Shabbat in Phnom Penh

Praying towards the west, saying "Machiv Harouah" when the temperature is 35 Celsius degrees in the shadow: this had not happened to me in a while...

 

I'm well settled in my little home, Magui's calendar on the wall and thoughts of my friends and family everywhere.

 

Enough about myself. The city has a garbage collection system, which it didn't have 10 years ago. One truck has a large sign: donated by the Latter Day Saints Charity. Seems like a useful gift but please don't take a hint for my birthday. There is one skip ("benne"?) where two are needed so the garbage collectors have to collect what is scattered on the floor with there hands (actually they also have a "pelle" but I don't know how to translate. I'm writing in English because of inappropriate keyboard, but I miss some vocabulary here and there.)

 

Did you know Prince Ranari is the 16th richest person in the World? He loves planes (he has four of them) and soccer (he has his own team). The only industry in the country is reportedly textile and I did see loadfuls of them at the Orussey Market (I thought it meant Russian Market, but the Russian market is something else).

 

I can count from 0 to 5: Son (0) Muy (1) Pee (2) Bye (3) Boon (4) Pram (5)

Then 6 to 9 is easy: Pram Muy, Pram Pee, Pram Bye, Pram Boon

But a thousand riels are only 25 cents so you need Dap (10), Roy (100) and Poin (1000).

 

Apart from that, "niam" means to eat, "bye" means rice (in addition to meaning three) and Thank You is "Okun" with the accent on the first syllable.

 

Khmer proverb of the day: If your enemy is on the ground, don't hit him/her up or he will stab you in the back one day.

 

Khmer joke of the day: A guy goes to the Pasteur Institute for a check up. When he comes back and asks for the result he is told: - For the liver it's ABC. - And for the lungs? - It's Alain Delon.

Need and explanation? ABC is a brand of beer, Alain Delon the leading brand of cigarettes...

 

Have fun whereever you are in the World!