We spent our 4th month of the World Race in the slums of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia, along with Thailand (where I am now), is the country that made me choose the route that I chose. Unfortunately, during my time before I got to Cambodia, my excitement for the country was overpowered by my hatred for the heat. When I asked a squad leader what she thought about Cambodia, her response was, “armpit of the world. Great people and great ministries, but, armpit of the world.” Needless to say, this made me nervous, but now that I’ve actually spent time here, I can say that I truly love Cambodia. My time with Cambodia Slum Ministry was so great, and the children and teens we were fortunate enough to meet and teach made our month so much fun. That said, there are a few ways that you could be more prepared for this country… and the first one is a bit obvious.
- It’s hot in Cambodia… like, real hot. This didn’t come as a shock to me, especially since April is Cambodia’s hottest month, but I feel like it should be said. We were lucky enough to be in a home with electricity and lots of fans. We also slept in the classroom, and just while we were teaching, we were allowed to turn on the A/C. It’s the kind of hot where you start sweating immediately after getting out of the shower. It’s uncomfortable, but when you love your ministry, you notice it less!
- Because it is so hot, you have to get creative about your sleeping situation. Like I said above, we had an A/C unit that we were only allowed to turn on during class… so when we were laying in puddles of our own sweat at night, we would stare at the unit, willing it to turn on on it’s own. We had 5 of us in one room with 2 fans (we had 3, but it broke after 3 days). We had to get creative about getting to sleep. I doused my pillow in lavender oil and would frequently take melatonin to help me fall asleep. We also learned that it’s better to sleep in leggings and be a little warmer than it is to sleep in shorts an have your leg stick together. EW. One way I suggest getting creative is by doing this…
- Ditch your insulated sleeping pad. I learned very quickly that it’s better to sleep on the hard ground than it is to sleep on an insulated sleeping pad. Insulated pads are made to keep you warm at night by using your own body heat… and that was something I was hoping to get rid of. On the first few mornings that I would wake up, I would find that my entire backs was completely soaked in sweat. By the third night, I had packed up my sleeping pad, and spent every night after sleeping on the floor. It’s way cooler, and now I don’t wake up quite as covered in sweat.
- Sometimes is hotter inside than it is outside. There were many days where I, or one of my teammates, would walk out on the balcony and say “oh my gosh, it’s way cooler out here than it is in the house.” Most houses here are made of concrete bricks, which keeps the rooms really hot, and almost acts as an oven. Most days, we would open the door to the balcony and put the fans in front of the door to blow the cooler air inside.
- Be careful with ice and vegetables. By the end of my first week in Cambodia, I had gotten some kind of stomach bacteria that caused pretty bad stomach pain. I ended up taking Cipro for it, and the doctor told me that it was likely that this bacteria either came from the ice in the drinks that our team would buy from vendors on the street, or the vegetables. Since we only ate cooked vegetables that our ministry host prepared for us, I’ll assume that it came from the ice. It makes sense, it’s very unlikely that the street vendors are using filtered water for their ice… and E-Coli and lots of other bacterias are often found on ice. No need to be paranoid, but be careful.
- Be inside by dark. We have never had issues with this, but we’ve heard about other teams on the log that have had issues while being out after dark. This may be because drinking early and too much is a pretty big problem for the men of Nepal.
- Don’t get conveyor belt sushi. I know, I know. You’re thinking “why in the world would I think that getting any form of sushi in Cambodia would be a good idea?”… I don’t know. But for whatever reason, my team and I got dinner on our off night at a “conveyor belt sushi” place, but when we got there, it was not sushi on that conveyor belt… it was a bunch of super weird gooey stuff, some raw meat, and tofu. The only sushi in the joint was in a small corner, and they were all the same roll, just with different outsides. I swear, it’s a miracle that none of us got sick that night.
- If you come to Cambodia in April, expect to have a whole week of no ministry at all. April is Cambodia’s New Year, so for our first week of ministry, we had no scheduled ministry. Instead, we painted a mural in the classroom. My advice is to also ask them what you can do for them during this time. Don’t just take a week off. They need you in some way.
- Rent a tuk tuk for a day, and do it through your ministry host. We got tuk tuk for an entire day for about $20, which was so nice. They took us to several different places all over town (and we were living in the slums, a 45 minute tuk tuk ride outside of the city), and took us home at the end of the day. It was also nice because they knew our hosts, so we trusted them (and used the same two drivers all month), and they also always knew the way back so we didn’t have to worry about them getting lost and trying to charge us extra.
- Wear sunscreen while riding a tuk tuk. I was in a tuk tuk for the 45 minute drive into the city with my leg outside of the tuk tuk, sitting on the step… and I got bad sunburn just from that. Be careful! That Cambodian sun is not kidding around!
- Keep your backpacks and stuff close while riding a tuk tuk. Often times, children will come up to a stopped tuk tuk and try and take anything available. Just be smart and don’t keep your phone out while you’re in a tuk tuk or on the streets, and keep your backpack on your front.
- Don’t accept old or torn bills. Cambodia uses USD bills, but instead of using coins, they use Riel. So, 2000 Riel is 50 cents, 4000 Riel is a dollar, etc. So it’s already a confusing currency, but they’re also pretty strict when it comes to the condition of the USD bills. If it’s old or ripped at all, no one will accept it, so if someone tries to give you an old bill, ask for a different one. It’s really annoying to have money that no one will accept.
- The Khmer people are gigglers. They giggle all the livelong day. During church, during worship, during class, after most non-funny comments or questions. Many people find this to be rude. I did at first. It’s weird to be laughed at just for saying “let me tune my ukulele really fast”, during music class. I had to come to realize that they weren’t making fun of us, it’s just the way they communicate.
- Street drinks are amazing and cheap. We got coffee, thai tea, and iced sugar cane almost every day in the slums for 25 cents!
- Try lots of crazy foods at the night market. I tried tarantula, snake and scorpion! The tarantula and snake weren’t bad… the scorpion was.
- The Khmer have a fascinating and sad history. I won’t go into it all on the blog, but take some time to look into the history of Cambodia, especially about the Khmer Rouge, and the Pol Pot Regime. You can also learn more about it by visiting the sites, like S-21 and the Killing Fields. They truly are a fatherless nation with so many people still grieving and suffering from their past.
- If you go to S-21 or the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, get the audio tour. We did the audio tour for S-21 (the high-school-turned-torture-prison in Phnom Penh, used during the Pol Pot Regime), and we all loved it. But give yourself plenty of time. It took a solid 2 hours to get through the whole thing, but it was fascinating. I wish we would have done the audio tour for the Killing Field.
- It’s pronounced “K-My”, not “K-Mer”.
It’s hard to find more than 18 things to say about Cambodia, because this is my 4th Asian country… so, as the Khmer would say, it’s all “same same, but different.”
