First let me tell you that are plans are to be at Broken Arrow Church of Christ on June 3rd.
We plan to be at North Heights Church of Christ in Batesville on June 10th.
We have not yet finalized the date that we will be at Whispering Hills Church of Christ in Broken Arrow.
We hope to see many of you at one of these places.
I thought I would just blog about things that we see around town.
This is a small cow that is on a spit. There used to be a lot of these, but the monks got offended and so they have to have a shop to cook then in now, instead of just along the street. Obviously, this one hasn't started cooking yet.
These are small marinated roasted pigs. These are usually used for special occasions or, as in this case, Khmer (Cambodian) New Year.
We have had some of this and they are really good!
Unfortunately, we can't see this very clearly, but along with the pigs hanging on the outside, there are ducks hanging on the inside of the cart. Ducks and duck eggs are eaten regularly.
I just thought you might enjoy this picture. The ones that do welding usually wrap their heads as the guys sitting in the cart. They will go down the street with their heads wrapped and sunglasses on (they use sunglasses for their welding glasses).
I hope you can see the guys standing in the cart has a phone stuck between his head and his motorcycle helmet.
While I was doing some errands, we got stopped at a light so I took a picture of this woman on the moto. At the time I took the picture, it was afternoon and about 95 F or so. The Realfeel temperature was over 100 F. They do not like to be in the sun, so the hotter it gets, the more layers they put between their skin and the sun.
So she has a floppy hat under her moto helmet, wool socks on her hands and, you can't see it, but socks with her flip flops, so that none of her skin is in the sun.
I hate to think of the funny things that I say in Khmer that I think are correct but are probably more like this sign. At least it is understandable.
I was walking and cut through a wedding tent (it hadn't started yet, so I could cut through). Again, sorry not a clear picture, but the man has 2 pig heads in his wash bowl and he is picking off the hairs. Another couple guys were then cutting them up in smaller chunks and getting them ready to cook. You can see the cookers in the background.
The next few pictures are down on riverside. On the east side of the city, the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap River come together. This is the place that they do the annual Water Festival and have long boat races. They have worked a lot on the park and walkway that goes along side of the river.
This is a shrine that is on the riverside across from the palace.
This is part of the palace grounds with the park area in front. What is pictured is actually the temple area that is on the palace grounds.
Popcorn!! It is like kettle corn and very good! Especially down by the river and by the park areas you will see lots of these carts.
And you can see the tuktuks waiting for people who need rides.
I wanted you to see some of the growth. Phnom Penh had virtually no tall buildings when we got here - I can only think of a couple that were 5 or 6 stories. Now you can see that we have MANY tall buildings.
I wanted this picture to contrast the poor, in the houses in the front and then new high rises. Phnom Penh has very little middle class; most are either wealthy or poor. As more people from the countryside move to the city and have office type jobs, the middle class is growing. Land in Cambodia is very expensive compared to the average income and the cost of food, etc.
The family car. Mom has to get all her kids from place to place. I hope you can see the little one on the front. She has 3 boys and a girl - just like us! And yes, they are all on one motorcycle.
This is their hearse. They load the coffin in the back and the monks and some of the family ride beside. Most of the people follow along behind, either walking or riding their motos or cars, to the temple for cremation. Usually, there is a large photo of the deceased on the front of the vehicle.
Rich's backpack strap broke. As the backpack was in good shape otherwise, I went to look for someplace to repair it. And I found this nice guy.
He sits in front of his place and has all these containers of different snaps, clamps, etc. He took the broken plastic piece off, replaced it, sewed it on while I waited and it cost me $1.
He was a bit embarrassed that I wanted to take his picture.
Our school landlord's family next door has a wedding. This is them setting up the tent. Under the far cloth that is hanging, is a man on a ladder. They put rope between the legs of the ladder so that they can "walk" it up and down without having to get off the ladder and move it. (I think it makes great sense!)
He is about 2 stories up. You can just see his arm outside the cloth as he is trying to tie it on.
And the end result is this. They will have fans, sometimes chandeliers hanging inside. As you can see, it totally blocks off the entire road and this tent blocked about 10 houses on each side. I took this before all the tables, chairs, front decorations are up. While we stood there, a girl had to have a couple guys help lift her motorcycle up and over this laid floor so that she could get to work. When they block off the front of your house, you have to find another place for a day or two to park your motorcycle or car if you want to use it.
Because we have been here over 10 years and all of this is "normal" to me, I rarely take pictures. I will try to do better so that you can see what we see.
Much love,
Ronda
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