Day One: Detailed

The flight from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh was much shorter than I expected. I sat next to a French-Cambodian man who had apparently never visited the place where his parents were from. The stewardesses handed out visa applications forms with our complimentary meal of my choice of sausage and egg or Chinese dim sum. I had the dim sum and so did my neighbor. When we finished, we set to filling out our visa forms. It turns out that this Khmer man from Francais only speaks Francais and Chinese. Almost no English and no Kmer. The visa forms are in English and Khmer. So, he asked if I could help him fill out the form. Some of the fields were confusing like 'place of birth', etc. I tried to help him, but eventually someone nearby who spoke Chinese was able to help him with it.
The second half of the flight was beautiful, as we passed the gllomy clouds of Hong Kong and started to fly over Vietnam. The view was great, and I don't think we ever got much higher than 15 thousand feet, so the features of the land were just this side of being abstract.
Once over Cambodia, we descended a little and the features became more clear. The Mehkong is enormous. We followed it in for several miles... several hundred miles? Hard to say. I had a window seat for this particular flight, but I was right on the wing in the William Shatner seat. Despite the wing taking up much of my downward field of view, I was able to see the countryside pretty well. I think I got some good shots of the mehkong and of some mountains. I can't be sure until I see them on the computer.
Phnom Penh.
Landing in PP was fast, efficient, and painless. From the time I walked off the plane to the time I walked through security and had my passport stamped was no more than 10 minutes. I had my backpack and was outside a minute later where Sammy was waiting for me.
There was of course a hug and exuberant greetings, but we went immediately to his bike. It was 10:40 or so in the morning. He had just woken up. We were both groggy, but happy. He brought his dirtbike instead of the new SUV as per my request. I had told him in an email that I'd prefer to have an unimpeded view and immersive ride from the airport. Dust in the eyes and all. He obliged me and I'm glad he did. It was an amazing ride. Very beautiful. The weather wasn't so hot, but then I'd been wearing long sleeves, a courdeuroy sportscoat and jeans throughout the 26 hour trip on hot airplanes and hot airport layovers.
The trip to the school only took about 10 minutes, as the orphanage is off of the same road as the airport.
The 'residential' streets here often look alot like alleyways in the US because of the ubiquitous walls that completely surround houses here, unlike in the US where the back yard is fenced and the front open. So, we arrive here and the place looks almost exactly as I thought it would, but then I've seen several pictures and a brief video, so that's no surprise. Judging from what I saw on the drive from the airport, this is quite likely the cleanest place in, at least, this part of town. Very nice and spacious by Cambodian standards. Clean tile floors, uncluttered, no dust, fresh paint. Very good for the kids, I'm sure.
As soon as we walk in, Anne comes downstairs and I get to meet her. She's very nice. I do not give her a hug, as by this point I'm fairly stinky. My own armpits are waging war on my olfactory factory, so I ask if I can take a shower. 'No problem' I'm told. 'We take several showers a day here'. I can see why.The humidity makes one sweat alot even if the heat isn't bothersome. There's a sort of persistent stickyness. So the shower, it turns out, IS the bathroom. Between the sink and the crapper is a drain in the floor. Above said drain, hanging in a sconce on the wall is a hand-held shower head. I've never seen that before. Kinda neat. So, now I'm just like the Sim that Vanya created of me; I walk into a room and just start showering. Ha ha ha.
After the shower, Sam gives me a tour of the place. It isn't huge, but it's the perfect size for the kids. I imagine that, for kids who come from cramped living conditions and extreme poverty, coming to a place that's too large would be a little intimidating. This place will be very cozy and there will always be closeness with other humans, but it's not TOO cramped and it's immaculately clean. Very good environment. There are plenty of bathrooms and plenty of room outside so play ball, run around, do projects, whatever...
There are two rooms for sleeping (for the kids); a girls room, where I'm staying, and a boys. 3-story bunkbeds take up most of the space in the rooms. There are 4 of them, making 12 beds. The smaller kids will double up. Again, in america that would seem strange, but here I think it will give comfort and is pretty standard anyway. There is a room downstairs for the nanny, or hopefully soon nannies with an adjacent bathroom. Upstairs there is the aforementioned giant shower with a toilet and a sink in it, and there's also Sam and Anne's room, which will become an office and a little infirmary when they move out.
So, after the tour and some general talk of plans for the home, Sam takes me on a sort of tour of the town in the SUV. We don't really have a goal or even a specific route, really, just sort of driving around town. We drove by the palace and most of the monuments, by the river and by one of the slums... the 'university', the temples, the expat mile... I can't even remember everything we saw. One thing is certain; just the simple act of driving in PP is more adventure than I've had in many, many years.
When we got back, I met several Khmer who work for or with Sam at either this place or other of their projects. I don't remember their names, exept for Zena (sp?), warrior nanny princess.
After our random touring of the city, Sam takes me to Aziza's place (look it up) to meet Nader, who will be one of the board of directors of Motomedix. He and Sam started it a while back as just sort of a side project. Nader talks with Sam about motomedix stuff, what's going on at his schoolhouse, etc. Then, he says he's going to show us the little shed he rented at Stung Meanchey (the garbage dump where kids sift through the garbage for sellable materials...look it up) on Monday. I don't know if I'm ready for that. Earlier in the day we stopped at a gas station and a little girl, probably 6 or 7 but no older, came up to the car asking for money.See, you can't just hand out money to people. You can't. If you do, you're training them to become career beggars and you're training their parents to keep sending their kids out in the street to beg from barang. Nobody wins. I broke down. Sam was pretty stonefaced.. "aa-dtay" "no please". He didn't really even look at her. Not that he didn't care; that's why he gave up the middle class in Germany to come here, he does care, but he won't perpetuate the stupid barang 'charity' which has driven these people to the streets, the brothels, and the dump.
We find out that evening that there are some kids in the south in Kampot province that Peter, one of Sam's directors, heard about. Peter used to work as a teacher in Kampot province, and heard from someone that there were some kids in dire straits down there. So, we plan to head out the next morning to go take a look.
Later in the evening, we go and get some beer, order Indian food, and decide to watch a movie. Anne chooses 21, a film about an MIT professor who takes his math kids to Vegas to cheat at blackjack. I couldn't make it all the way through. The journey finally catches up with me and I succumb to sleep on the couch. So, I get up and go upstairs, climb into my mosquito net enclosed pink bunk and pass right the hell out.