I woke up before 6am for my first morning class. Sunday is my busiest working day at the moment, and I would be teaching 12 classes from 6am to 9pm with only a few short breaks in between. It was going to be a very busy day of sitting inside and working, so I took a short walk around my neighborhood in the morning around 7 before the busiest part of my day began.
While Thailand is reliant on tourism to some extent (some 20% of the Thai economy is based in the tourist industry), the number is far higher in Cambodia. From talking to taxi drivers and my hotel staff, it's clear how difficult the past two hears have been for the country. The drivers seem really desperate for riders, and will drive after you offering a ride and asking "where are you going?". It's annoying, but I get it.
The taxi driver who took me from the airport to the hotel told me that I was his first customer in several days, and gave me his phone number to call if I needed a ride anywhere. It's been rough. I guess that's why Cambodia has decided to fully reopen the country to fully vaccinated tourists. I hope things recover here quickly.
I'm in a pretty cool part of the city, and I feel bad that I haven't had the chance to explore yet. I'll try to get out and about on Monday after I drop off my passport and paperwork at the Royal Thai Embassy.
My hotel is located just across from the Cambodian National Museum, and just down the road from the Royal Palace.
The museum is open, and I'll try to go there one day while I'm here. I hope that I can appreciate it even more now after having studied at the Thai National Museum these past years. I'm not sure if the Royal Palace is open yet or not. The gates seemed closed when I went past, although to be fair, it was still early in the morning.
Other parts of the palace seemed to be under construction. I'll have to check to see if it's open. If so, I'll try to pay it a visit this week while I am waiting on my visa from the embassy.
The rainstorm the other day really cooled things off here! It should be the hot season, but the weather is surprisingly mild with a cloudy, overcast sky.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, with my regular weekend working hours. I'm settling in here in Phnom Penh, and I'm definitely feeling a bit more cheerful than I was on Friday when I arrived. I really get annoyed having to deal with all of my visa stuff, but it's just a fact of life for expats. I might as well try and make the most of it... this visa run just came with really poor timing.
As a side note, it's interesting how the currency system works in Cambodia. The kingdom actually uses two different currencies; Cambodien Riel (KHR) and US Dollars. You can exchange for both currencies at the airport. ATMs give you the option to withdraw either currency. You can pay in whichever you want at an exchange rate of 4000 KHR to USD, or even in a mixture of banknotes of different currencies. However, Cambodia does not accept US coinage, so change below $1 is always given in riel. It seems complicated at first, and I'm always confused for the first two or three days in Cambodia, but you get used to it really fast.
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