SAFELY ARRIVED IN CAMBODIA

Step #1 accomplished ! I left India after having spent 10 great and relaxing days with my friend Josephine in Delhi and having seen one of the most beautiful thing on earth: The Taj Mahal. I was expecting something astonishing: it was even greater. I LOVE IT ! It is so worth being seen at least once in one's life.

I took the train at 6AM last Tuesday direction Agra, spent the morning visiting the Taj and the afternoon the Fort with a couple of french students I met in the train. Late afternoon I took the bus to Jaipur (5h30 journey) and arrived late at night in one of the most touristic city of India. The cyclo-rickshaw took me for a long drive through the city, through dark and deserted streets where we were followed by some other guys on bicycle. I got very scared, would have given much to arrive safely at the hotel. Actually gave him much when I arrived, so happy to be there. The following day, I joing a guided tour through the city as there are so many places to visit in Jaipur, but the Pink City of India quite disappointed me due to the state of decay of its buildings.

I arrived on Sunday the 5th September in Phom Penh, the capital where about 2 millions khmers live among the 11 millions that constitute the country.
The weather is very hot, almost the same as in India, around 35 degrees ... and the rain is falling intensively nearly daily as we are in the peak season of the moonsoon.
(It was pretty impressive by the way to see from the plane the thousands of hectares of land flooded around Phnom Penh !).

Despite the cold I caught in Delhi (43 degrees outside + freezing air/co in the hotel ...) I already started to look for a volunteer position in an NGO. I hope finding one within a week to start as soon as possible !
Thanks to a friend from Auroville, I am staying now in an appartment with 3 flatmates: one french guy, one other from vietnamese origin and one bangladeshi girl who is currently in mission out of the city for a few weeks.
As soon as I know where I will be based, I'll be looking for another place to live (this one being temporary), also a shared location as I find it cordial.
I am going to Battambang on Thursday (4 hours drive North from Phnom Penh) for an interview with a french NGO (Enfants Réfugiés du Monde): it is a small and quiet city where I would to work.
All right for now ! I am going to work on my applications again while enjoying a "corn and kidney beans" flavored yoghurt ... ;-)