apartment hunting

Over the past few days, I’ve been looking at apartments. I like my guesthouse. It’s clean, has AC and cable TV, and even someone to do my laundry and iron for me (I could get used to this), but I’ve been told I can get more for my money if I get an apartment. And I want to save money so I can travel. (In fact, I went to the beach this weekend. Yah beaches!)

Let me just start by saying that trying to find a place here is nothing like apartment hunting in NYC. Sure, there are brokers. But their business styles are a bit different, if you can even call it that. First, the brokers take you around on the back of their motos. Second, they just start driving around with no real idea of what places are available. As they drive, they’ll see a sign advertising a place and ask the guard, if there is one, if we can see it. The guard or someone who is responsible for the keys will show us the apartment. Other times, if there is no guard, there’s a number posted for the owner and the broker calls the owner.

So far, I haven’t found anything I really like yet. I’m picky, I know. The places that are nice, meaning places I want to live and with no indication of roach or other unwelcome pet infestation, are too expensive or too far outside of the central part of the city. The ones that are reasonably priced are too far out or not very safe in terms of bldg security, meaning no security guard or gate. The hunt continues. Of course, with only 8 weeks left, I’m not sure how many people will want to rent to me.

And rental time length is not my only barrier to finding an apt. An older landlady was reluctant to rent to me because of my Chinese ethnicity. She was afraid of the Pol Pot connection to China. Yet another one of the residual scars of the Khmer Rhouge regime. Interestingly enough, however, the owners of my guesthouse speak Chinese. I can practice my Chinese in addition to learning Khmer. I can say a few things now in Khmer!

sunset in phnom penh

I took this picture on my first night in Cambodia. It's from the balcony of my guesthouse at sunset.

the eagerly anticipated first post about cambodia

Arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday afternoon. All I could see from the plane were sand-colored roads, houses with red clay roofs, and occasional patches of green. I’m slowly adjusting to the city and the heat. It is hot! I think the average has been 110 the last few days. It cools down in the evening when the clouds roll in, though I have yet to experience a real storm during what is officially the rainy season. Luckily, my work day starts at 7:30am. Did I just write that? Yes, I did and here’s why I don’t mind getting up so early…by 8am the temperature goes up 20 degrees. I’m not exaggerating. And yes, I just wrote a whole paragraph about the weather.

Phnom Penh is definitely a unique city. They call it the Wild West. I’m beginning to learn why…

Traffic

There are absolutely no stop lights in certain parts of the city, especially near my office and guesthouse. On my first day of work, I walked from my guesthouse to the office and had to cross one major intersection during morning rush hour. I tried waiting for a while to see if there would be an opening to cross. There wasn’t. So, I stepped into the street and starting walking, hoping that I wouldn’t get hit by a car, motorbike, or bike. At the same time, of course, five police officers on the other side of the street were watching me stand on the sidewalk for two minutes trying to cross. They might have been laughing at me.

Another aspect of Phnom Penh’s traffic decidedly different from the U.S. is the plethora of motorbikes (“motos”). They are used as the main form of transportation along with cars and tuk tuks. It is amazing how many people fit on the back of a moto. I’m talking about entire families. Even though I thought I wasn’t going to, I got on a moto for the first time ever…and I loved it. Not only is it efficient, but it is fantastic late at night. And by late at night, I mean 9-11pm, when the city is dead. It’s a great way to see the city with the breeze blowing through your hair – instant air conditioning. Now that I’ve been on a moto a couple of times, I feel more confident about not falling off; I don’t even death grip the driver’s shoulder anymore!

Expat Scene

Happy hour seems to be a staple of the expat scene. I went out with a couple of people from work to experience the phnomenon (intentional spelling mistake) for myself. Apparently there are 3 categories of expats who frequent Cambodia: 1) NGO, 2) sexpat, and 3) restaurant/bar owners. I’m sure these don’t require a definition. Then there is another distinction between the expats and backpackers. Can you keep all of this straight? J

The first place we went for drinks was the Foreign Correspondent’s Club or rather, the FCC as it referred to here. According to the Lonely Planet, otherwise known as my bible, the FCC is a must. It’s hugely popular with the expats – I think categories 1 and 2 specifically. There’s a reason the FCC is so popular. It has a fantastic deck overlooking the river, if you can get over the poverty. Without sounding too trite, it’s hard to ignore the beggars, especially the little kids playing in the mud waiting with their families for the tourists to spill out onto the sidewalks. Or the little kids who come into the bars and restaurants where the expats frequent to ask you to buy a rose, kids that is that usually work for an adult or sometimes even a pimp. You can’t ignore it – the poverty, the income disparity, yet you have to and I can’t help but think that there is something else we (meaning the expats) can do. What that is, however, I’m not sure…

After drinks at the FCC, we headed to Lake, a backpacker haven. Some backpackers apparently don’t ever leave Lake. Lake is a series of guesthouses clustered throughout several alleys, some with a deck right on the…lake. Huge surprise, right? The Lake is also the home of the happy pizza. You’ll have to look that one up for yourself. But you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t partake in the happy pizza. That would totally contradict my good girl image.

Bugs

Without complaining too much, although I am kind of complaining by saying this, I am getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I have 8 bites on my right shoulder. My right shoulder! Counting the number of bites on my legs would be fruitless. Fortunately I have invested in travel insurance so if I need to be evacuated for some mosquito-infection, I am good to go. I have started slathering insect repellant on my body every morning, which helps…that is, if the deet doesn’t kill me first. I saw my first cockroaches and ants as well. Not to mention a huge rat. Good times, no? But I didn’t scream and for that, I’m quite proud of myself.

taipei in pictures

view from nanjing st. subway station

national palace museum

motorcycles in danshui

dragons outside temple in danshui

fish outside temple in danshui

vew from danshui pre-storm

shilin night market- fried oysters & eggs

taipei 101 - tallest bldg in the world

mall outside taipei 101

On cabbages, museums, and mullets

I’ve wanted to visit the National Palace Museum in Taipei since my freshman year of college when my Asian Art History professor talked about museums featuring renowned Chinese art. Given its extensive collection, I had assumed that the most popular art would be the scrolls, bronzes from prehistoric times, or even the pottery. I was wrong, so incredibly wrong. The piece of art that everyone flocked around was. . .a bok choy cabbage made of jadeite. A cabbage that with a bug on top, no less. This was the one piece of art in the entire museum where people were pushing others, jockeying shall we say, for an opportunity to stare through the glass at the cabbage, so they could behold the wonder of the jade cabbage. I'm not exaggerating. Here is the cabbage

On the subject of visiting museums, I would not recommend the National Palace Museum on National Museum Day. Being frugal must be a universal trait, not just one associated with cheap grad students and truth be told, I didn't even know it was Museum Day when I went. I have never seen so many people in one museum. I kept looking around for the emergency exits because there were some serious fire code violations going on. In addition to the hordes of adults, there were tons of kids on school field trips. I even had one as a personal shadow. I think I was the first Chinese-American person this little girl had ever seen because she could not get over the fact that I spoke English and started following me around the museum. I could get used to a little hero worship. :)

On Sunday, I walked around Ximendian, an area where “young people” go during their free time. I’ll leave it to you to determine if I still qualify as a young person. Ximendian is definitely where the hipsters hang out. And what is the most popular haircut for hipster teenage boys in Taipei, you might ask? Mullets. Yes, mullets are making a comeback. I so wish I had taken a picture.

on my way

arrived in taipei during morning rush hour. besieged by motorbikes and japanese-made cars with a few european ones thrown in for good measure. i almost forgot what it was like to be in asia, yet it all comes back. the multiple high rises in the same color. laundry hanging on balconies to dry. slowly acclimating to a different environment. my adventure begins.

2 down, 1 to go

My Friendster horoscope for today is rather appropriate and ironic considering that I was checking Friendster in my valiant procrastination efforts. (By the way, am I the only one who still uses Friendster?) So, back to the horoscope, even though I'm not a huge astrology person, but I will do anything to procrastinate, especially when it comes to my final-final exam. After that I'm off to Phnom Penh on Tuesday via 3 days in Taipei. Leaving in 5 days!

The horoscope, as promised:

"Stick to the plan in order to get everything done. Rely on your self-discipline.

Your innate perfectionism is going to be a valuable asset today. You've got a few unexpected challenges coming your way early on, and you'll need to be diligent about getting everything done properly. Strong self-discipline is crucial -- luckily, you've got tons of it right now. Later today you'll get some positive feedback that will give you a nice boost of energy. A lot of creativity is coming into your life soon."

Oh, Friendster, if you only knew the truth...