Home sweet home

When I first arrived in Phnom Penh, I was dealing with a difficult housing situation. I was generously offered a free place to stay while I looked for something more permanent by a friend of a friend. The apartment was the fifth floor of the building which had a tiny, dark spiral staircase that was littered with clamshells, fruit pits and various scurrying vermin. I cannot pretend that I did not dread each and every trip up and down the stairs, and tried to eat dinner before 5:30 so as to not have to enter my building after dark. Other issues included lack of hot water, no air-conditioning, no kitchen, a broken toilet and perhaps most importantly to your hero, no Internet.

Due to the incredibly humidity and the proximity to a local food market, I languished there for 10 days. But on Sunday evening the niece of the landlord knocked on my door and told me to move out, at least temporarily, because they were showing the apartment to someone else. The situation made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I decided that it was a sign from the universe that it was time to look for an apartment.

So on Monday morning I loaded my possessions into a tuk tuk, dropped them off at work and spent the day househunting. By Monday night I had an apartment and moved in. My new place costs 1/5th of what I was paying in London, for twice as much space. It's a local residence and my landlady and her family live on the bottom floor. Like most apartments in Cambodia the entire thing is securely held together with a variety of enormous padlocks (god forbid there's ever a fire).

I signed a 6 month lease but have decided not to think about that for the time being. One day at a time, as they say.

Some pictures:

The adorable little living room. All of the windows and outside doors in the apartment have bars over them.

The grim but large kitchen. As this apartment is "Khmer style" (not renovated for foreigners), it has a stovetop hooked to a giant gas tank and does not have an oven. No chocolate chip cookies for me this year!

And my favorite part: the faux-Mickey and Minnie Mouse sheets that say "Pleasant Goat" all over them.