Travel and Arrival

It's been a hectic and exciting week here in the Capital of Phnom Penh. The next series of posts are done as catch-up.

One fact that's been driven home by three interrupted blog attemptes is that certain types of privileges I took for granted (like electricity) in USA are not constants in a developing country like Cambodia. So there's something to be said for making correspondance short and sweet.

Here's a brief update on the final leg of travel and arrival in country:

Air Travel

I enjoyed the flight overall, but we spent a very long time in the air. After our takeoff from JFK international on China Airways, I spent a significant time wondering how to fold myself into the seats. In this context I'm kinda oversized to begin with... I had to take pains to prevent myself from knocking out the chuckleheads behind me.

8 hours from JFK to Alaska, and then Alaska to Taipei (Another 8-9 hours). We made a brief stop and then took another flight to Ho Chi Minh City. The wait there was 2 hours and so I had time to shop for things. I found a passport holder, candy and a few sundries. We boarded soon thereafter to complete the final leg of the trip - Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Perhaps the best thing about the flight aside from the time to do uninterrupted reading or to sample China Airways food was the opportunity to read all of the slick airline magazines - there's so much in the way of culture and commerse that seems different from my day to day life in the USA. Glamourous cigarrette ads, ads for liquor (Johnny Walker is really popular!) and cosmetics caught my attention...

Arrival to Cambodia

I've been going back and forth in conversation with my roomate Vidal (Guyanese guy from Toronto) about what to call the city. Cambodia - City of ???

The first thing one notices is the heat - stuffy, muggy, pervasive. It's 90 in the shade - you want to hide in the midday heat. The One World Foundation disembarked as a group and got a quick van into the area of the city we are staying at. The streets are generally a mix of paved and unpaved, littered, dusty, and aswirl with people moving in the heat. Most folk get around using bikes, motos (kinda like mopeds), tuk tuk (a carriage that's led by a moto) or walking.

Anyway, our van took a main road from the airport to get to our accomodations for the duration of the stay. It's a street that abuts a Buddhist temple and monestary, lots of western oriented shops and tiny, modest apartments and hotels.

My group is staying at the Golden Comfort Inn. It's a nice place to stay and is next to Cambodia's National Monument - thus, it is easy to stay oriented. I am installed at an apartment in the middle of the city.

Here's the address: GOLDEN COMFORT HOTEL & APARTMENTN° 7B, Street 27812302 Phnom Penh, CambodiaTel & Fax: 023 216 303Website: