Kitchen Furniture

This is a picture of a corner of our kitchen at the Maryknoll office. It’s rather basic. Notice the wooden stool at the bottom. The lady who cooks twice a week sits on that while cutting and slicing all the vegetables and meats on the floor. There is a counter she could stand at but Cambodian women normally sit on the floor–or a stool–while working in the kitchen.

Very Welcome Visitors!

Today I had a wonderful visit from three new friends who share a common background with me. During part of the time I was in Hong Kong, they were in Macau, working with the Lutheran School for the Deaf, and we have many friends in common. (L-R: Mrs. and Mr. Bush, Charlie, Thomas Dunseth)

Back on the block…

Fr. Hung Nguyen was an associate priest with me starting in 2001 and then he returned to his diocese of Seattle. Now he is looking at possible Asian mission again and today he and I met with Bishop Olivier to discuss the possibility of Hung’s working with the English community here. I hope so!

Apologies

Ugh… For the post immediately below this one, I was trying a new feature in WordPress that called for media and text together. In the editing stage, it looked NOTHING like the final published result with such large type! That’s the last time I’ll use that!

New Wheels

For many years the mainstay of local transportation was walking. Then wheeled vehicles appeared on the scene. Some day I’ll do a spread on the stages of development in transportation in Cambodia, but today I want to show the most recent transport mode: What in India is called an autorickshaw or an autorick.

They first appeared in Cambodia three or four years ago. imported from India, and immediately became very popular. One reason is that most of them run on LPG (liquid propane gas), not gasoline, and LPG is about half the price of gasoline. What that meant is that everyone who used to ride on the back of a motorcycle taxi can now ride in a motor tuk-tuk with more comfort, protection from the sun and rain, and no need to carry a helmet.

The Bajaj brand tuk-tuk was probably the first to be imported from India and remains the most common model in use in Phnom Penh.

The TVS model may be the second-most popular one on the streets. The models are all basically the same.

Piaggio may be the next most commonly seen model of the three-wheelers. Notice the more elaborate tail lights.

The Atul is the fourth of the original brands seen on the streets. Notice there isn’t the great need, as in car models, to be different and distinctive.

Dittmeier’s Own…

These Dittmeier’s Own postings are a series of photos of places I frequent and utilize here in Cambodia.

This is Jack, owner of Jack Repair Bicycle shop in Phnom Penh. He’s holding my bicycle on which he just put a new rear wheel after the rim somehow got bent. Jack’s shop is on my way to the Deaf Development Programme so it makes it very convenient to have repairs done. And he speaks excellent English which really helps when I’m trying to explain some bicycle quirk. (I don’t know where he got the name Jack. Maybe some customer called him that? It certainly isn’t a Cambodian name).

Moving in…

Most of the staff were off from work today, making use of their remaining days of annual leave, but students from our barber shop came to help the maintenance man in our new building. Probably a whiteboard is going on that wall.