We Made it

Wednesday, March 12th 2008. 6:15 PM Cambodia.

We made it! Wow, what an incredibly long journey. From the time we left Boston until the time we got to our hotel in Phnom Penh, we spent 32 hours traveling. The first flight from Boston to LA was great; almost empty, plenty of room to stretch out. The second flight from LA to Taipai, Taiwan was completely full. It was the biggest plane, we have ever seen. It had 70 rows and there were 10 seats across and it had two stories. I have to say I (Margaret) was a little worried about whether they were going to be able to get that thing off the ground.

Anyways, we met up with Lindsey (the photographer), Dash (one of the other students working with me) and Sarah (the student sponsor) in LA. There is another student working with Brian named HJ who will be getting to Cambodia at around 10 tonight. We then caught up with several others in Taiwan.

The ride to the hotel was amazing. You can’t believe the poverty even in the heart of the city. It is very scary. The hotel is OK. We will get by; no complaints.

After several of us got checked in, we headed out in these little carriages pulled by motorcycles – they are everywhere. And as far as we can tell; there aren’t any rules about driving. You can drive on the left side of the road; or the right; whatever suits you at the time. So, if you can picture thousands of bikes, mopeds, motorcycles pulling these carriages all going every which way – you just about have it.

13 of us went out to the Foreign Correspondent Club for lunch. The food was pretty good. There were a few things I couldn’t recognize, but all in all it tasted OK. Then, we went to the Russian Market – it was insane!! You can’t believe everything they were selling in this place and it is hard to describe so I hope I can post some of the pictures. I bought some little gifts for everybody. And my mom bought some small oriental purses/plates etc.. My mom said that this place would of been great for her and her friends. We met this little boy named Dar at the market, he was our negotiator - we ended up buying him a new pair of adidas - he said it was the best day of his life.

Anyways, it was also about 100 degrees – and hotter inside the market. So, we aregrateful that our hotel has air conditioning while we are sitting here typing this.

Thanks for all of your messages so far. More tomorrow after we meet our first patients.

M & B