Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
Mobile noise is a nuisance but at least it moves on, out of range. Some established stores also set up speakers at the front of the store, but again it’s only a short-term irritation because usually the people are moving past the stores. Click here to see some examples of the stores with speakers.
Different cultures certainly have different standards when it comes to appreciating what is right and what is wrong; what is permitted and what is not; what is beautiful and what is not; what is music and what is noise; etc. This man spray painting metal hose reels on a public sidewalk would be arrested in many countries. In Cambodia it doesn’t rate a notice. And if someone challenged the idea, the probable response would be “Floors/sidewalks are SUPPOSED to be dirty/messy/etc.” so what is the problem?
Cambodia is a very noisy place, hard for many expats to adjust to. Click here to see one form of noise pollution, the sound trucks that cruise the streets.
The Muslim community is a significant part of Cambodia’s population. Their numbers are not large, less than 10%, but they have figured greatly in the history of the region through the centuries. The Cambodian Cham ethnic group is predominantly Muslim and there is even a province named Kampong Cham. The Muslims are not so noticeable politically but they do have a good number of mosques in certain provinces, including this one in Phnom Penh.
There are about 125 killing fields in Cambodia, actual fields where the Khmer Rouge took people to execute and bury them in mass graves. There is a large killing field near Phnom Penh and it is a place that the tour groups all go–and they should.
Many skulls of the victims are stacked in a large memorial stupa on the grounds of the killing fields. Around the stupa are large, weathered pits were the bones were dug up.
Some of the clothing of the victims has also been collected and is displayed on a wooden platform on one level of the stupa. It looks like it was probably washed but is otherwise just in a pile as part of the permanent display. And along the paths among the burial pits, more bones and articles of clothing keep working their way up to the surface.
Only a small portion of the clothing from those executed is on display. Much more is kept in a warehouse and up to now has just remained there untended. Now, though, through a program funded by the US Ambassador, Julia Brennan (R) from Textile Conservation Services, assisted by Jackie, a graduate student from the University of Delaware, will sort, analyze, and preserve the stored clothing for posterity as another reminder of the Khmer Rouge era.
Today Julia and Jackie were part of the weekly Maryknoll Cambodia gathering in Phnom Penh.
You probably can’t get fresh roasted corn on many streets in the United States!
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“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.” ~ Henry Van Dyke |
It’s not only western movies and fast food and snacks that are making inroads into Cambodia. In the last couple years more and more western-style advertising has been noticeable. Click here to see some examples.
Off to school: Where’s YOUR helmet, Dad?