Cambodia! Nice to meet you!

I am not sure there is a way to be ready or properly be able to imagine Cambodia if you have not been and have lived in the USA your whole life. Cambodia is like if Thailand, Vietnam, and India had a baby together.

It almost looks like I'm being chased by villains in a bond movie

The large majority of people ride around on motorcycles and dirt bikes, they call them motos. So far I've seen a family of four all squeezed on one bike. The craziest thing is that some of these guys no hand their motos and text while driving around in a country which literally has like no traffic laws. Turns out seeing people drive the wrong way down the street is a very common occurrence, I will never complain about Cupertino drivers again!

Toyota needs to pay me for product placement!

You still see all sorts of other cars to trucks and even a prius! It makes me miss my own clown car back home. It is really strange at first to see a honda dirt bike thats older than me then see two prius cars drive by. Fuel efficiency is really important because motos don't use that much gas and there don't seem to be many stations around Phnom Penh, just small clusters of them

You can't say you have been to the ghetto until you have
been to southeast asia... though it is beautiful 

There are huge contrasts in poverty here, you will see shacks and people selling water in old used bottles, begging people who almost exclusively ask travellers. Kids run around barefoot. A lot of people are barefoot which makes for two things.

1. Everyone here thinks my vibram toe shoes are the most amazing thing since the wheel. One person told me I have "magic special shoe".

2. Touching anyones head is a super big no no! Your feet are the dirtiest part of your body and your head is the cleanest. So hats, backpacks,        books, anything that has to do with your head or  brain never ever ever is allowed to touch the floor. It  sounds not that hard to follow until you live it. Us  americans kinda tend to just throw things  everywhere, or drop things like sunglasses.

What's Khamer for puttin on the ritz?

 There are also really beautiful ornate buildings with gold roofs and huge gates in front and guards outside. I couldn't get a good picture, these places are like compounds hidden from the world. I can only assume really rich people live here.

These people don't look cambodian at all... irony!

Supposedly there are seven political parties here but only two are big... I know americans it takes some getting used to. The last election was heavily disputed and there has already been some violence over it. I might finally get to know what its like to live a day in the shoes of Anderson Cooper! Aside from elections there is also a king of cambodia, and yes I've already asked, they won't let me be king.

Their slogan is "energy
for power".... gas for
redundancy

                                       The gas is way cheap here but is in liters, 4000 riel is like 1 dollar american. Most vehicles are motos and cannot hold much fuel at a time.  The khmer response to this to make outside fuel tanks with rubber tubing and plastic gasoline tanks. I'm not sure how safe it is but it seems to work for them. When you ride down the streets it seems like everyone is a master mechanic. All the men and even some girls can fix motos, and oart shops are everywhere. Its really impressive.

Now with life sustaining goodness!

 The last thing that takes some getting used to is only using bottled water for stuff. It sounds hard until you rinse off your toothbrush in the sink and realizing that you really messed up and have to clean it. Also I have almost rinsed my mouth out with sink water a bunch of times, and you aren't supposed to get shower water in your mouth... my singing career is going to take a hit with so little practice. At my hotel you get two bottles a day so I'm playing desert survivor in my hotel room.

Up next...... Famous attractions!