Apologies for this mass mailing, but it is not always easy for me to get to an internet café – a lot of them are only open 9 to 5 and they close for lunch (the requisite 2 and a half hour Cambodian lunch break )
I have now finished my 7 week training course on working in Cambodia – including some very intense, and not to say difficult, lesson in speaking K’mai. I can now quite fluently say ‘’hello’’ ‘’How are you’’ ‘’Two beers please’’ and ‘’can I have the bill please’’ - what more do I need to learn ???
Last Thursday I moved into my own accommodation. A large and airy 2 bedroom flat on the 1st floor with a huge balcony over looking the quiet little side street I now live on. It is 5 minutes away from my office and about 7 minutes in the other direction away from the riverfront and all the bars and restaurants that line up along the banks there.
The mention of a spare bedroom there is a subtle hint to those of you that want a cheap holiday this year ………….
Also last week I decided to buy myself a motorbike, this is the only way to travel in Cambodia as the million and one moto owners in Phnom Penh will attest to. I bought my Honda KL400 from a German who was teaching English in the American language school !? He is returning to Bonn next month as he can no longer cope with it all !
There are a few problems with driving in Phnom Penh. Most of them are related to the fact that Cambodia has no driving laws.
Also there are the hundreds of moto-dopes – motorcycle taxis – in the city; you can not walk 5 yards in the city without 10 people shouting ‘moto moto moto’ at you.
These moto-dopes are, by far, the quickest and cheapest way of getting around the city.
However, travelling in traffic in Phnom Penh is not for the faint of heart.
Nominally the Khmers drive on the right, in reality, they drive on the side of the road that is nearest, or with the least potholes, or that is in the shade or just on the side of the road that they feel like. Basically, it is drive on the right – eventually.
At junctions - and there are many as the city is built on a grid formation, there are no traffic lights and no give way signs. (you have to love those French colonial town planners)
But it is not quite the free-for-all one thinks at first, there are rules:
Whomever’s vehicle is biggest has right of way:
- Blue license plates (government) have right of way over green licence plates (NGO’s) and green have right of way over white (the general populous)
- If you make eye-contact, you lose your right of way
- If you sound your horn loudly as you approach a junction and are doing more than 30 mph you have right of way
- Barang – foreigners – are always in the wrong
- Whomever has the most guns on show also has right of way
What makes this chaos even more perilous is the fact that out of the 10,000 moto drivers in the city, about 12 of them own crash helmets.
When an accident does take place all the locals in the vicinity rush over to the scene and form what we ex-pats colloquially call ‘the Khmer circle of death’ they all stand around the injured person laying on the floor and stare at them talking loudly to each other. None of them will actually lend assistance, but the longer it goes on, the larger the circle becomes, as passing motorists also stop, get of their bikes and join the crowd. Nobody lends a hand to the injured person, they just like to watch.
Well, I guess this is a Country without MTV…….
Leaving the traffic chaos aside for a moment, I also started work this week. So far I have shaken hands and been introduced to around 50 people, there is no way I am ever going to remember everyone’s names, I can rarely remember peoples names when I can pronounce them, let alone names like ‘Kou Huy Leang’ or ‘Keov Nut Ly Sovathpheap’ these are real name of people I work with !
As well as shaking a lot of hands this week, I have also started reading through some project reports for some of the projects I will be overseeing during the next few years, most of them have been written by people for whom English is their third language and little things like grammar, spelling, the order words go in, et cetera are mere trifles not to be bothered with?!? It can also make for difficult reading when you come a sentences like ‘’The variability of fish supply is variable’’ - well, I am sure that it makes sense to someone in some language?!?
Yet despite all this, I have been having a good time,
I have enjoyed the training, even parts of the language course – my most embarrassing faux pas in K’mai was only last week when I confidently said ‘’The weather in Cambodia is very penis’’ it turns out that there is only half a vowel sounds difference between that and hot !!!
I have also enjoyed the local cuisine rice and fish being 90% of the traditional food here. But I have also tried one of the prized local delicacies – deep fried salted cockroaches - very crunchy, tasted a bit like dry roasted peanuts. For a special treat next month I might try another local dish – deep fried battered tarantula :-)
Well, I had better sign off now and get back to work, my 2 and a half hour lunch is nearly over – it goes so quick!
Take Care all
Darren - our man in Cam
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