Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

You need a bag, not a wallet

COVID-19 conditions are getting worse by the day here in Cambodia—we’re going into the first wave that the rest of the world went through at this time a year ago—and I would not be surprised if we have a major lockdown within the next week.

Part of my getting ready for that possibility was making sure that I have enough riel for spending on things. The government is trying to de-dollarize the Cambodian economy so the US dollar is still legal but the smaller US bills ($5 and $1) are being phased out of circulation and riel is now needed for less expensive transactions.

The current rate of exchange is US $1 = 4064 riel so when I gave two $100 bills to the exchange today, I got back more than 800,000 riel. Even getting most of that in really high-denomination riel notes, I had a stack of riel almost two inches high.

Will the spirits be offended?

Many times over the years Catholics have come to me wondering what to do with old, sometimes damaged, religious objects they no longer want. Maybe it’s just old palm from last year’s Palm Sunday, or maybe it’s a rosary broken into three pieces, or maybe it’s a saint’s statue with the head broken off. All of these things, what the church calls sacramentals, become part of our religious environment. And sometimes they take on a much bigger role, almost like something magical.

For Catholics I’d say just be respectful in a minimalist way. If it’s an old statue, wrap it in an old rag and smash it with a hammer and then put it in the rubbish. That’s better than throwing it out with old watermelon rinds and beer cans after a summer picnic.

The Buddhists seem to have similar qualms and anxieties about disposing of old objects used in Buddhist spirituality, e.g., old spirit houses or holders of various kinds of offerings. Near many wats (Buddhist pagodas), especially on the back side, people dump old spirit houses, household shrines for ancestors, and other devotional objects–not wanting to offend the ancestors or spirits but also wanting to get rid of no longer useful objects.

Something New…

The main reason for this website is to help people get a sense of what Cambodia and mission is like. You will never get that full sense until you’ve been here a while but seeing pictures–and especially videos–can give a good feel for daily life in the Kingdom of Wonder.

I’ve also been experimenting with videos for church work in this time of pandemic and thought maybe I could combine these two interests in some short videos that I might make occasionally.

Here is a first test video, just showing the front part of our house which is the Maryknoll office and home for Fr. Kevin Conroy and me.

Well…. After trying to upload the video I found out this may not work as well as I had hoped. The maximum length is about one minute and here in Phnom Penh it plays in a jerky fashion. Maybe you will have better Internet connections where you are. This project needs more work!

Scenes at the market: 6

These are scenes from a small vegetable and fruit market near the Maryknoll house. It’s a wet market (as opposed to a dry market with clothing, motorcycle parts, jewelry, etc.) and I always find the wet markets more picture worthy. I’ll post some pictures from the market here this week.

There are several little alleyways leading off the market. On one of them, this man spreads out a few vegetables and fruits for sale, probably cheaper than 50 feet away inside the market because he doesn’t pay any fee for his piece of the pavement.

Scenes at the market: 5

These are scenes from a small vegetable and fruit market near the Maryknoll house. It’s a wet market (as opposed to a dry market with clothing, motorcycle parts, jewelry, etc.) and I always find the wet markets more picture worthy. I’ll post some pictures from the market here this week.

No fruits or vegetables, but this woman has a bag of slippers and flipflops. She doesn’t have a stall or counter but maybe she slipped the market manager some “tea money” to allow her to set up show, as it were, on an empty space inside the market.

Scenes at the market: 4

These are scenes from a small vegetable and fruit market near the Maryknoll house. It’s a wet market (as opposed to a dry market with clothing, motorcycle parts, jewelry, etc.) and I always find the wet markets more picture worthy. I’ll post some pictures from the market here this week.

The market is so neat and orderly you wouldn’t expect motorcycles to be going up and down the aisles, but, hey… There he goes!
It’s two-way traffic….

Scenes at the market: 3

These are scenes from a small vegetable and fruit market near the Maryknoll house. It’s a wet market (as opposed to a dry market with clothing, motorcycle parts, jewelry, etc.) and I always find the wet markets more picture worthy. I’ll post some pictures from the market here this week.

In the U.S., stores are full of different flavors of potato chips, pretzels, nachos, and a zillion different crispy treats. Cambodia has its version of those here, but they are less sweet and all the different snacks you see are made in someone’s little kitchen, maybe on a charcoal fire set on the floor.

Scenes at the market: 2

These are scenes from a small vegetable and fruit market near the Maryknoll house. It’s a wet market (as opposed to a dry market with clothing, motorcycle parts, jewelry, etc.) and I always find the wet markets more picture worthy. I’ll post some pictures from the market here this week.

Markets like this get going at 4:30 or 5:00 AM in the morning and then do less business in the afternoon because people go early to get a good selection and to get going on preparing the family meal for the day. This picture is in the afternoon when some of the stalls have already closed down for the day.

What is it?

Today I was walking over to a nearby vegetable market to get some bananas and apples and passed this on the way home along a small alley. Probably even the children here could tell you what are the red and white chips or flakes but I have no idea what they are. Just that they need to be dried in the sun before whatever happens next.