Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
I had a new experience yesterday, riding in the motorized tuk-tuks that have become popular the last three or four years. This one had a seatbelt for the driver! Granted it wasn’t being used–and probably never has been, unless they use it for tying down cargo–but I never expected to see one in a conveyance like these tuk-tuks.
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This weekend we had three masses, two on Saturday and one Sunday morning, each with less than twenty people, the first time our English community has met in more than three months. Click here to see some photos from the start of our gathering again.
Buildings in Cambodia are not “tight,” that is, they are open to air flowing through, don’t have glass on many windows, etc. This picture is in my bathroom where a long horizontal “window”—actually a vent–is located in the wall above my bathtub. On the inside there is a screen to keep out bugs and birds and bats, but on the outside it’s a type of hollow-block design, something like small concrete blocks.
Some sparrows have built a nest in the block in the corner of this long vent opening. You can see straws and grasses from the nest protruding through the screen. A couple days ago their eggs hatched and now there are several baby sparrows whose silhouettes I can see jumping around behind the dirty screen.
I’ve started covering up my toothbrush and glass in case my guests are carrying any sort of bird flu or some such.
For another part of Cambodian trivia, notice the electrical wires coming out of the wall and not capped or sealed off in any way. Apparently some previous tenant had a hot water heater for the shower and took the heater with him when he left.
Probably a fourth of vehicles on the road in Cambodia don’t have a full set of working lights. Many will have no lights at all. That is not a value for the motoring public here. Many others will have a wide spectrum of various colored lights, made even more dazzling by the advent of the bright LEDs. Click here for some photos.
This morning, going across town for an early mass, I saw this large LCD sign board at a major intersection–and then noticed Maly, the DDP Sign Language Project manager, interpreting Cambodian Sign Language in the upper corner. We’re making the big time!
