Daily Life in Cambodia – Page 3 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Why wait?

Notice all these motorcycles turning left on to the street where I am stopped for the red light. The motorcycles are all driving the wrong way in the opposing lane of the street they’re coming from rather than wait in their lane till the traffic moves forward. In Cambodian traffic, if you can physically get your vehicle into a space, you have right of way.

Difference between women and men

The first time I headed for the toilets in the baggage claim area after getting off a flight in Phnom Penh, I did a double-take before entering to make sure I was in the right one. Most toilet iconography would feature a figure with a skirt or something similar for the women’s room, but in Cambodia the emphasis seems to be on a waist and a flip of the hair.

Motorcycle Loads #286

One of the intriguing parts of life in Cambodia is often figuring out what I’m seeing. For example, his load of red somethings on the back of a moto. Is it a red vegetable or a fruit or ????

[I turned on the comments feature for this page. Do you have idea what are the red things in the bags?]

It’s all on the street…

Whatever you want…roast pig, wheelbarrows…it’s probably available right on the street in Phnom Penh.

We have what you want….

It’s good! It’s healthy!

Cambodia’s alternative to soft drinks and slurpees.

Recreating what he grew up with

Most of Phnom Penh’s population has been transplanted from the rural provinces to the capital city. The saying goes: “You can take the person out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the person.” There are many illustrations of that adage around Phnom Penh where the now city dwellers try to recreate the fields, the plants, the flowers the way it was “back then.”

Why do they do it?

This is a shot driving in a tuk-tuk to St. Joseph Church this morning. Notice the two cars in front of us. One has his wheels on the left lane line and other has his wheels on the right lane line. They refuse to drive in the middle of the lane unless forced to by traffic. Why do they do that? My tuk-tuk driver is trying get his wheels on the left lane marker.

Waffles to go

I never buy snacks on the street, but I am always delighted to see these waffles on the snack tables at break time when I go to meetings! They’re delicious!

Just follow the….?

None of these options are very good, but it seems the workmen who put down the yellow tactile tiles to guide blind people:
• had no idea what the yellow tiles are used for, OR,
• they knew the purpose of the special tiles but no one told them to go around the trees, OR,
• they just didn’t care that they were making life worse for blind people.