After a very long quarantine, I have been able to go to my new home. My apartment is in a beautiful high rise, modeled after a french building and even has a french name, The Elysee. I love the clean space, with marble flooring and brand new appliances. It may be small, but this space is mine and I adore it. It is also very quiet, since it is nestled along a river and I haven’t even heard a peep from the neighbors! 

I do not have a car here, which is fine by me, less to worry about! And to my delight, since covid hit, two new delivery companies have sprung up here in Cambodia, rather like Door Dash and goPuff, which is what we had in Arizona. One is called Food Panda and the other Nham24 and I checked them both out. I was happy? Surprised? to see some of my American favorites here like Papa Johns and Burger King! I have been able to order food and essentials through these delivery companies, which I did for the heavy supplies.

I did want to see some grocery stores and I also saw there was a mall nearby, like literally only 10 minutes or so away. I braved the walk on a lovely windy day, when the clouds were scattered in the sky. The wind actually woke me as it howled between the building and rattled my windows. I dressed and went downstairs to sparkling water on the river walk and ripples caused by the gusting wind. On my adventure I went!

So, one thing I learned rather quickly is that the sidewalk is very uneven and sporadic, you may be walking on one and it will end suddenly. Also, the bricks jut up out of the ground. SO, looking at GoogleMaps while you walk is not the best idea. I thought of this, just I fell and went flying onto the ground as I walked over a bridge, aptly named the Rainbow Bridge. Ok, got it, I began to look very carefully as I walked. 

The mall astounded me, it was so clean and spacious, just like back home, except here, few people are out, and everyone is masked and uses hand sanitizer on the way in and out. Also, unlike many malls, this one also had a huge grocery store inside too. I was so happy to see the variety they had! Also, I’ve been discovering wonderful pastry here! There is a french touch almost everywhere I go. You can read about why and how here, but beware, its a long complicated read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_protectorate_of_Cambodia

Or if you want the above information in a lighter form, see this article: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/in-phnom-penh-cambodia-the-french-influence-lives-on/2014/01/23/8023ea12-7eec-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html

I enjoyed walking in the air conditioning and went into the cutest ‘dollar’ store from Japan called Daisho! I was able to get some ribbon and washi tape as well as some little bowls etc..

This photo is directly from their facebook page!

I finished out the little adventure with a tuk tuk ride, here are some pictures.After dodging cars and uneven sidewalks, I loved being dropped off at my front door!

Now I’m ensconced in my apartment making some art. School will start soon, on August 11 in fact, and rest will come more sporadically, thus I need to enjoy this bit of free time, especially after these past couple years. I honestly feel like I’ve been running a marathon to just get here.

Cheers!