Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Gimme Shelter

Raindrops are just starting to fall (see pavement, lower righthand corner) and motorcyclists head for the nearest gas station (they all have canopies) and take shelter from the rain.
People park anywhere, in any direction, and no one thinks a thing about it although it basically renders the gas station useless. It’s just the way you do things here.

It makes you wonder…

Here’s a picture of a schoolboy riding in the fast lane of one of the busiest major streets in Phnom Penh. But it’s the Kingdom of Wonder, so don’t wonder too much about the insanity. My theory on such counter-intuitive behavior is that 90% of the urban population grew up in the rural area where there were no cars, no paved roads, etc., and daily life was lived in the dirt roads of the village. They were the only clear places to gather and there was no traffic to disrupt a gathering. Those people later moved to the city and brought their ways of doing things with them and passed them on to their children. That’s why we average six traffic deaths a day.

On the Street

Having a mobility disability is not easy in Cambodia. The government’s social welfare programs are almost non-existent and are tremendously ineffective where they do exist. People with disabilities often have to fend for themselves, like this man in a wheelchair who darts among the cars stopped at a red light, looking for alms. The driver of my autorickshaw (like the white one by the wheelchair) got out and gave this man something.

Storm Damage

(Phnom Penh Post photo)

Today’s papers reported about damage caused by storms that swept across three provinces on Friday. 4 people were killed, 77 injured, and nearly 3,200 houses were damaged, 238 of them totally destroyed. This is not unusual in Cambodia where nature routinely makes itself known even though Cambodia is not directly affected by the big typhoons that cause so much damage in coastal nations like the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.

Moving Up

This is a scene unimaginable just a few years ago when I first arrived in Cambodia—an appliance store, first of all, and then a row of water coolers and washing machines being offered for sale. When I came, an organization might have a plastic water cooler with a spigot and one plastic cup for everyone to use. Now the appliances above offer both hot and cold water. And as for the washing machines–there basically were none. Maybe some of the high executive families brought something in from abroad but they weren’t for sale here.

Corn on the Street

Corn, or maize as some cultures know it, is an interesting part of the food chain. In some places in Africa, it is the main food of the culture. In other places, especially in Asia, it is seen as mainly fodder for cattle. Cambodia, though, has a really delicious sweet yellow corn like this vendor is selling from her bicycle. When it is in season, big pots of corn are boiling all day long on the highway for motorists ready to take a tasty break. Within the city, vendors like this woman boil the ears and then stack them neatly in large plastic bags and peddle them from their bicycles. It tastes just as good on the city street as it does on the highway in the countryside.