Tens of thousands of garment factory workers–usually young women–ride to work each day jammed, standing up, in the back of open trucks. Many of them are killed in the frequent accidents when trucks overturn and collide from speeding and throw bodies everywhere. The government’s response? “Training” drivers to obey the law and “urging” them to get driver’s licenses. That’s a neat idea.
Category: Daily Life in Cambodia
Motorcycle Loads #255
Moving Ahead
It’s not unusual to see women in Cambodia carrying something on their heads, but usually it’s a tray of peanuts or some snack for sale. This woman looks like she’s moving house.
Topics: Street Photographers
They may seem redundant in age in which almost everyone has a smartphone with a camera, but Phnom Penh has street photographers around some tourist attractions who can give a printed picture fast enough for tourists who need to get back on the tour bus. Click here to see some of the operators.
Supplemental Income
This is the scene every Sunday morning when I cross town to go to St. Joseph Church for the 10:00 AM mass. The police wait at certain intersections and grab people for mostly imagined offenses. The policeman at the SUV is waiting for his payoff and the woman and her child are pulling over so she can come up with some money.
Heavy Drinking
In the old days a case full of soft drinks in bottles was heavy. Then we got a case of soft drinks in aluminum cans. In Cambodia, coconuts don’t come in cases–rather in wagon loads–but you can believe they are heavy. A big coconut like some of these could easily weight five or six pounds. The driver cruises around until someone hails him, and then he uses a chopper (meat cleaver to Americans) to cut off enough of the top to insert a straw.
Motorcycle Loads #254
There’s a whole lot of vegetables leaving the Doeum Kor market early every morning.
Topics: Sidewalks as Showrooms
Sidewalks in Cambodia are basically used for anything and everything except walking. Click here to see the sidewalk as showroom.
It’s Time…
Sometimes a guy just needs to sit and think…
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.