Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
This building on Monivong Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in Phnom Penh, shows a varied history. Probably a respectable colonial era building before the Khmer Rouge, it subsequently had a utilitarian top floor added. Now it is being renovated again—or maybe will be replaced. Will any of its colonial beauty be preserved? We’ll have to wait and see.
Just because of her age, this woman’s life has been rough–she is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. And from this picture life may still be very difficult. But again she’s a survivor, making it day by day. Her story would be compelling, I am sure.
Cambodia has the same problem as the rest of the world with distracted drivers, but the difference here is that people don’t realize (1) that it is illegal–just recently; and (2) that it is dangerous. They do everything dangerously–according to western standards–and driving while using a phone would never occur to them to be a problem.
Notice where the wet track marks go in this picture…. They don’t go to the gas pumps. Instead they go THROUGH the gas station. Click here to see how Cambodian drivers shortcut through the stations.
Fr. Kevin, who lives with me at the Maryknoll office, likes to watch the news, especially CNN, to keep up-to-date about the coronavirus.
The bad news: the TV remote control stopped working while he was watching CNN and he had to unplug the TV to turn it off.
The good news: the TV was tuned to CNN and not the Cartoon Channel when the problem developed!
I have never seen any mention of such accidents or heard of it happening to anyone, but I often wonder how many Cambodian children are injured each year when they inadvertently stick a foot in the spokes of a motorcycle wheel. I’m sure there must be a good number who lose their toes or their whole foot since kids are kids and there are no guards or barriers on motorcycles.
