Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Maybe it gets better

The tall building in the background is still under construction but it’s mostly finishing work, painting interiors, installing carpets and lights, etc. A couple nights ago they started turning on some outside decorative lights on parts of the building. At this point, they are of various colors, don’t seem to have a coherent pattern, and just aren’t at all attractive. But the workmen are still working on it so we can hope the finished product looks better.

June 7th?

I prepared a photo yesterday and was getting ready to post it when I got a call from the United States that caused me to return to the DDP office at night. Then when I got back home, I had to call the U.S. again and I forgot to post the photo.

And now I forgot what the photo was and what category it is in, so I can’t find it! One of these days I will get back to that category and find it and be able post it then!

Not looking so good….

Two days ago the government imposed another round of business closures. It’s not a general lockdown but all non-essential businesses are to shut their doors for two weeks. The graph above, from VODenglish.news, shows why. We have had restrictions since 15 April–including three weeks of lockdown–but the graph seems to get worse, not better.

What is it?

You may go your whole life in the US and never see something like this. Palm trees you may encounter in parts of the southern US, but the big wire thing? It’s a coconut catcher. They aren’t too common even here in Cambodia, but in some places with a lot people walking around and with a lot of palm trees with a lot of coconuts, they can be literally life-saving devices. Coconuts are heavy–maybe 3 to 5 lbs–with thick, heavy husks. One falling on a person’s head from 50 feet can be fatal.

Covid Changes

This big grey building housed a karaoke center pre-Covid-19. Then when the government closed all such gathering places, they reopened as restaurants–at least officially. Stories keep appearing in the papers of the music still going on inside. This place placed the name “LA Restaurant” over the entranceway and hung up a sign of various dishes, and, voila, a restaurant! During the morning marketing time, vendors fill the street in front of the hall.

Post Lockdown

Phnom Penh’s approach to vaccination is to inoculate whole neighborhoods at a time. Right now the government is focusing on Boeung Tum Pun. This is a sign announcing the injections at Wat Sansam Kosal.
Inside the wat lots of motorcycles await their newly vaccinated owners. Cambodia isn’t good at organizing events and movements of people but they have done a good job with the vaccinations.

Post Lockdown

The graph above, from VOD, indicates that all is not well with the Cambodian government’s efforts to slow down the spread of Covid-19 in the kingdom.

On the other hand, the government has made some good moves. Within ASEAN, Cambodia has vaccinated more people than any other country except Singapore. And Cambodia has from the start included us foreigners living here in their vaccination plans. In this picture a member of our English Catholic Community gets his second injection.

Repair Shop

This is a little bag repair shop on the sidewalk on the corner near the old DDP office. I used to go here to get the straps sewn back on my backpack or get the zippers replaced. Now, though, he’s gone, probably because of the pandemic.