Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

This morning I had mass at the Salesian Girls Vocational Training School at 6:15 AM.  There were only four girls with the sisters; the rest had gone home for the Christmas break.  But when I came out, Fr. Luca (standing) was loading his pickup truck with overnight bags for fifteen of the young women who were going to his parish center in Kampong Cham for the weekend.  The bed of the pickup was half full of boxes and belongings and at least ten of the girls also had to sit back there so the rest of their stuff was going up on top of the cab, wrapped in the green tarp and tied with ropes.  Just a normal ride in Cambodia, and not as crowded and difficult as most!

Here’s more–Part 3–about the blue plastic strips used to protect new cars–and old cars in Cambodia. Click here to see what one car dealer said he had never seen anywhere else in the world.  Scroll down to Part 3.

Last night I was at an Advent reconciliation service and I got a call from the DDP co-director who told me that the wiring on the pole across the street from the Deaf Development Programme was burning.  This morning there was no electricity or Internet service because of the fire on the pole.  But much to my surprise, the electricity company came this morning and repaired the wires.  I honestly thought it might be a week before they came, given the way things work in the Kingdom of Wonder.  Another surprise was seeing them using a truck with a power lift.  Always before it’s a couple guys hauling big ladders around on a motorcycle.  Maybe some things are changing here.  Notice the remaining wiring under the street light is all white.  That is the fire retardant powder sprayed from four of the DDP fire extinguishers and four from the apartment building in the background.  You don’t call the fire department in Cambodia.  It would take them forever and then you would have to pay them before they fight the fire.  But now we’ll have to pay to refill our fire extinguishers.

Most of Cambodia is flat as a pancake but there are a few areas with some different topography.  This morning, coming back from Kep Province in the south, we went through an area with a few of these little hills (we would call them “knobs” in Kentucky).  We passed through them for a space of five or ten miles and then all was flat again.  They may be part of a small range of “mountains” near the southern coast on the Gulf of Thailand.  The hills there are small in extent and also in height.  The highest peak in Cambodia is about 3,000 feet.