days I was sitting on the patio of a restaurant and a gusty storm came up and blew all the tables and umbrellas up against the restaurant! I feared for my life for a hot second. But after observing that the locals were not freaking out as hard as I, I realized this was going to be normal.
The weather is actually ok here. It gets up to high 30’s (Celsius!) and as low as mid 20’s. Which is pretty nice. But it’s not that nice to be riding a moto through dirty sewage water up to your knees…..