Daily Life in Cambodia – Page 76 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Wheels for the Less-well-to-do

If your NGO or your embassy job doesn’t provide a car and driver, you may need to travel by motordupe (motorcycle taxi).

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.

Motorcycle Loads #264

This dude with a load of cheap plastic rain ponchos probably wishes the rains would start up again.

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.

Phnom Penh Half Marathon

Today I rode along part of the final leg of the Phnom Penh Half Marathon as we went along the river on the way to the mass at St. Joseph Church. Click here for more about the marathon.

Motorcycle Loads #263

We’ll get everything set up tonight and be ready to go in the morning.

The Anywhere Market

One of the innumerable elderly women who eke out an existence for themselves and their families by selling vegetables on the street, setting up shop wherever it looks good.

Motorcycle Loads #262

“I need to practice so I can carry really big loads when I get a motorcycle!”

Generating Resentment

The monsoon rains are filling up the hydropower reservoirs now and our electricity supply is becoming more stable, with fewer outages. And last week our prime minister promised that there would be NO outages next year. We’ll have to wait and see about that.

The past year has seen a booming market in new and used generators. Faced with the extended power cuts because of the really dry season, more and more businesses and institutions–and wealthy families–bought generators for themselves. The average price of a generator went up fourfold from what I heard.

Now those people are going to be ticked off as the power stays on–and their new generator stays off. A whole lot of money went into the hardware and now it’s not much use.

Field Trip

This morning when I had mass at the Don Bosco Technical Training Center, these Year 1 students were preparing for a field trip in the Phnom Penh area. Their Year 2 compatriots had already left for a two-day trip to Kampong Som on the southern coast. The Year 1 girls were looking forward to a one-day trip locally that would show them the Killing Fields, the genocide museum, the palace, etc. Here they are getting some last-minute instructions from two of the teachers.