Lock it up

When I moved into my apartment my landlord told me I needed a second lock for my moto. The moto comes with a steering wheel (handle bar) lock. With this someone can easily wheel the bike away.

I needed either a lock on the front wheel to keep it from turning or a padlock that kept the large stand in place. The padlock for the large stand would go on the very bottom of the bike which would be hard to put on and take off. I opted for the lock on the front wheel.

I found a shop that had a lock; the young guy tells me $8. Ok, I will look around, that sounds expensive.

There is a moto repair shop every 100 meters in Phnom Penh. I stopped at ten or more, none of them have the lock. I found one that had the lock but they wanted $12. That's way too expensive. I kept looking. I did not know the name for lock either which made things a little harder.

I went back to the fist shop, they young guy was there and his mother. I asked the price, this time it was $12. I should have purchased it when his mother wasn't there. I kept looking.

I finally found a place that would sell the lock and put it on for $10.

Here is a photo of the shop that had the lock, and the boy who put it on.

 

Taking the race photos

My last post was photos from the Water Festival. How did I get the photos? I believe the best way to make a good photo is to be up close so you can connect with your subject. I have also learned if you ask to go into what looks like restricted places you can sometimes get in.

The boat race starts very close to a city water pumping station. There is a walk way around the pumping station that put me out over the boats. This gave me some of the very colorful shots.

Several of the other shots were taken down on the water's edge. The banks of the river are cemented and not very steep so walking down to the edge is relatively easy. 

Where the VSO boat was launched there was a sewage drain, I found an area that was filled with rocks and stood on that, not having to get into the boat.

For the photos of the start of the race I worked my way out onto the construction barge where the announcer was.  I was able to work my way up onto the yellow crane and have a very good overlook. The pontoons were quite stable but when someone went the other way they did roll a little.

You can see from this following photos, this was a working barge, it was littered with junk.

After the barge set, I went back and got onto the tugboat. The tug is on the other side of the barge below.  I would have done that first but there was a long line of people walking over the planks and they were under water.

Tragic end to the Water Festival

Monday night about 10:00 a large crowd was on the bridge from the mainland to an island. The bridge is a short suspension bridge and it began to sway, according to reports, the police fired water cannons at the crowd on the bridge trying to force them to leave the bridge. In the ensuing panic over 300 people were killed, some were crushed and others were electrocuted. The bridge was covered with electric lights and the water from the water cannons possible caused the electrocutions.

One of the operators that works at Digital Divide Data and his wife were on the bridge, they escaped with only minor injuries.

CNN has several articles on the stampede.

I was had been in Kampong Cham photographing rice fields and did not participate in this part of the festival.

Cambodian Water Festival and boat race

While volunteering with VSO I told another volunteer I would photograph the Water Festival boat race, because VSO had a crew paddling one of the long boats. Check this post for photographs of the practice session.

Last Saturday was the race, I went to the VSO office to take the group photo and to the start.

Then we piled into two vehicles and went to the start. This festival is definitely a draw in Phnom Penh, it was early and the crowd was already starting to grow. Each team has a colored t-shirts, with teams in their boats side-by-side the colors made an exciting photography.

The race is run on the Tonle Sap River, which is unique, it switches directions each year about this time. This year there was still a good current and luckily the boats were rowing with the current. There are three types of boats in the race; the boat VSO was racing was a long boat, with a crew of about 55 people. VSO had 36 foreigners, which is a rarity; I did not see any other foreigners as crew members. In fact I only saw a handful of foreign tourists.

The boats race in pairs, they pull onto the river in pairs,

Head for the start point at a slow pace, and when about 50 meters upstream from the start marker they accelerate.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to the finish to see the VSO boat finish. When you want a moto, there is never one around.

Here are some boats that were really fighting for position at the end of the race.

Wedding invitations

If you need your wedding invitation printed, just go to the nearest pagoda and there will be a good selection of shops that will print your invitations. I know their overhead is low but do they ever have any business. I have only seen people in the shops talking to each other, never any customers. 

 

Haircut

In my neighbor hood there are several barber shops. They are air conditioned sort of. This one is closed.

You could call these drive-in. Some have covers and some do not.

 

Feeding on the go

This photo does not need much explanation.

Laundry

I take my cloths to a laundry close to home. As I ride around, I see other laundries. They are all similar, they wash cloths by hand and hang them out to dry. Then they iron them with the flatiron.

Below is another large laundry.

This is a home laundry

If you only have a little too dry, you can use a tree or just put it on the ground. 

Frog legs

Walking around my neighborhood is very interesting. After seeing what looked like a Dutch parking lot, I came across frog legs in a wicker tray on top of two plastic stools. I assumed that someone in one of the many phone shops was selling the legs. 

Dutch look

I walked from my apartment toward the central market, on the way I passed a large modern shopping center. Looking at the motos lined up it made me think of the lines of bicycles in the Netherlands. 

Setting up on the sidewalk

Many vendors do not have a permanent shop; they set up on the sidewalk. Here are photos of two restaurants and a shoe shop setting up for the evening on a busy Phnom Penh street. There are many other businesses that use the sidewalk as their business space. A later post will be on barbershops that set up on the sidewalk.

 

Below you can see a family moving their table to their spot on the street.

Take my photo

In Morocco when I would attempt to take someone's photo, about 90% of the time they would say NO Photo. I asked many Moroccan friends why and never really found out why.

In Cambodia it is quite different, people don't care if you take their photo and even want me to.

I walking up the street and the woman in the photo said "take my photo". Is was so surprised it took me a moment to realize what she said. 

Chess like game

Walking around in my neighborhood, I see men playing what looks to be chess. I assume it is chess like game based upon the shape of the pieces. In Morocco, I watched men play checkers.

Not speaking the language I can only watch the moves and facial expressions. The game is played with passion. 

Lunch from a basket

Cambodia is a mix of old and new. You can go to a very fancy new restaurant or pick up your lunch for a woman selling it out of two wicker baskets on the street.

The woman in the photo below is selling breakfast in my ally. She comes through every day about the same time. The basket on the right of the photo is lined with banana leaves and contains the noodles. On the left side the plates surround the bowl of soup that goes over the noodles.

When she moves from location to location she puts the bamboo bar over her shoulder and walks to her next stop.

In the photo below you see a different woman carrying her restaurant with her. You can see the chopsticks hanging off of the bar behind her and you can see her seat handing from the support of the basket in front. 

Chaos above the streets

In the blog I have described the driving conditions in Cambodia. The condition of the electrical wiring above and alongside the roads has inherited some of the chaos.

 

In the  following photo you can see a cell phone tower in the lower right.

I was looking at the wires while chatting with my landlord and he said five years ago, the power lines were bare wires. Progress is being made. 

Tailor shop

When I moved to Cambodia I was allowed one suitcase (20 kilos) not enough space to take a lot of clothing. I only took leisure clothing because of the heat. DDD invited me to a meeting of the Cambodian American Chamber of Conference. This means that I need some dressier pants. I purchased a pair and they fit fine when I was standing in the store.

After purchasing the pants and wearing them one day I realized they were just a little small. There are a lot of tailors in Phnom Penh but which ones speak English. I went to a street close to my apartment and chose one. Luckily there was one girl there that spoke English.

I asked to have my pants let out and then if they could put a button on my only pair of shorts. I was about to leave and she said "just a minute and you can have the shorts". Great service!.

Here are two photos of the tailor shop.

While I was waiting one woman was stitching sequins on a dress.