First Impressions of Phnom Penh

We have been in Phnom Penh now for just over a week. This post will share some of Judi’s first impressions of the city. We’ve both begun our NGO (non-government organization) placements and Colin’s had some particularly interesting times visiting his NGO. I’ll write about my work experiences in a later blog.

I must be starting to feel at home because I’m starting to write the words, Phnom Penh more automatically, not having to think about where to put those unnatural h’s. Also, you'll notice that we changed the title photo to one taken last weekend at the National Museum. I think I look fat, but Colin says no, and anyway, it would be a good thing to be fat in this culture. What a good husband.

The Traffic

My first and overriding observation is about the traffic. It’s completely unruly and insane – unlike anything we have seen anywhere else. It’s dominated by thousands of motorbikes, tuktuks (motorcyle tricycles with a kind of four-seater cabin on the back), cars – mostly SUV’s, and a few very brave bicycles. There may be as many as four family members on a motorcycle.

There seem to be no rules of the road and it’s every man or woman for themselves. No-one waits for a place in the stream of traffic. They just join in, assuming that through some magic, the traffic will make a place for them. If no space opens up, they just stop in the middle of the road until it does.

From above I’m certain the traffic looks like a bunch of ants finding the path of least resistance. Most people aren’t particularly concerned if they see someone coming at them head on. They just steer around the obstacle. Even crossing the street on foot is an adventure and not something that anyone in their right mind would contemplate during rush hour – even the locals.

Thankfully, we are forbidden by AJWS from riding motorcycles, as I’m sure Colin might otherwise be tempted, so we most often walk or take a tuktuk. As a passenger I’m constantly amazed by the continual series of near misses taking place all around me. As Colin says, driving in PP requires a lot of concentration and a particular kind of flexible skill.

We had been assured that most tuktuk drivers understand some English, but haven’t found this to be the case and I have certainly taken several very round-about routes to my destination, punctuated by the driver stopping to ask directions and getting advice that causes him to continually change directions. Eventually I get where I’m going but it’s hard to believe the $1 - $3 I pay actually covers the cost of the gas.

I'm still hoping to post a video of the traffic. Stay tuned.

Accommodation

We are both kind of embarrassed by our very nice 2-bedroom apartment. It just seems a little over the top for the image of selfless volunteers we’ve been trying to cultivate – but it actually costs less than either of the places we lived in when we did our previous placements in Africa. Honestly, we looked around for a nice one-bedroom with the AJWS country representative and couldn’t find anyplace where we could do a short term rental that felt like we could stay there for 3 months. Colin, of course, is the one who could/would 'live in a mud hut', but I have come to need some creature comforts. … oh yes, it even has a swimming pool.

The Lexus factor

OK… so we thought we were coming to the developing world, but we have been bowled over by the hundreds (probably thousands) of Lexus SUV’s in Phnom Penh. I don’t know how much they cost here, but in Canada we are talking upwards of $50,000. They are absolutely everywhere. Last Sunday while walking down the street I started taking pictures of them and I probably saw 35 within 5 minutes.

In our previous placements, the large SUV’s were usually owned by international organizations like the UN or World Vision or embassies, or by foreign business people. Well, it’s not like that here.

The Lexus’s (and other luxury cars) are mostly owned by Cambodians. When I asked people about it, they implied without really saying, that these people are primarily government workers. In other words, the Lexus factor is corruption and it’s pretty awful when at the other end of the spectrum in our NGO work, we are exposed to the extremes of poverty. Read more about this in Colin's post.

Rats to you, too!!

Before we moved into our lovely apartment, Colin and I stayed in a pretty decent guesthouse for a mere $15 a night. One evening we decided to try dinner at a local backstreet seafood restaurant (where we ordered beef and chicken respectively.) We found an outdoor table and while waiting for our drinks to arrive, I saw a couple of rats (or the same rat twice) scooting under one of the tables.

I was pretty rattled but managed to remain calm. Actually I reminded myself we have rats in Vancouver, too. I’ve seen them at night running along our fence. However, I must have been more edgy than I realized because out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement at the side of our table and shot out of my seat so quickly I nearly tipped up the whole thing. Turned out to be Colin’s napkin blowing in the breeze. Colin had a good laugh, anyway.

Yesterday while on a walk, we saw a group of people crowded around this scene. The guy in the motorcycle helmet was cutting out long pieces of the woman's hair with what looked like a kitchen knife and then handing it to a woman who was collecting it. There were two women getting these bizarre haircuts and it looked like a happy occasion for everyone. I guess they were going for the layered look!!