Starting the year at home, but about to go traveling
It’s probably ignorant of me but I don’t think I had ever heard of boules, also known as pétanque before last week when a French colleague gave a set to the office as a Christmas gift. Since then I see it everywhere. It seems to be a sport du jour across Kampong Cham, probably across … More Boules, Badminton and a Broken Bamboo Bridge
It is estimated that 95% of Cambodians are Buddhist. Apart from the fact that people politely acknowledge Christmas as meaningful to westerners, there is a complete absence of Christmas here. I may have seen two Christmas trees, which appeared about a week ago, outside some tourist hotels along the riverside. Apart from that it’s been … More Cambodian Christmas
My brother is profoundly deaf and his primary communication is sign language. Living in a hearing world he manages to get by with spoken and written English, but his grammar and style are very similar to that of someone with English as a Second Language (ESL). His communication struggles can be extreme at times as … More Monolingual Me
A motorbike carrying four people is not unusual but I was slightly surprised to realise that Dad, driving, had one arm on the handlebars of a bicycle being driven home alongside the family. Ten year old boys line up two or three behind their underage driver alongside young families and crowds of teenagers. One father … More Driving Cambodia
When a patient is diagnosed with Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (DRTB), measures are put in place in an attempt to cure the patient as well as to hamper the bacteria’s transmission to other people, particularly close family and household contacts. In a third world setting DRTB mainly travels amongst the poor, who already have impaired health … More Banana fronds and Bamboo huts
Today I had the good fortune to experience some World AIDS Day health promotion activities in the hospital, coordinated by our TB Control Program staff. I attended the HIV Ward with two of our Social Workers and met with each patient briefly at their bedside, providing each person with a gift of healthy hot food … More World AIDS Day
Many words could be used to describe Cambodia, but this week nothing is more appropriate than “beautiful”, or in Khmer, “sah aht”. Apparently I arrived here for the wedding season, just as the tropical rains end and young couples lavishly celebrate their planned futures with family, friends and colleagues. During a month in Kampong Cham … More “Sah aht”
Motorbikes ruin photography here. You get a great shot lined up just in time to photograph the handlebars of a moped, or a chain of blurred bodies moving across the scene you’d intended which saunters out of sight before you can re-focus your lens. Some dedicated photography sessions will be needed to get a few … More Riverside Ramblings
The evenings in Kampong Cham come alive with young people on motorbikes. Three riding abreast equals at least six teenagers socialising as they cruise through the streets. Five is the most bodies I’ve sighted on a single moped to date. Helmets are an optional rarity. Another regular sight is these wooden wheelbarrows which have many … More How Many Cambodians Does It Take to Ride a Motorbike?
This morning our Ugandan housemate and I walked to the bus station through the Central Market (aka “the wild west”), giving way about as often as we were given way to by the hustling traffic. A throng of waiting passengers were already at the bus station. As we arrived our bedraggled looking bus pulled up … More Potholes to Phnom Penh
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