Road Rage

So I said I wasn't going to write any more blog entries until I got back from Malaysia and believe me, that was my intent. But my commute to work today got my blood boiling. Today is Constitution Day - one of twenty-eight national holidays - and the swearing in for the National Assembly (you may remember that the elections were held in July); although there has been some controversy surrounding the swearing in - the two main opposition parties are planning to boycott what they deem a fraudulent election - there is no reason for the government to be concerned about major incidents.

Without the day off, I didn't realize it was a public holiday and I set off for work at my normal time, at about 7:15. As I headed down Sihanouk Blvd. across Monivong, all seemed normal. When I arrived at Norodom, however, the street ahead of me was blocked, which is not entirely unusual. So I headed south on Norodom to 294, a route I often take to work. Street 294, however, was also closed. So I headed north to Street 240. When I arrived at Street 19, however, the road was blocked in two directions (naturally the two directions that lead to my office): Street 240 heading east towards Sothearos and Street 19 heading south back towards Sihanouk.

I tried to push my bike through, but a military policeman stopped me. In Khmer, I told him that I needed to go to work. He said I would have to wait like everyone else and believe me, there were a lot of people waiting. I said, again in Khmer, that they can't just close all of the major roads in the city. He just looked at me with contempt. Finally, a few motos trickled through the barricade going east on 240 and I was able to push my bicycle past, though as I did so I knoced the MPs helmet off his bike. He pointed to it and not wanting an incident I picked it up, muttering insults under my breath as I peddled off.

Going east on 240, I turned right just before Sothearos to pass in front of Wat Botum and headed back towards Sihanouk. Again I was met by a roadblock, but I was able to convince the police to let me through as my office was now literally across the street. The 1.5km bike ride took me nearly thirty minutes and now, over an hour later the roads are still closed and are likely to remain so for the next several hours.

Why would the government close access to some of the most major thoroughfares in the city? A show of strength? Security? To me, it's quite ironic in that it is displays of force like this - where the best interest of the people is nowhere on the government's radar - that actually make people think about creating security incidents in the first place. It is no wonder that Cambodians, especially those living in Phnom Penh are extremely cynical about everything government-related.

UPDATE: More than three hours after the roads closed, they were reopened at about 10:35am.

UPDATE 2: The roads closed again this afternoon from 1:45pm to 5:15pm. I got stuck by the Independence Monument for fifteen minutes as Excellencies whizzed by in their motorcades of Lexuses and Mercedes. My Cambodian colleagues tell me that it will be like this for the next two days. Unbelievable.

MIA

Sorry I've been so MIA on the posting. I've been absolutely swamped at work for the past couple of weeks - an excuse I can use only so many times. The good news is that things should now be simmering down. The bad news, at least in the short term, is that I'm heading to Malaysia for vacation on Friday for about a week, which means no posting for a little while longer. However, it should mean that I'll have some great stories upon my return. Thanks for bearing with me.

Spoiled Rotten

For those of you that follow this blog regularly and especially for those of you that have come to visit, you know that Shanti and I are not exactly roughing it here and, in fact, we're living quite comfortably. We are by no means near the top of the economic stratosphere, either Cambodian or expat. We have yet to get a Lexus, do not yet own a mansion, and do not sport the same amount of bling as the typical Cambodian elite. Moreover, we do not have a housing allowance or get home leave, we do most of our own cooking, eating out only occasionally, and we clean our own house. That is, until now.

After a month of strenuous work schedules and several weekends of travel, our apartment was an absolute mess. The floors were dusty, the kitchen and bathrooms were grimy, and things were just generally in disorder. Expecting our busy schedules continue over the next several months and not wanting to live in filth any longer, we caved and hired some cleaning help. Although we felt guilty about getting someone else to do our dirty work for us, we saw it as an opportunity to provide our wonderful tuk-tuk driver - Red, who I've mentioned before - and his family a bit more money.

This past Sunday morning, Red's wife and daughter and one of their neighbors came over. Over a period of about five hours, they did the most thorough cleaning this apartment has probably ever seen. They did everything from the basics - floors and bathrooms - to the minute - taking apart and cleaning our electric fans - to my least favorite task - ironing my pants and shirts. As guilty as I felt about having someone else clean our apartment for us, they got it much cleaner than we ever would have been able. It's also possible to think about it in terms of helping Red's daughter, an exceedingly bright young Cambodian, save some additional money so that she might have the opportunity to go to college. Regardless, I think it's a scenario in which everyone wins. Or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself as we get spoiled rotten.

Odd Occurrences

This past Friday marked a string of bizarre incidents which I feel are worthy of sharing. First, on Friday morning I got sick. It doesn't sound that odd, I know, but, as many of you know, I pride myself on having a god-like immune system. A cough and stuffy nose were soon accompanied by a fever, headache, body aches, and nausea. I managed to last through the entire work day, but spent the entire weekend in bed with all of the above symptoms, each staying with me through Monday morning despite medication.

Now I don't mean to imply that when I get sick, things get wacky, but weird things were definitely happening on Friday afternoon. At around 3:30 as the monsoon rain clouds formed in the sky, I looked out my office window - with a pretty good view of downtown Phnom Penh I might add - and noticed a small funnel dropping partly from the clouds toward the ground. Although the funnel remained at least 100 feet off the ground while it lasted, it was quite surreal. From what I know and have heard, Phnom Penh does not experience regular tornadoes. The funnel floated in the sky for about half an hour and then disappeared. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me at work to capture it.

Shortly after the funnel incident and with my ailments seemingly getting worse, I headed home. As usual, I unlocked my bicycle in the parking lot and started riding out of the main entrance to the Phnom Penh Center office building complex. I have a pretty good relationship with all of the security guards that man the small motorbike parking lot as well as the ticket booth for cars - they usually smile at me, ask me how I'm doing, and poke fun at the fact that I ride around on a bicycle. As I biked by on Friday, however, the three guards by the ticket booth jumped back from their chairs in three different directions. I stopped and couldn't help but giggle at how ridiculous - and well-coordinated - their leaps had been. It was not until I stopped that I noticed a long and slender neon green snake slithering up one of the guard's motos. Luckily no one was bitten.