The Van Diaries Day 1

the airasia flight was delayed again

...typical

couldnt see much from the plane on approach to Phnom Penh, very overcast skies, dunno whether it was rain clouds or just plain haze


by the time we cleared customs, it was already dark with a slight drizzle

and yes we had met our subjects earlier at the LCCT

Ezer and his assistant, forgot his name


they run internet portals ranging from travel to dating (supposedly doing very well)
so this guys decided to build a school in the outskirts of Cambodia for 20k US out of their own pockets

and so me, my boss mike and colleague jeremy decided to shoot a doco for them for free

but mike had some other intentions also...


back to the Phnom Penh airport, we met up with our guides Mendy and the driver Tan or something like that

at first i thought they were just the cabbies, but being driven in a Lexus 4wd, i figured they were the hired hands.


off to our hotel, the royal golden something something, facing the river where all the tourist hand out

couldnt see much as things were pitch dark, but its kinda like driving thru bangkok, only with more older buildings and less dense. no jams at that hour.

only thing i remembered was that there were a shitload of clinics/hospitals/pharmacies

and huge signs like "DOnt take weapons!" as suppose to our Tak NAk campaigns.


reached the hotel, didnt look like there was anyone living in it, got into a lift built for 5 cambodians and could only fit 3 malaysians

room was pretty decent, cable had more channels than astro, and most importantly ESPN,

i didnt have to scarifice premiership action, but that was only for the night.

sprayed some anti-perspirant while waiting 4 the others to bath and shit


went out for some grub

all mostly small restaurant/pubs, all full of white ppl , kinda like Khao San

stop at a place, had Khmer food, kinda like vietnamese/thai.chinese

vegetables, chicken, soup, the usual fare.

it all looked quite bland, but once u taste it, its pretty darn good

had their local beer Angkor, tasted as lame as Leo beer

little did i know how the Wat connected with everything in cambodia

so continued to talk politics, business, trivia and shit with our new group

the usual stuff

went back to the hotel, saw the matchess, reading scored againts MU, i fell asleep