Suostei! Is currently one quarter of my vocabulary in Khmer (the language of Cambodia.) Kira, The lovely cleaning lady in the hostel, has taught me to say hello, goodbye, thank you, and to ask how are you and answer “I’m fine”, which is basically the same phrase bar one word. Most of the Cambodian locals I have talked to so far have been extremely friendly and welcoming, which is a promising sign for the next few weeks. Even on the bus on the way on the way here, I was helped by a lovely cambodian lady Leah who was also a passenger, and who told me in English what was going on each time we stopped for toilet breaks, customs, food breaks, etc. (the vietnamese bus conductor was not being helpful at all, I suspect because I had refused to give him money to get my visa checked at the border, and said that I could do it myself.)
Here in Phnom Penh, the hostel is really nice! It has loads of communal open space downstairs and even a kitchen for guests to use (this seems to be a bit of a rarity in Asia, unlike in European hostels) so I have been taking the opportunity to cook with lots of fresh veg to get some vitamins in me. Also it has bike parking and a big courtyard area at the front which is a great space for tinkering with bikes in, and I have got my bike all ready to go! Everything is finally ready and I set off cycling tomorrow – eek!
Yesterday, I cycled my bike into Phnom Penh and along the Mekong river front, which was lovely. It was actually a national holiday in Cambodia at the weekend and bank holiday Monday today (I didn’t know until I arrived,) so the river front was full of families out together for the day with lots of children playing. Today, I have walked around the town centre, which was very nice, and then went to the National Genocide Museum (an ex torture facility from the Khmer Rouge regime), which was not ‘nice’, but was very good to see and very well done.
I just need to do some last minute preparations, then tomorrow I will say “leahaey!” (goodbye) to Phnom Penh, and set out on my bike!
Dancing in the Dawn 