Cambodia life

>Wordless Wednesday #38 Drunken stupor?

Posted by The Insider on May 14, 2008 in Cambodia, Cambodia life, funny, Kamchai Mear, people, Wordless Wednesday | 0 comments

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No, he’s not really drunk.
He borrowed the whiskey bottle from another table and gamely posed for this shot 🙂
He is Long Dimanche, our Coordinator in the Prey Veng Pilot Project site. Being the head of the team on this part of Cambodia, he does all the preparations making sure everything is ready when I arrive to conduct workshops and meetings. After days of working in and with the community, we, locals and ex-pat staff alike, share what the locals call a solidarity dinner. Everyone gets cleaned up, all dust washed away, puts on new clothes, and wear our best smiles looking forward to a fun night. Dinner is usually accompanied by loads of karaoke singing (all Khmer songs), dancing, and drinks.

>Photo Hunt #21 Funny/Creative Signs

Posted by The Insider on Apr 27, 2008 in Cambodia, Cambodia life, China, culture, Photo Hunt, sights | 0 comments

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Hi, I am back for this week’s Photo Hunt. I was absent from my blogging duties and I want to start making up now…

It is not so difficult to find pictures for this week’s theme. Walking around the the streets of Phnom Penh (and China) is like walking around a treasureland of posters and signs where the message being relayed is far from being funny but ended up with a funny message anyway. Here’s some.

Let’s start from my own inbox:

I do not mind the mistakes in the content, but I DO mind the salutation…

At a hotel in Kampong Thom province:

Along the highway…

Here’s one from China…

Here’s one poster that I think is nicely done. The message being relayed is a serious one, and it is presented straight-to-the-point to the readers. Even the non-Khmers can the tell the issue right away…

For more funny/creative signs, just head over to the Photo Hunters HQ.

>Wordless Wednesday #23: Look Who’s Called in Sick Today?

Posted by The Insider on Apr 9, 2008 in Cambodia life, pets, Phnom Penh, Wordless Wednesday | 1 comment

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That’s our Lily, a springer spaniel, nursing a fractured leg.

Check out other entries today at WW HQ.

>Wordless Wednesday #36: Who Ate All the Rice?

Posted by The Insider on Apr 8, 2008 in Cambodia life, pets, Wordless Wednesday | 0 comments

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Not me! Promise 😀

This is my entry for the Tuesday-Wednesday edition of Wordless Wednesday. Photo shows my pet dog Max, in denial :D. Head over to the Wordless Wednesday for more WW fun photos.

>Litratong Pinoy #1: Ako ay Bilog

Posted by The Insider on Apr 3, 2008 in Cambodia life, Litratong Pinoy, moto-dups, transportation | 0 comments

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Ito ang moto-dop o moto-taxi. Kung ang Pilipinas ay may jeepney, ito namang moto-dop ang sagot ng mga Khmer bilang pangunahing transportasyon dito sa Cambodia. Bata, matanda, lalaki o babae – silang lahat ay nakasakay sa moto-dop papunta sa paaralan, opisina, palengke at kung saan-saan.

Sangkatutak na motodop ang nakaka-kalat dito pa lang sa Phnom Penh, ang kabisera ng Cambodia. Sa dami nila, hindi mahirap maka-ispat ng isa dahil halos lahat ng moto-dop driver ay madaling makita sa suot nilang baseball caps.

Gusto mong mamasyal? Mag-liwaliw at mag-shopping? Walang problema. Isang tawag lang ng moto-dop at sa ilang saglit ay nandun ka na sa iyong paparoonan. Ganun sila kabilis! Kung noon ay di pa kailangan ng crash helmet, ngayon ay ipinatutupad na ng gobyerno ang pagsusuot nito. Ang halaga ng pamasahe ay depende sa distansya ng pupuntahan at kung ilan ang pasahero – karaniwang nagsisimula sa 1000riels hanggang 10,000riels (more or less P10-100). Ang halaga ng pamasahe ay tumataas ng doble o hight pa sa pagsapit ng gabi.

Sa itaas na litrato, pinapakita na hindi lang tao ang sinasakay ng mga moto-dops. Kahit ano, actually, pwede, tulad na lang netong bisikleta….

*oist, ang hirap talagang managalog. Pasensiya na po.

Here’s the English text:

In the Philippines, we have the jeepney. Here in Cambodia, the moto-dop or moto-taxi is the most common means of getting around the city and they’re not that difficult to spot! There are tens of thousands of them in the city, and moto-dop drivers are all wearing baseball caps.

So you want to go sightseeing? Go shopping? No problem. Just hop on a motodop, a 100cc scooter. Before, wearing a crash helmet not required but in the recent weeks the government has just implemented a law requiring everyone to wear helmets when riding on motorcycles. A ride across town will cost around 1,000-10,000riels (P10-100), more, depending on the distance, and if there is more than one passenger. The price goes up a little at night.

Motodops not only ferry people around; it’s also used to transport goods.

Wanna join Litratong Pinoy? Hop on over and join us here.

>Wordless Wednesday #34: This is where I go home to…

Posted by The Insider on Mar 25, 2008 in Cambodia, Cambodia life, Kep, night shots, rural, sights, sunsets, Wordless Wednesday | 0 comments

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I know I am breaking the rules again, but please allow me to give you a brief background. Two years ago, I left the comforts of Phnom Penh for a work assignment down south of Cambodia – to the coastal town of Kep. Our organization had no office there yet so I had to use the same guesthouse room (where I live) as my office. There was no electricity yet – generator operates only at night – and so I travel to our project areas by day and do the paperworks at night. Each working day I was absolutely knackered from the bone-crunching moto-ride visiting remote villages. But when I go home, all the exhaustion simply vanished because of this: