Daily Life in Cambodia  2008 Daily Life (2000) Daily Life (2001) Daily Life (2002) Daily Life (2003) Daily Life (2004) Daily Life (2005) Daily Life (2006) Daily Life (2007) 21 August 2008       This is the way garment factory workers get to their jobs in a country with no local public transportation.       Return to Top of Page 18 August 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #78     Hey, it's not the most aerodynamic load, but it will get there!       Return to Top of Page 15 August 2008 Click here to see pictures of flooded Phnom Penh streets. Return to Top of Page 12 August 2008 To create some semblance of order in the chaos of Cambodian street traffic, road dividers have been put in place on some major thoroughfares.  As with all other traffic legislation in Cambodia, though, compliance is optional, with no threat of police enforcement.  Why wait in traffic when you can move freely in the opposing lane? Return to Top of Page 8 August 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #97     It's a good thing there's no glass in this door!       Return to Top of Page 15 June 2008 Every time I get ready to head to the United States or some other destination outside Cambodia, I go to Shop #46 in the Russian Market in the Tuol Tum Pung section of Phnom Penh to buy Cambodian artifacts to take to people as gifts. This young woman has been selling me things for years. It's been good to have one place to go because they really do give me a discount. Here she is with some of the wooden and stone and metal objects they sell. Here is the first woman's colleague who also works in the shop, near the cloth items they sell, all stacked on a table that fronts on the narrow aisle that runs through the market. I usually buy 100 khramas (scarves) and cloth bags at a time, so they are happy to see me come and willing to lower the price for me.     14 June 2008 The number of weddings taking place tends to peak shortly before the rainy season and then starts to taper off as the rains appear. There are still a good number of wedding celebrations to be seen, though. Here, at 6:00 AM on a weekday, a wedding procession forms on the street to walk to the house of the bride where the couple will actually profess their vows and give gifts to their parents in the presence of a monk. A small number of guests are invited to this early morning ceremony. Five or ten will actually go into the house for the ceremony while the others sit under a tent in the street and listen to a comedian and eat. But for now they are lined up, all bearing traditional gifts ranging from a full roast pig to a case of beer, waiting to process to the house. In the evening, possibly hundreds will be invited to a wedding banquet, either under a street tent or--if the families have money--at one of the restaurants catering to the wedding business. Return to Top of Page 13 June 2008 Very few intersection in Phnom Penh have any traffic control.  There are very few stoplights--although to be fair, the government is starting to install them--and stop signs are unknown.  Accidents like this one are quite common when people race through intersections, sometimes blowing their horns in advance as if that is some sort of a courtesy to people whom they might hit. Return to Top of Page 12 June 2008 Click here to see the end of the paving work on Street 101, at least for the Deaf Development Programme. Return to Top of Page 10 June 2008 One of the interesting things about Cambodia is the ability to get almost anything fixed or repaired, often right on the street. This man is operating a watch repair shop from a little booth, smaller than a US-style telephone booth, set on the edge of the street. By day it is rolled out to the curb; by night it's locked up in some nearby house for a small fee. I had just bought a digital watch for $3.50, supposedly a Casio F91W, but I noticed it was losing a minute an hour. Then when I started fiddling with the controls, I noticed it had flashing red and blue LEDs to illuminate the screen so I knew it had to be a cheap counterfeit. Not wanting to throw it away without at least trying, I bought a new battery for the watch and this young man is installing it. It didn't work. The watch still loses time so I'm in the market for another one. Return to Top of Page 9 June 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #96     "I was going to hang this doodad on the rearview mirror but it's a bit big...."       Return to Top of Page 8 June 2008   Click here to see the remaining work to be done on our street. Return to Top of Page 5 June 2008       The previous two articles noted that both corn and durian are in season now, but the peak of the mango season has already gone.  They are still available but not in the quantity and quality offered before.  Here five children climb a security fence to steal some of the last mangoes of the season.       Return to Top of Page 4 June 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #95   Corn is in season now (see 1 June below) and so is durian, the quintessential Asian fruit that "tastes like heaven, smells like hell." Here a motorcycle driver struggles with a load of fresh durians. At least the smell is behind him.     Return to Top of Page 1 June 2008 Cambodia is a country that doesn't have much in the way of seasons of the year but does have fruit and vegetable seasons. All fruits and vegetables are not available throughout the year as they are in countries that import so much of their food. And now is the season for corn on the cob in Cambodia! Along major highways are many little rickety wooden shacks with big pots of corn on the cob boiling away--and lots of customers here where corn is considered more of a fruit than a vegetable. Even in the city corn on the cob is readily available. This vendor is setting up his business for the day. (Maybe it's "corn on the curb"?) [Photo by Jim McLaughlin] Return to Top of Page 31 May 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #94       "What's the matter? Haven't you ever seen an onion before?"         Return to Top of Page 20 May 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #93     You sure can't say you never saw him coming!         Return to Top of Page 18 May 2008 One of the mysteries--granted, a small one--of life in Cambodia is the absence of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in two-liter bottles for the past two or three months.  Coke has a bottling plant in Cambodia, but apparently the two-liter products are imported from Thailand.  The label of the Coca-Cola bottle in the picture is written in Thai.  With both Pepsi and Coke in the large sizes off the shelves, Hello Cola, a deliberate imitation of Coke, has been more noticeable.  The shape of the bottle, the color scheme, the logo and design are all direct imitations of Coke's trademarks.  But if you were fooled by the shape of the bottle, you couldn't help noticing the difference in taste.  Hello Cola is sweet, has something of a synthetic aftertaste, and --most noticeably--it's not carbonated!  The first time I had it I thought poor packaging had allowed the CO2 to escape, but since then I've found out they don't bother to use carbonation.  It's NOT the real thing! Return to Top of Page 16 May 2008 Cambodians are avid chess players.  Impromptu games spring up everywhere as seen in this photo of a chessboard outline scratched onto a sidewalk and rocks used for the various chess pieces.  Cambodia even has its own variety of chess, called Ouk Chatrang, which has a few moves different from those of international chess, such as the pawns starting out on the third row and the queen moving only one square at a time.  In order to preserve Cambodian chess and also to develop players for international competition, the Cambodian Chess Association and the National Olympic Committee are hosting a first-ever chess competition, with prizes sponsored by Coca-Cola. Return to Top of Page 15 May 2008     The rains are coming every day now so we have definitely begun the rainy season. The rains have been quite heavy, and if they continue for more than just a few minutes, significant flooding occurs throughout the city. This is a hanging plant on the front porch of Charlie's house that benefits from the daily rainfall.     Return to Top of Page 13 May 2008 Not long ago I saw a Land Cruiser in Phnom Penh with a paper dealer plate from Swope Toyota in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. A couple days ago I ran across a Toyota with an "Oxmoor Toyota" decal on the back. That dealer is also located in Louisville. I really would like to know the workings of the distribution system that gets used cars from Louisville to Phnom Penh! Return to Top of Page 12 May 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #92   "I'm glad we're not carrying a load of horse manure!" [Photo by Jim McLaughlin]       Return to Top of Page 10 May 2008   Inflation is hitting Cambodia just like many other parts of the world. The price of rice is now 2 1/2 times more than the price of a year ago and gasoline prices are rising similarly. And now even the massage places are raising their prices. A massage has been about 5000 riel ($1.25) for the past three or four years and now suddenly the cost has jumped to 7000 riel ($1.75).  [Photo by Jim McLaughlin]   Return to Top of Page 9 May 2008   Click here to see the "progress" Return to Top of Page 8 May 2008   Here is a third section on ice in Phnom Penh, concentrating on the big trucks that pick up ice at the freezing plants to distribute it around the city. In this photo a woman takes a block of ice on the back of her motorcycle.     Return to Top of Page 6 May 2008 Many older Americans remember images of the Viet Cong in their black "pajamas" during the Vietnam War. What the VC wore weren't really pajamas at all but a traditional attire suited to the climate.  But here in Phnom Penh, many women wear real pajamas everywhere as a sort of casual dress. They do sleep in them, too, but the PJs are totally acceptable on the street, most often seen in the morning. Return to Top of Page 5 May 2008   Click here for pictures of actual paving Return to Top of Page 2 May 2008   A day after the previous shower picture, a neighbor of the Deaf Development Programme afforded another.  Here a mother (with a black plastic bag on her head to keep her hair dry) and a daughter turn a heavy rain shower time into a shower opportunity for which they don't have to haul water.     Return to Top of Page 1 May 2008 Most of life in Cambodia is lived in public, especially in the rural areas.  Houses are small and do not have indoor kitchens or bathrooms.  Those activities take place outside and are considered part of the life of the village.  Men think nothing of stripping down to jockey shorts and using a pan to pour water over themselves for a shower two or three times a day.  Women wear a sarong while taking their shower in full view of all passersby--who don't really notice since everyone else does it, too.  This woman has finished her shower and used the shower water to wash her clothes also. Return to Top of Page Dairy Queen, KFC, and Swensen's Progress? 29 April 2008 Yesterday when I was passing by the formal opening of KFC in Cambodia, I noticed a large sign on the other side of the street advertising Swensen's, the ice cream store. It caught my attention because I thought there were only two foreign franchises in Cambodia: the Dairy Queen at the airport and the new KFC.  I didn't know Swensen's had arrived also. I'll have to see if I can locate it and find out what it's like. Return to Top of Page 28 April 20088   Click here for Colonel Sanders' arrival in Phnom Penh! Return to Top of Page 25 April 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #91     Many large wicker baskets like these are seen on the back of motorcycles in Phnom Penh. Most of them are filled with durians--a smelly fruit with a thick skin--or loose baguettes of French bread.     Return to Top of Page 23 April 20088   Click here for still more pictures of the seemingly endless street paving story. Return to Top of Page 12 April 2008     A barefoot child starts the day pulling an empty cart as he goes out to hunt trash to recycle to help his family survive. Why isn't he in school?     Return to Top of Page 11 April 2008 Last year a law was passed requiring motorcycles to have rearview mirrors. A small number of people installed the mirrors when the police started cracking down, i.e., stopping motorists without mirrors and extorting money from them. The lucky ones, though, were those who decided against complying with the law (Many young people think mirrors are not "cool.") or who just procrastinated long enough. When riding with our program manager recently, I noted how few motorcycles had the mirrors and he informed me that the prime minister had decided people didn't need to get them. Even those who did have them took them off their motorcycles. So much for the rule of law! So much for common sense! So much for enlightened leadership! Return to Top of Page 8 April 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #78     Would you believe more than 120 dozen eggs on the back of this motorcycle?!       Return to Top of Page 31 March 2008 In 2003 there were 9,500 registered car owners in Cambodia.  Today there are 173,300, an increase of more than 18-fold in five years!  The newly rich, a very, very small group in Cambodia, are very rich and are spending their money on apartments and vehicles.  Many go to small, even unnamed lots like this one where they look for a distinctive model to be a status symbol. Many cars and other vehicles don't have license plates in Cambodia, but others that at first glance seem to be lacking them actually have yellow temporary tags (yellow circle) as on this vehicle.  Many cars are imported used from the United States, so it is not uncommon to see a vehicle with a temporary tag on the windshield and a California or Georgia license plate on the bumper. Return to Top of Page 29 March 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #89     No load is too wide, too long, too heavy for a motorcycle. If it's not dragging on the street and the motorcycle can move, you're good to go!       Return to Top of Page 27 March 2008   Click here for pictures of the Easter Sunday ecumenical service. Return to Top of Page 25 March 2008   Click here for still more pictures of the street paving chaos. Return to Top of Page 24 March 2008   Click here for more pictures of the street paving chaos. Return to Top of Page 23 March 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #88   Cambodians are masters of holding things together with a bit of twine or piece of plastic pulled from a trash heap.  The basic rule is that you can load anything on a motorcycle or truck that will pass under the overhead telephone and electric wires. And some loads don't pass that test so a young boy rides on top of the load to lift up the wires--with his bare hands--so that the vehicle can pass underneath.  Note the motorcycle's rear tire.  Some of those containers are NOT empty!   Return to Top of Page 21 March 2008   Click here for pictures of street paving in Cambodia Return to Top of Page 20 March 2008     While waiting for some deaf people recently, I noticed a sign on a shop advertising "mirror glue" and "candle glue." I really don't have any idea at all what those products are or what they are for!     Return to Top of Page 18 February 2008   Click here for more pictures of the ice industry in Cambodia Return to Top of Page 17 February 2008 This is a street stall selling men's clothing on a corner near our house. This corner, on the street where the Boeung Keng Kong Market is located, sells men's clothing. The corner on the next street on the other side of the market sells women's and children's clothes. A shirt here costs anywhere from $1.5 to $5.00. The really interesting part of these stalls is that they are set up every morning and taken down at sunset every day. They are on what would be called the sidewalk--if anyone could ever actually walk on them here--and about 6:00 AM or as first light is dawning, cyclos and motorcycle trailers pull up and unload the bamboo supports, awnings, and all the stock--usually in metal cases--and they erect the stands and then hanging all the shirts and pants and belts for another day of commerce. Return to Top of Page 15 February 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #87     48 dozen eggs on the way to market!       Return to Top of Page 10 February 2008   Take a picture tour of the Boeung Keng Kong Market.      Part 1      Part 2 Return to Top of Page 7 February 2008   Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rat. Many Khmer people have Chinese ancestry so this is a big celebration even here in Cambodia. Many of the Chinese people are the merchants and business people of Cambodia, with a lot of wealth among them, and such families often engage traditional musicians and lion dancers to perform at their homes or places of business.     Probably to the embarrassment of the Cambodian government, the city shuts down for the Lunar New Year almost as much as for the Khmer New Year in April. It's embarrassing because the Lunar New Year is not a holiday in Cambodia and because it is the big festival in neighboring Vietnam whom the Cambodians blame for everything. But this market near the deaf office shows what the people think of the government's edict that this is NOT a holiday! (Of course, you can be sure the government people are not in their offices--and might even take a full week or two off for the Lunar New Year!) Maryknollers working at the Royal University of Phnom Penh reported that the government told the university to be open so they opened the front gate--while all the staff and students stayed home. Return to Top of Page 5 February 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #86     A couple loads of foam mattresses on their way to some village store.       Return to Top of Page 4 February 2008 The Rural Development Ministry is engaged in a campaign to raise the level of awareness about hygiene and sanitation in the provinces. One technique being used is a comedian using humor to educate villagers about their lack of toilets and the poor sanitation that prevails in most of the country. In the rural areas, only 15.7% of the people have access to toilets. In the urban areas, the percentage is 56%. Countrywide, 21.6% of the population have toilets. This picture shows a simple outhouse (behind the cow) at the rural home of one of the students of the Deaf Development Programme. The structure is made of wattle (mud mixed with straw) and has no door.     Return to Top of Page 1 February 2008 Eating a fast-food breakfast, Cambodian style. Return to Top of Page 28 January 2008 Many of the buildings in Phnom Penh are what are known as "shophouses", buildings with a small store or shop on the ground floor and the family living behind and above it in the rest of the building. This is a typical example. Note the display cases and other equipment are on wheels so they can be pushed inside the house at night. Return to Top of Page 27 January 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #85   Bananas may get to the North America and Europe in containers, but they get to Phnom Penh from villages by motorcycle. Notice the two different types of bananas: the shorter fat ones and the longer thinner ones more common in the US.   Return to Top of Page 21 January 2008 Motorcycle Passengers and Cargo #84       "Sheesh, I barely have room to hang my hat on the handlebar!"         Return to Top of Page

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