Buying a Car

Things are different in the Kingdom of Wonder.  This used car lot doesn’t look much like used car lots in the U.S.   And probably in the U.S. the whole family wouldn’t come to buy what is most likely their first four-wheel vehicle.  This family may have come on the motorcycle in the foreground.  Now they’re negotiating a price for an SUV.

Nothing stays the same

The foreign population of Phnom Penh is constantly turning over.  We see that in our parish community where we need to recruit new ministers every four or five months because so many are rotated out or reassigned.  And it’s the same with the buildings here.  Places that I pass often have been family homes, a restaurant, a crocodile farm, a bar and brothel in quick succession.  One group moves out and the other moves in with the least bit of disruption.

An illustration is the house in these pictures.  Just a year and a half ago, it was a residence for high-ranking US Embassy personnel.  I was often there for meetings, dinners, birthdays, etc., with the family with four children who lived there.  Yesterday it opened as some sort of high-end coffee shop!

Before
After

Motorcycle Loads #251

Chickens don’t get no respect in Cambodia!

First they’re trussed up an laid out on the ground so that the motorcycle driver can load them efficiently.
Then they head out for their last ride. I can’t imagine it’s a very pleasant experience because no one’s thinking about their welfare.

Hey, Why Can’t We??!!

Today in a ceremony turning over new China-donated fire trucks to local fire stations, the Interior Minister asked the firemen (and women?) not to demand payments and bribes when they arrive at the scene of a fire.  How novel!

But his plea could be counter-productive.  Who the heck wants to be a fireman if you can’t rip off people and make money for yourself!  Not to worry, though.  Probably not much will change in the behavior of the fire department personnel (a division of the police in Cambodia) because my guess is a good percentage of the money they extort from fire victims gets passed up the line to superiors.