Charles Dittmeier – Page 17 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Back in Bangkok

I’m sorry for the week-long hiatus! The first part of this month has been crazy. Last Sunday I flew to Bangkok for my annual physical exam on Monday. They saw a spot on my lung and that required going back for more tests on Tuesday, but in the end the lung specialist said it’s probably an old infection and just check on it in a year.

Adding more complexity to the week was my seeming to have the flu while there and feeling miserable. That finally started turning around Wednesday morning and today (Thursday) I feel just about normal.

At BNH Hospital, I had to take the elevator to the 4th floor several times and noticed this admonishment on the elevator button panel, telling people not to bring durian fruit into the hospital. For those who don’t know, durian is a large Asian fruit with a thick prickly hull. It is noted for “Tastes like heaven, smells like hell,” and is also banned from all Asian airlines because of the sharp pungent odor.

If you want it hotter….

What might look like a big pizza on the back of a motorcycle is actually a large tray full of red chili peppers, drying in the sun at a local restaurant. If the 100º+ temperatures aren’t hot enough for you, you can make things hotter with these!

It’s hot!

The past week the daily temperature has been 100º to 104º every day, with the temps going down to 86º at night. And we don’t have air conditioning….

Some differences….

Many things in Cambodia are different from what you would find in the United States.

These workmen are finishing up the front of a new housing block. Notice there are four houses side-by-side. Each is one room wide and goes up three floors. Notice also that the workmen have added ramps to three of the houses so the owner can bring his motorcycle into the living room at night.

All from the same parents….

Sr. Carmel, MC / Funeral

Sr. Carmel, a Missionary of Charity assigned to Siem Reap, died April 12, the day before the Khmer New Year. We just had her funeral today because there was no one in town to certify her death two weeks ago because they all left to spend the new year in their home provinces.

The funeral was at St. Joseph Church where the Khmer people sit on the floor. Some chairs were brought in for the foreigners.

The Missionaries of Charity offering a blessing for Sr. Carmel.

After the funeral Bishop Olivier gathered with the Missionaries of Charity. The four men with him in the picture are religious brothers of the Missionaries of Charity. They do not wear a distinctive garb as do the sisters.

Earth Day

Some notes about our Earth (from the Morning Brew website):

Earth happens to be located in a remote corner of the Milky Way, a location that presents fewer threats, like a huge star devouring us with its gravity. The star we do have nearby, the sun, is stable and the perfect distance away to sustain liquid water (important!).
When the sun does send deadly flares our way, they’re not calamitous because the Earth’s core produces a magnetic field that deflects radiation.

Khmer New Year

More photos from the Khmer Times showing the simple traditional new year games enjoyed by the Cambodian people celebrating in their homeland villages.

Are you serious?

Khmer New Year

For all its drive to be a UN-named “moderate income”country and despite all the high-rise buildings and new international airports, Cambodia is still an old-style rural homeland. 85% of the people are farmers and even the city dwellers all went back to their home provinces this week for the Khmer New Year. And there they played the traditional new year games and had the traditional new year dances just like they have for centuries. In that regard, not much has changed. [Photos are from the Khmer Times.]