looking for a home by internet

While sitting in the Detroit airport and checking email. I received an email from my new boss about homes in Phnom Phen. He's an Australian who moved to Cambodia nearly two years ago, in fact, he and I were in orientation together when I started this job. At the time he was the incoming Deputy Country Director (DCD). Now I am the incoming DCD and he is the Country Director (CD) I would never have predicted we'd be working together nearly two years later!

It's a good thing I spent so much time with Fiona. I now understand Australianisms and know how to poke those Aussies when they say degrading things about Americans. Fiona, you know what I'm talking about!

He provided a link to look at housing options. Of course, I want Kenyon's input on this decision and since I will be gone for a couple of weeks in Africa we don't have time to wait for me to return home. Kenyon and I spent some time looking at our options, while I was in the airport in Detroit and he was in Boone, we were each on a computer and using G-talk to communicate...ahh, the reality of our lives, it will be so nice to be together more after the move!

Our options are:

1. a stand alone villa home - Kenyon and I quickly determined that most of those options were much bigger and more expensive than we wanted


2. apartments in a tower complex. these are designed with foreigners like us in mind. they have ammenities like laundry facilities, security guards, western design, air conditioning and cable. I just couldn't consider this option. though many of these are new and we would be more than comfortable there, it was a matter of principle. The land many of these complexes are built on was taken from poor people, displacing them to slums outside the city. How could I move to Cambodia, live in a posh apartment with vast ammenities when the land was stolen from those I am moving overseas to help? The irony is heartbreaking. So, that was an immediate "no."


3. our third and final option is what is called a Ptaya Vang or flat, often known to Americans as a duplex. these are a 2-4 story apartment with other homes on either side. it is the most common form of housing in our new city. for us, it was just right and it is the model of home we selected.

The staff in Cambodia will hunt some specific options down for us, send us pictures, and we will make a selection without ever stepping foot in the home until we arrive in country. I am grateful for the help of the country office. How do people do this without help on the destination end?