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Published: October 27th 2007
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Monivong Blvd_1
The scene across the street from our hotel. This was taken from the elevator on the 2nd floor where we were staying. The big bundle of cables in this , and the resot of the Monivong pictures is how Cambodia Power & Light )or whatever it's called) handles power lines. They'll attach these bundles to buildings or trees, instead of putting up power poles. We said good-by to Cambodia today.
We started off the day by checking out of the hotel. We have been staying the past two evenings at the New York Hotel. It was apparently run by some Chinese folks. It's about 8 stories tall, clean, and with a nice staff, but without the atmosphere of the other two places we've stayed. My only real beef was with the shower. Plenty of hot water, day or night, but the shower head was mounted on the wall so low it only came to my sternum. I had to kneel to wash my hair.
I don't know if I mentioned previously that when we checked in we were given the keys to two rooms. One was just fine but when Renee went to open the other one she found a gentleman from India inside only wearing a towel. Big Oops! Fortunately the guy had put the chain on the door so it didn't open all the way. It took the staff about 15 minutes to move the guy to the room he was supposed to be in. For the next two days we wondered every time we left if the desk staff might
Monivong Blvd_2
Monivong Blvd, looking north, from the top of the hotel. See the white van? go to the left, find the store with red awning, follow it all the way to the top and you can see a guy sitting there, legs hanging over the edge, just watching the traffic. give out the keys to our rooms and we would come back to either no posessions or a bunch of people we didn't know....
I went to the top of the Hotel's elevator (it was glass enclosed) to get some traffic pictures of Monivong Blvd. The traffic was lighter than other days, then I figured out it was Saturday. Even so, there will still kids heading off to the local school (a large complex run by Buddhist monks).
We went to the LDS Mission Office to use their scale to weight the luggage, as I mentioned in the posting for yesterday I was the lucky one with the overweight suitcase. After a quick round of streetside repacking we were ready to head over to the tailors to pick up the suits that Cameron and I were having made. Of course, they weren't quite ready (they were still sewing on the buttons). Luckily we had planned a lot of extra time for just such a scenario.
Soon they were done and it was time to head for the airport. We were met there by the Winegars who who bought us Ice Cream Sundaes at the Dairy Queen at
Monivong Blvd_3
Side street across from our hotel. Notice the plants & vegeation in the top apartment, these folks had really developed a rooftop garden! the airport. They had become very fond of Kendal, and he of them.
It's odd, but as relieved as we were to be starting for home, I think every one of us was sad in some way to be leaving. Cambodia is a fascinating place, filled with some of the nicest people I have ever met. They live under a government which can't provide services for them such as free schooling as many of the governmental employees (from high-up officials to local traffic cops) are busy trying, and usually succeeding, in milking as much money from the public coffers, and the public, as they can (on the day we arrived we saw a policeman take a bribe from a taxi driver and put it in his pocket...).
The people of the Cambodia know it's the 21st Century and are very aware of technology, but to a great degree they just can't afford it. Moto-dups and Tuk-tuk drivers think a $5 fare in the city is huge (that's about 21,000 of their currency). Almost everyone there is an entreprenure of some sort. I don't blame them. I also didn't get upset with the peddlers outside, or sometimes in, the
Monivong Blvd_4
I took this series of shots to illustrate the different types of traffic you can see at any one time on Phnom Penh Streets. temple complexes. They are just trying to survive. Yeah, it got a little tiresome to be accosted non-stop to buy something, but I'd probably be doing something similar if I had been born as a Cambodian.
I've resisted taking pictures of the open trash heaps, a mother grooming a child for lice, general litter and garbage laying around, kids running around naked, men urinating at the side of the road, the dead guy, and what we here in the US would call slums. Yes it is part of Cambodia, and definitely not the nicer part, but it in my mind would unfairly cause people to think that is what Cambodia is all about. I also saw parents of many socio-economic backgrounds playing with, and hugging their kids just like here, mall-rat teenagers, young couples having dinner together at restaurants, college guys playing soccer (they must be tough to play in that heat & humidity!), and outdoor ad campaigns to eliminate domestic violence and gun use. I didn't take take pictures of those things either. There are forces at work for the betterment of Cambodian life, they just have a very long road to travel.
Even with the long
Monivong Blvd_5
Good example of the Cambodian "do what you want whenever you want" approach to driving. The 4 motorcycles in the center are making a left turn. The there is the pedestrian in the left center half hidden by the pickup truck. flights to get there, and back, and the heat and humidity I would recommend a trip there to anyone. Just go between Oct-Dec, and never in April (by their own admission, it's their hottest month). And definitely hire a driver and van with A/C. It's more than affordable and what a relief!
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