The Travel Tales of Julia Sheldon

May 28: Phnom Penh THERE ARE SO MANY CARS! It's very polluted and smelly and hard to breathe. And it's really Westernized in an unexpected way: Around our hostel there were at least 4 organic vegetable shops within 3 blocks. Shocking. Seems there's a huge French expat community in Phnom Penh, and there are many vestiges of French colonialism. Oh, and they use USD and Riel ($1USD = 4000 Riel). So, if something costs $4.50 and you give them a $5, you get 2000 Riel because coins are dumb and they are not used.  We arrived around 4pm, checked into our hostel, grabbed a bite in the restaurant downstairs, showered, and went to bed around 9. May 29: Phnom Penh Overnight buses really take their toll on us, so we slept in. We wandered about for breakfast and spent the morning learning about the city and what we wanted to do. Cafe Soleil was a lovely place for both breakfast and lunch, and we managed to find a free Lonely Planet book that we were hoping to find onlin...

May 4: It's pronounced 'Ho Chee Ming'. Took a taxi to the airport (rip off in terms of price), and then my flight was delayed by an hour. Womp womp. ANDY ARRIVED IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY. Our flights landed at the same time, so we met up and took a taxi back to our guesthouse. It took a bit of a hunt to find where we were staying; not because of lack of landmarks, but because of the sheer number of possible alleyways and an unclear understanding of how street addresses work in this city. Thanks to some VERY helpful English-speaking locals, we were able to figure it out. A necessary shower and chicken pho were had, and then bed by 930. I forced Andy to stay awake so that he could begin to get used to the time difference here. We shall see how long it takes for him to get on track. May 5: Sleep in! That means we left the guesthouse at 9 ha. It really is difficult to sleep in here; there is simply too much noise and light. Plus, it clearly gets BOILING HO...