Life (for some) in Phnom Penh....

A few shots about town............ I'm not sure how these pictures will correspond with my descriptions, as this blog site seems to do it's own cut & pasting. So I will try to keep it in some sort of corresponding order.
The first picture is a common sight that I wanted to catch on camera. You can see the two kids in between the adults on the motorbike. They have no helmets. It is common to see up to 6 people on one of these motos. And also so see very young kids, unprotected being held by one hand of the driver, with the other one on the steering wheel. I stood on the corner of the park for about 15 mins to capture some good shots. It wasn't easy because by the time I had focused my camera and took the shot, the moto was often out of the picture or I got the back. There are a couple of other photos further down of similar things.
This is the park that we sometimes go to with the girls. It is a very refreshing sight here. The greenest corner that I have seen yet. It is quite lovely, although there are only a few trees scattered around the streetline, so unfortunately there is no shade to sit under in the middle of the park, which would be lovely. It is a popular place for nationals and visitors alike to go for a stroll on the weekends.
On one morning walk, I found this well dressed lady. She was sitting out the front of her house doing something, I'm not sure what, with her rice. She looked like she was cleaning it or something.It is common to see families, or gatherings of people cooking their evening meel on the street in a little pot. Also, some of the khmer are quite houseproud really. You will often see ladies sweeping up the leaves off the dirt in front of their house or cooking corner on the street.
The good old pushbike!!!! A very common form of transport. This older gentleman was travelling along side our tuk tuk when I took this photo.

We sometimes take the girls from the house pushbike riding, but for safetys sake, we can only ride in the street in front of the house.
Can you see the kid on the motorbike on the right of the screen? That is what I was talking about earlier. Many moto accidents involve kids. In KC Hospital one of the boys we visited had a broken leg from a moto accident, in which his father was killed.

And the Lady in the picture carries her cooking utensils around on her sholders. She would probably sit on a street corner and cook to sell to the locals. You see a lot of these ladies. I think this is a pretty tough way to make a living. But as my mum would have said..Ït is honest toil."

It is absolutely amazing what they carry on their motorbikes. Furniture, hay, glass sheets, pots and pans. It really is incredible what they can do. This man is carrying his bananas. I'm not sure if he was on the way to a market or something. See his ingenious set up though.

This was a funeral we came across at the end of our street one morning. Funerals here go for anything from 2-3 days to a week. They set up a marque and people come and go for days. They also fly a white flag sort of thing that looks like a body, and play the loudest, high pitched, oriental music ever. At the most ungodly hour in the morning. I'm sure the angels aren't even awake at that time. While I was in Kampong Cham, there was a funeral almost every second week. With the same "lovely (not) loud music".
All the morners dressed in white and followed the coffin through the street, I presume to the burial ground. It blocked the street for a little while. The guys in black are probably some sort of security guards/ traffic control.

This is a local electrical repair shop. They do their repair work out on the street a lot of the time. Same as moto repairs etc. Their shops etc are in the front of their houses. Their house usually is a room with a bed, and probably some sort of toilet, and cooking facility.
To create an income, these people collect rubbish and go through it to get anything worth recycling. I'm not sure who they sell it too.....? You will often see small boysin the streets, dragging around large plastic bags full of plastic bottles and cans. That is often why the parents don't want to send them to school, because they help bring in income for the family. I'm not sure what dad does. I often see groups of men sitting on the footpath playing games, sometimes gambling.
Another example of what and how they carry goods on their motos. This would most probably be goods to sell at the market.
Thats about it for today. I want to go and get a$3 massage, as my neck is out. I still haven't managed to find a comfortable way to sleep on the pillow I have. I have tried a few alternatives, but not been too sucessfull met.

Love and Blessings to you, Lane
Also thanks to you Noel for being my avid blog follower and taking the time to post comments.