Phnom Penh Pensioner

This elderly, all-but blind lady, emerged from Wat Sansam Kosal in Phnom Penh, Wednesday morning. With stick in hand, moving slowly she readied to cross a busy intersection.

She thrust out her stick to indicate she was about to cross and without waiting walked out into the traffic. A motorcyclist squealed to a halt to avoid hitting her. Another motorcyclist cracked into the back of the first.

Both drivers looked at each other and then the old lady and quickly summed up the situation. Then, without a word, and without inspecting the damage and apportioning blame, they both drove on.

It's difficult to imagine such a reaction in a western city. More likely the old lady would get a mouthful of abuse. And the two drivers would get into a heated argument as to who should pay for the damage.

The old lady continued, oblivious, down the street; cars, trucks, and cyclists carefully avoiding her to make sure she got safely to where she was going.

Three Dead: Family Offered $500

Photo: Phnom Penh Post

A car careered into a boy aged eight and two girls- sisters- one also eight, the other twelve. They all die. Six others are seriously injured.

Traffic Cops Frequently Drunk On-Duty

Traffic police checkpoints to detect drunk drivers began in Phnom Penh in October. It seems that the first people that the police should check for sobriety are their fellow officers; despite frequent warnings by their chiefs not to drink on the job, drunk, on-duty traffic cops continue to be a major problem.

Even Prime Minister Hun Sen has appealed to traffic and military police: "On duty, please don't drink alcohol." His concern springs from one of his children being hit by a drunk driver speeding down the wrong side of the road. Traffic police- note the plural- sent to investigate, were too drunk to investigate properly.

Doesn't give one a lot of confidence does it? Although it does go along way to explaining why the dozy coppers on point duty do such a poor job of keeping peak-hour traffic flowing.

Random Breath Testing Arrives

Random breath testing has finally hit Cambodia. Phnom Penh drunk drivers, of whom there are many, were the first to be hit when testing kicked off last Friday. And now police in Kandal and Kampong Speu provinces have been issued with breathalyzers just in time for the Pchum Ben festival and holiday period.

Phnom Penh empties out as thousands return to their home towns. It's a time for paying respect to their ancestors at the local pagoda and for meeting up with family and friends. Of course it's a time for serious eating too and, for many, some serious drinking. Followed by an unsteady drive home.

The perfect time to launch a drink-driving campaign, you would think. Not so think the Cambodian bobbies who have helpfully informed would-be drunk drivers that they too will be taking a holiday and breath testing won't begin until after the festival ends. Still, Cambodian state coffers won't be taking much of a hit, the laughably low fines for driving while drunk have netted just $43 since Friday's Phnom Penh campaign launch.

Money for a Motorbike

Yesterday morning our moto driver asked for $300 to fix his motorbike. A large sum of money for anyone in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh moto drivers are lucky to earn more than US $5 a day. So it was with curiousity that I noticed his t-shirt; http://www.savedafur.org/ was written on the back.He wouldn't have been able to read the English, but it is ironic that such a t-shirt exists in a poor country like Cambodia in the first place, particularly, when all he needs is money to fix his bike so he can continue to earn US $5 a day.

* Picture from http://www.ourbookscambodia.com/

Zen Traffic

Dirty, smoky and clogged with traffic, Phnom Penh's main streets aren't any different from most big cities. Yet, when you travel by motorcycle, as most Cambodians do, getting to and from work is unlike anything experienced in the West.

From the back of a motorcycle you can taste the pollution and feel the heat of the exhaust pipes against your legs. And it's hot and it's dusty and all the time you are aware how vulnerable you are, as impatient, arrogant drivers of 4WDs push, push, push into too tight spaces.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it. Well yes, usually it is. From the back of the motorcycle you get to see all kinds of things; like whole families packed onto one bike. Or a tuk-tuk with ten passengers and a motorcycle transporting 30 live chickens. And there are the street vendors, lazing police, armed soldiers and old men playing chess.

Yet, despite all the traffic- the pushbikes, cyclos, motos, trucks, cars, people, food carts and various vehicles adapted for amputees-rush hour passes without anger and frustration and the horn is used as a friendly warning rather than an instrument of aggression. Now, that's different from the West!

Map Reading Madness

Phnom Penh is hard enough to get around without your moto driver not knowing where he is going either. Some motorbike taxi-drivers can't read maps, and don't know the street numbers.

 After 2 months I now know the streets of Phnom Penh fairly well, it's just that my Khmer language skills aren't good enough yet to match my map reading ability. So I've had lots of trips on the back of a bike where there has been a lot of pointing, u-turns, wrong turns and wasted time.

However, the motos know where temples and markets are located and so if I can manage to produce a few well-pronounced locations  in Khmer the problem is solved. Tell your moto the nearest temple or market, then point the rest of the way.

Tonight my class at our Centre focused on a 'Giving Directions' lesson. It went well. As most young Cambodians ride motorcycles, they enjoyed being able to describe in English where they are going and where they have been.

Now I just have to reverse the process; the English lesson I gave tonight needs to be turned into Cambodian, so I can direct my moto driver.