Author: Charles Dittmeier

Well-established stores use a lot of noise to advertise but many small entrepreneurs use pop-up shops on the sidewalks to sell their wares and they use lots of noise, too.  Click here to see a variety of these stalls.

The man across the street from the Maryknoll office runs some kind of snack food business from his house–just like about every other Cambodian family.  They don’t call the houses here “shophouses” for nothing.  Each morning our neighbor loads up his motorcycle to make a delivery to his customers.  He has it down to an art now.  Notice how little of the seat is left for him to use.

 

 

 

These chickens get no respect.

Here’s another unknown fruit to mark this “dry” season we’re in now.  I have no idea what the name of the fruit is but I’ve tried it and it’s not bad.  The plastic bags would contain a kilogram or half kilogram.

Back in 2008, a building named Gold Tower 42 was begun at a prime major intersection in Phnom Penh.  Unfortunately the global economic crisis followed immediately and construction stopped in 2009.   Building began again  but stopped again in 2012.  Then construction resumed in 2013 only to grind to a halt in March, 2017.  Covered with green construction safety netting, a more appropriate name at this point is Green Stub 31, the number of floors that have been completed.  Now the papers report that a company from Shenzhen, China has been hired to finish the building and the Chinese promise that will happen in 2019.  We’ll have to see if the building actually reaches 42 floors and if that actually happens in 2019.  The new company has just hung large red signs and banners on the empty shell so maybe there’s hope.

It’s really great that mother and daughter are both wearing their helmets.  It’s a bit dangerous for mom to carry her purse on the handlebars, though.  Thieves wouldn’t give a second thought to knocking mother and daughter down to get the purse.

Mother goes to work selling sugarcane chunks–a popular snack–and daughter goes along for the ride.

Different cultures certainly have different standards when it comes to appreciating what is right and what is wrong; what is permitted and what is not; what is beautiful and what is not; what is music and what is noise; etc.  This man spray painting metal hose reels on a public sidewalk would be arrested in many countries.  In Cambodia it doesn’t rate a notice.  And if someone challenged the idea, the probable response would be “Floors/sidewalks are SUPPOSED to be dirty/messy/etc.” so what is the problem?