My hero of the week: that young Khmer lad on the Chaly.

My hero of the week: that young Khmer lad on the Chaly.

Over the last few months I have been watching an increasing amount of Khmer television. Among all of the dodgy soap operas and the suspect Chinese action movies you get an interesting selection of advertisements. Often for slightly perplexing products.

However, among the usual offerings of whiting creams and green tea, someone on TV3 has been running a series of road safety ads, driving sensibly and all that.

My favourite of these ads show some camcorder footage of two teenage Khmer lads pulling a wheelie on a Honda Chaly (25cc) for the whole length of the road outside the Royal Palace, as well as having some excellent reaction shots of passers-by watching them.

The voiceover translates [roughly] from the Khmer as ‘’do not drive like a playboy, it is disrespectful, does your mother cry?’’

So, once and for all I would like refute any claims that I have ever been on a Honda Chaly pulled a wheelie along Sothearos Boulevard. I will leave that to my hero of the week.