Lunar New Year #3

A really essential part of the lunar new year is the chrysanthemums. Here a neighborhood group of ladies went together to buys some flowers and set up shop in an empty lot near the deaf office.

Why?

I will never be able to understand Cambodian drivers’ fixation with driving with one wheel over the dividing line on streets. Here my tuk-tuk driver has his left wheel hooked over the line. Notice two vehicles ahead, the car driver has his right wheel over the same line.

Lunar New Year #1

The Lunar New Year is January 29th, still a week and half away, but the preparations are in full swing even though it is not a holiday here. Many, many Cambodians claim some bit of Chinese ancestry, deservedly or not, and the Year of the Rat will be widely celebrated here.

Say what??

In a land where there are no building codes–or if there are codes, they are ignored, it can’t be too surprising to find an umbrella seemingly affixed to the front of a building ten or twelve feet above ground. Did it blow up there and get stuck? Did someone secure it in that position? Is so, why? Who knows!

Moto Loads #286

As long as no part of your load is touching the ground, you’re good to go! But not everything that gets loaded on to a moto stays there. This man had his packages secured with packing tape but something gave way and he ended up in the intersection reloading his motorcycle.

Non-formal economy

Only 3.5% of Cambodian businesses are registered with the government. 88% of all workers are part of the non-formal economy. This picture shows what the non-formal economy looks like on a typical Phnom Penh street. The government tries to change that because non-formal workers are not protected by labor laws and do not contribute to social security systems.