Helpful Tips on living or visiting Phnom Pehn

1. Traffic in Phenom Pehn -- Like watching a fast paced game of Frogger. Sometimes Frogger looses. 2. Driving in Phenom Pehn -- Like being in a game of Frogger...But you only have 1 life to play with. Use it well young tadpole! 3. Eating in Phenom Pehn -- There are all types of food here. Pizzas are awesome! Just becareful to specify Happy and Not Happy. Then there are 3 types of happy: Little, Medium and lay it on thick. 4. Walking in Phenom Pehn -- What is this walking thing people talk of? Motos all the way. Walking can be fun and actually it is probably the safest... as long as you can avoid the motos on the side walk.5. People of Phenom Pehn -- A mix of used car sales men and an innocent child. I love the Khmer people, honestly I have more Khmer friends then western friends. Though you do have to becareful when making friends that you make the RIGHT friends.6. Bugs in P.P. -- Unlike in Taiwan where I saw cockroaches on the streets almost everywhere. I have only had the pleasure of being checked out by 4 here. There are very few mosquitos and LOTS of ants. (a) Ants -- Natures trash men! (b) Mosquitos -- Really annoying as you don't see them and don't know you have been bitten until you are scratching your skin off. (c) Cockroaches -- F**KING HUGE!!!!!!!!!!! It is not a pleasure to run into one of these. They do size you up and fly right at you. The other night Uncle (guesthouse family that has adopted me) laughed so hard at me, just because I was so happy to have killed a cockroach all by myself!So to conclude the bug section, if you don't like them it shouldn't be to much of a problem just be warned. 7. Weather in P.P. -- Well we get about an hour of HARD rain a day then it is just hot and humid. Hence I am not looking forward to returning home to -40. 8. Dating a Khmer Man – Not recommended! But occationally you find a good one that turns out. Though most of them just want one thing… 9. Holidays in Cambodia – Well Cambodia is second in the world for the amount of holidays that you get. They also tend to be right when you need a holiday. A lot of them are just long weekends, but like the one I have coming up you can get almost a full week.10. Friends in Cambodia – As I said above I do have a lot of Khmer friends, this is because it is hard to get attached to any western friends as they come and go. Today I’m having to say good bye to Leslie, she is going to Poland to get engaged. It was a rather last minute and sudden decision on her part. I’m going to miss her quite a lot. Another girl that I have met is Liby, a nice Aussie girl who talks a lot, but again she is leaving in a few weeks.11. Learning Khmer – Rather easy surprisingly! I have quite the extensive vocabulary of words now and am learning more and more each day. 12. Internet in Cambodia – All over the place for a price. Although I do get free internet through the school, here I have to deal with the slow networks!! At Internet shops you can pay anywhere from 600R – 1.50$/hour. So you do have to watch yourself when you go in.13. Moto Accidents – I’ve been in a few near misses, never my drivers fault. I have also been in one very, very minor accident where my knee got banged up. Although there are quite a few maniacs on the roads so you just have to be careful. Thing is though is that it is a fact of life here, accidents DO happen. 14. Choosing your Moto – Choosing the right moto is much like playing the game of Life. Your life to be exact. I have a driver that I pay monthly now, as well as a night time moto (very nice soldier). He is always on time, he never drives to fast, and he never, never drinks, answers his phone or tries to gun it across the yellow lights. Although when out on the weekends if I need to take another moto then my regular guys, don’t be afraid to smell them and ask them questions. If they don’t drive well, don’t be afraid to hit them either and yell “STOP!”. You always have to remember it is your life in question, so if you do not feel safe, stop the ride.15. Clothing – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Do not try and find anything in the markets to wear unless you are a size 4 or less. Although! Materials are very cheap and tailors are great. If you can sketch them what you want they will make it to fit. I already have lots of clothes that I have had made. 16. DVDs – What movie do you want. There is everything, even things that haven’t even come out in North America yet, or even things that have JUST come out in North America. It’s great and now I have far to many. So if people want me to look for DVDs for them just tell me the name and I will see what I can do. Most DVDs are only $2.50 - $3.0017. CDs – Again I can get anything! I now have over 100 now and the number keeps going up. CDs run $2 or for double CDs it is $2.50-$3. 18. Food – Khmer food (once you get the nerve to try it) is some of the best food you can get. It’s oily and sometimes doesn’t look good, but it is so good. Plus a huge take away of Noodles, Beef, Veggies and a fried egg is only 2500R (about 0.60$) It really is the only way I eat now. Heck I think I’ve even eaten dog. Not that I ever want to know if I am but I think I have. Sorry puppies that I know.This concludes this lesson on Cambodia please stay tuned for more when I think of more.Love and Miss you all, Jax