After being in Cambodia for almost 2 months now, it’s safe to say life here has become normal. That means all the things. Very rarely am I phased by the cows outside my front door or 4am temple chanting. So I decided to share a little bit of what life here is like.
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We bike everywhere. So do most people. Often motor bikes but cars are rare.
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Traffic rules don’t exist. Even if they did no one follows them.
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$4 a day is enough for food. Assuming you don’t become addicted to the donuts and banana bread at coffee shops.
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Roosters actually do make that annoying sound every day. All day.
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Streets flood easily. That’s why we bike through knee deep water pretty frequently.
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White people will get their pictures taken at strange times by strange people. Kind of feels like you’re a celebrity sometimes.
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Sweat. No other way to say it. When you live in 40°C weather it’s inevitable and never ending.
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English is a huge desire here. Most people want to practice their English as often as possible so finding conversation isn’t hard.
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Exercise means walking laps with your arms over your head. That’s about it.
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Greeting people respectfully means bowing with your hands together. The level you hold your hands at determines the level of respect you give.
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Farm animals chill anywhere grass is. Often there are cows on sides of the road as well as chickens which may or may not decide to cross just as your biking past.
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You can get by only knowing 5 words of Khmer. People will laugh at you but it’s still doable.
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Take out drinks come with little bags so you can carry them on your handlebars. It’s literally the cutest.
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Shoes come off whenever entering a building or respectable place.
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Trash is constantly on fire. The sides of the road are lined with mini trash piles being burned to reduce the massive amounts of street trash.
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There are a lot of holidays in October. Mainly pertaining to the King.
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Gasoline is sold EVERYWHERE. The streets are surrounded with little kiosks and pop up stores which all have sketchy looking yellow liquid. It’s gasoline.
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Markets are not the place for you if easily affected by bad smells.
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Street pancakes are the bomb. The stands come out to the streets at night with crepe like fried pastries filled with chocolate and bananas and they’re only $0.50
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The river which runs through the country is the only one in the world which switches direction half way through the year and goes from sea to mountain. This calls for more holidays and festivals at that time of year.
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Brand name clothes are ridiculously cheap and easily found everywhere. Except they’re not always real.
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Coconut water is great for the immune system but tastes slightly like sour milk.
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Sweetened condensed milk is in literally everything. They love that stuff.
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Fresh baguettes are a staple food item in most meals.
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Cockroaches, centipedes and other fun crawling creatures are far far too common for my liking.
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Toilette paper goes in the trash. If there is any.
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Tuk tuk’s are the other main form of transportation which consists of a moto dragging a cart with seats inside.
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Potholes are unbelievably huge and common. Navigating can be fun when there’s more hole than road.
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More often than not the woman at cafes and stores will call you sister. It’s adorable and I love it.
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You know it’s 7am when the apocalypse sounding alarm goes off. Happens every morning and I no longer have a moment of panic when I hear it.
As strange as it may sound, all of this has become normal to me. It has become a home of sorts and my squad has become my family. We have less than 2 weeks left here and I intend on taking full advantage of this unique culture. Even if that means eating a few too many street pancakes.
