Nothing that is worth doing is easy!

Hello!

Right, so I have arrived in Phnom Penh...!

So I'll start with the very begining and work my way through what has happened since then!

So on 2nd September 2009 at 6:30am Mum drove me to the Heathrow terminal 3 and the adventure truely began. I was a little nervous about checking in as my bag wieghed about 28kg and the max was 25kg (but it did have my helmet in!). Luckily the lady at the desk must've been in a good mood as we weren't charged a thing for excess baggage thank goodness!

As we proceeded towards security I knew that horrid goodbye was coming and was bloody awful. Possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done and if it wasn't for the support of the other girls...I'm actually quite suprised I didn't just run back but I guess it is mind over matter. I have alot of people relying on me and of course all of you have donated money to the cause so I couldn't just run away!

Anyway. So we got on the plane and we were sat on a 4 seater in the middle with just the three of us but it became fairly apparent that the plane was pretty much empty so everyone got to spead out a bit. I managed to curl up on 2 seats and slept the most I have ever slept on a plane! Managed to get about 4-5 hours which was pretty good. I also did quite a bit of reading :) unfortunately we were on a really old plane which was a bit disappointing as it only had one tv quite a way away so you couldn't really see. Caught the end of Angels and Demons though which is a pretty good film. To be honest, we chatted most of the way! We were all getting to know each other as we are going to be spending alot of time together in the coming months!

The transfer at Bangkok went really smoothly and it was an amazing flight over to PP. The first thing I noticed was that EVERYTHING is flooded. From the air it looks like those arial images you see when you are looking at a flood disaster on the news, however this is totally normal for this time of year!

We were met at the airport by the lovely admin team from VSO Cambodia who helped to guide us through the visa process (n.b. when you come to Cambodia you need to have a passport picture for your visa. Luckily I knew this!).

Then we went to the office and met some more of the team and Kirsty and I went to the guest house as there weren't enough rooms for all of us at the Programme Office. I really hated it and luckily I have managed to swap with one of the girls so that I am now staying at the office.

I will be in PP until next Weds when we move to Kampong Cham which is about 3 hours NW of PP and meant to be lovely. This is where we will be doing our language training which I am really looking forward to as so far I am still struggling with hello and thank you!

Phnom Penh itself is crazy! I have never been in a city like it. There is quite an apparent wealth divide, with the rich and poor living side by side in quite a stark contrast. On the second night we went out for drinks so quite a swanky place and I had an amazing cocktail for $3 which is really not much at all but for a cyclo driver in half a days wages. Since I found this out I always tip at least another dollar. I don't know how long this will last on my limited funds but we shall see!

Ok, I'm going to end this blog now and go on to a new one describing my Cyclo Tour I did yesterday...!

Thinking of you all :o) xx