Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Up and over…

Progress in Cambodia is demarcated in different ways, some of them expected, some of them not. What would not be even noticed in many cultures becomes a major indicator of thinking and planning in Cambodia. Above is a photo of some construction taking place on the corners of a major intersection. It’s going to be a pedestrian overpass, maybe only the second or third one in the country. It’s a sign of planning but also a sign of the inability of the municipal government to control and regulate traffic.

It’s different here….

In cold-climate countries, you would never see the type of white vent blocks in the picture above. They indicate the presence of a toilet and are open to allow air to circulate. In countries with a real winter, a building is always “tight,” to prevent heat from escaping. That isn’t a problem here as is further indicated by the pipes on the outside of the wall–instead of inside the wall–because there is no danger of their freezing.

Wat’s in a name?

I remember one time, almost twenty years ago, that one of my staff told me that a wat (Buddhist pagoda) was asking us to put our DDP name on the wall. I had no idea what that meant and couldn’t get a good explanation so I said we’d pass. Later I found that it is the custom for the monks in wats to solicit donations from people, and those who contribute get their names carved in stone in recognition of their generosity. The brown marble plaques above immortalize some such donors on a Phnom Penh wat wall.