Daily Life in Cambodia – Page 35 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Sign of the Times

It’s an interesting indicator of the tumultuous times we live in when our Phnom Penh archbishop, at a priests meeting, gives us all a Christmas gift–a hand sanitizer, complete with his coat of arms! We also got some candy in the bag.

Convenient shopping

It’s not only the fast-food places that have drive-through convenience…

Biker girl

You have been warned!

So many things in life are relative–important to one person, trivial to another, etc. Reacting to the weather is one area of relative perception. In my state of Kentucky in the US, reaching 15ºC is cause for celebration–summer has arrived. Here in Cambodia reaching 15º is cause for government health warnings!

You want to stand out?

Does your yard lack pizazz? Garden gnomes don’t do it for you? You can really stand out and stop traffic with one of these. Get a seven-headed naga snake, an elephant, or other mythological creatures. Your neighbors will notice!

That’s the way we do it here…

No extra charge

Well, we got the sink….

Cambodia has a lot of major problems: corruption, impunity, deforestation, trafficking, drugs, poor education, poverty, etc. And then there are the nuisances. When we moved our Maryknoll office to this building, we asked the landlord to put in a real sink in the kitchen. He did but the bottom of the sink is at knee level. It’s perfect for the Cambodian woman who cooks a few meals a week, though.

Is she home?

“Hi! Is this the home of that cute black kitty? I think her name is Fluffy….”

Not quite a seatbelt, but…

A quick glance at this motorcycle shows a little boy holding onto his mother as they cruise along…

A second glance, though, from a little different angle, shows that there are TWO little boys riding behind their mother, and the bigger boy’s arms are making sure the littler one stays right where he belongs.