| My last 2 days have been spent looking at dorms for the CLEW students and apartments for me. I am here during the peak travel season since the weather is best between November & January. The monsoon season is over although we had a doozy of a thunderstorm with torrential rain the first morning I was here. That cleared up by noon and it has been hot (30 - 35 degrees) and sunny since. Given the length of time that I am going to be in Phnom Penh (6 weeks), a hotel is way too expensive. There are some really nice villas here that are reasonably priced but the rooms don't have kitchens. Breakfast is included at these villas but I think I would get pretty tired of the same breakfast every day for that length of time. I really want a place with a kitchen so that I can prepare my own meals. Bandol has been looking for places for me for the past month but has had trouble finding availability or places without a 3 or 6 month minimum. The beautiful apartment where Michelle & Emily stayed this past summer is fully booked. However, Bandol found a brand new apartment building that will rent to me for the period of time that I am here because they are not fully completed yet. There is still construction going on and the upper floors haven't been furnished yet. I looked at it yesterday and although it is not really my style (it is ultra sleek and modern and somewhat sterile), it is reasonably priced and I would get a suite with a kitchen. The best part is that the top floor has a rooftop patio with an infinity pool and gym. They reassured me that the rooftop will be open when I move in next week. Here is a link to the building's website - www.silvertowncambodia.com. Regarding dorms for the students, we had fixed on the place that Chuck saw in September but the landlady was being a real problem and we couldn't seem to come to an agreement with her. Then, this morning, Try, Bandol and I went driving around neighbourhoods looking for places for sale or rent. We came across this amazing duplex that had just been renovated and both sides were available to lease. The good news is that both sides together were less than what we were looking at paying for the other dorm. Also, the landlord lives in the building next door and his mother lives on the other side. His house has a convenience store on the main floor so he was quite excited about the prospect of having 25 students move in to be customers for his store. The building is so superior to anything I saw previously and the price is right so we are working on negotiating with him now. The best part is that it is move in ready so we won't have to extend the lease on the current dorm. I'm hoping that we can get everything negotiated and start moving in within 2 weeks. Bandol is checking with her father to see if he can build some closets for the students so each would have a place to keep their things. Yesterday, Bandol had to leave me at one point to go do some work so I said I would take a tuk tuk back to my hotel. I was near the Independence monument and as I started to walk I thought I could walk the whole way but then I realized the traffic would be a problem. I would have to pass 3 roundabouts where there don't seem to be any rules or any pedestrian crosswalks. So, I nixed that idea and found a tuk tuk. However, today, the roads were all closed off for the Water Festival. Try was driving and Bandol had left her car at my hotel. Since Try couldn't get his car past the Independence monument, he dropped us off there. We looked for a tuk tuk but they couldn't get through either so we had to walk. It was actually really wonderful to be able to walk down that street which I have travelled so many times only without the danger of cars and motorcycles zipping by. Heather G & Heather H, I have managed to get a couple of workouts in. The gym at the hotel has a great view of the river so I've been able to watch some of the boats preparing for the water festival. The Tonle Sap river has quite a current and there are all kinds of boats ranging from small sampan type fishing boats to barges and river cruise ships. It has been far more interesting than watching TV! |
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CategoriesRuth GastleI am the CO-Chair and one of the Co-founders of Cambodian Legal Education for Women (CLEW). I have been in the fortunate position of being able to travel to Cambodia for extended periods of time. In 2014, I spent 6 weeks there and then I spent another 4 weeks there at the end of 2015. Archives |