Tomorrow we have a rather morbid schedule and I probably won't write or at least I won't write about today so here's as much as I can think of right now.
We arrived today in Phnom Penh. It's an unbelievably lively, friendly city and even if a lot of it looks more like Saigon in Apocalypse Now than a contemporary Asian capital it's pretty apparent that the rapidly improving economy of Cambodia is centered here. It's still good few decades behind other countries in the region and apart from new buildings and French, post-colonial houses there are plenty of run down pavillions. The city is building sites and varied conditions. Modern art and ambitions. There is a promenade along the river bank where people have fitness classes incorporating Asian dancing while grinning tourists (ourselves included) take videos of them. So far it seems like people in Phnom Penh speak surprisingly good English. They're also far more talkative than in Siem Reap, where no one dared to complain about the corruption or the government (I'll try and do a separate note about that when I know more).
Some of Cambodia, not the particularly poor bits, reminds me somewhat of Poland circa/before transformation - plastic cloth on the tables, fake coke and sodas so sweet and artificial they taste like bad candy and elements of the west availble and known but not quite widepread.
I don't think I've ever seen smiles as wide and friendly as here.
-Eva
