Back in Phnom Penh for a couple of days, we found ourselves in a totally different neighborhood from the one we were in on our previous visit a month earlier. The area around Russian Market (Psaa Tuol Tompung) did not seem as touristy as the riverfront, although there are quite a number of ex-pats living in the neighborhood, which seems more authentically Cambodian.

One thing that caught our eye was a catering tent erected for a wedding party in the street. This, we were to learn, is a routine occurrence in Cambodia, or at least in Phnom Penh. Since restaurants are generally cramped for space, they instead hold catered events in these tents in front. And out in the streets, which are already narrow and crowded enough, the various forms of traffic just make do and adjust as best they can.

Signs around the neighborhood were mostly in Khmer, of course, but there was quite a bit of English sprinkled in Although the English wasn’t always exactly the King’s English. (“Cut her hair and her”???)

Krou Yeung School

While we were in town, we took a walk to Krou Yeung School, which was only a few blocks away. This was the school that we’d originally been scheduled to volunteer at during the preceding month, but we bailed out after the director stopped returning our messages, and therefore we scrambled to find the substitute opportunity in Siem Reap.

Since then, the director had been in touch with us, and was very apologetic about dropping the ball. So we agreed to drop by and meet the staff and tour the school, and possibly arrange to volunteer after we got back from our month in Vietnam.

Well, we fell in love with the school immediately, as well as its personnel. And though we didn’t yet meet him in person, we were particularly impressed with the director and founder of the school, Mr. Yin Sopheap — a remarkable man who has an admirable vision for improving his country through education.

He began more than 20 years earlier, with a tiny campus serving disadvantaged children in one of the Northern provinces. The school has now expanded to three branches, with this one in Phnom Penh having just opened; and he has plans for many more.

So the upshot was that we immediately agreed not only to return to volunteer, but to stay for two months — before that time, we had not volunteered anywhere for more than one month. Two months was a big commitment for us, but we felt entirely comfortable making it.

On to Vietnam

The next day, it was back to the airport and on to Vietnam. First we landed in Ho Chi Minh City (alias Saigon), and after a brief layover there was another fight to Da Nang.

At Da Nang, we took a tuk-tuk to our night’s lodging, a quiet and comfortable hostel. We were checked in by a fellow American, a guy from New Jersey. We’d intended to pay for our stay by credit card, but upon learning that the hostel charges a 7 percent fee (on top of the 3 percent the bank charges), we first took a little stroll to find an ATM to withdraw some cash.

The lobby of the hostel included a little restaurant and bar; and the New Jersey dude offered us a free “Halloween cocktail”. Though normally we drink little to none, we thought why not. So he whipped up the concoction — we’re not sure just what all the ingredients were, but he added something to turn it blood red. And we “wolfed” it down, and had a very mellow settling-in on our first night ever in Vietnam.

10/28-29/2022