Pyjama people

In Cambodia, your pyjamas are the ultimate height of fashion. You can wear them everywhere and anywhere. Orange ones with penguins, yellow ones with Mickey Mouse, blue ones with polar bears, cherries or teddies... the brighter and more patterned the better. I used to wonder whether the women who rode elegantly around on the back of moto taxis or strutted their stuff in the market place knew what they were wearing. I wondered for a while if I should mention that they were not putting on a co-ordinating two piece trouser/blouse but actually something we consider only suitable for cold nights (alone).

After a while though I did discover that yes, they did know... but what did it matter? In Cambodia wearing pyjamas out is the done thing. They are a stylish outfit saved only for going out. Why would you wear them in bed? They are smart... its too hot... etc etc For them to be a practical purchase, the only place you can wear them is out. Besides how will people in general admire your latest PJ set if you are just wearing them to bed. What a WASTE!....

It seems the women of Cardiff (being the capital of Wales in the UK for international readers) have now caught on to the concept of bed wear in the outside world.... Today it has been reported that the supermarket giant, Tesco, has banned women entering its store in Cardiff who are wearing their PJs. So many young women they say are shopping in their PJs it has become too much for some people. The women say they are a perfect solution when they don't have time to sort themselves out in the morning before taking the kids to school etc.

“I’ve got lovely pairs of pyjamas, with bears and penguins on them. I’ve worn my best ones today, just so I look tidy,” said Ms Carmody of Cardiff, who had chosen PJs when trying to to “pop in for a pack of fags”. She also commented that if she was doing her "big shop" she would have got fully dressed (obviously).

It seems these cultures are not miles apart.... or are they? In Cardiff, the women are, it seems, not generally trying to make an appearance (or be a style guru) when giving their PJs an outing - it's more a case of not being bothered after they have rolled out of bed. In contrast, in Cambodia PJs are for a special trip and, despite laughing at the fact that women there are parading around in the baking heat covered in polar bears, somehow it works far better for these women than those pushing their trolleys around Tesco in Wales. There is an element of pride in the Cambodians' outfit. It is nothing to do with being too "busy" or "lazy" to find some clothes. For some, wearing PJs may have to do with cost, cheaper than traditional Cambodian silk wear. However, in the market, western jimjams do seem to be a substantial investment at around $10-16 a go... (they are multi-function use after all).

Perhaps it is because the women of Cardiff are not wearing the right footwear with their PJs (furry slippers vs plastic high heels and matching earrings) or perhaps it is because their tops are not matching their bottoms the Tesco managers have got so distressed?!

Street life

Its the season of goodwill and giving and so a post about a time when giving is not right seems appropriate (in my opinion)!



Cambodia is a difficult country. I am under no illusion that when visiting on holiday or even for a longer period of time it is so easy to give a dollar here and there and you suddenly feel like you have made a real difference. This is where I plead with you to STOP! and think about the problem.



Yes, of course, it is true that Cambodia does not have a welfare system and some guidebooks may encourage you (irresponsibly) to think about this aspect of society and dig deep into your pockets. Yes, giving 1000 riel (about 25 US cents) might give you a warm fuzzy feeling that a Cambodian family are going to be eating well that night. Yes, you can afford to do it... so why is it so wrong or unhelpful?



Firstly, from an economic perspective, looking at the average daily national wage, which is around $1 (a factory worker might earn $60 a month, a waitress in an expensive western restaurant $70.... and these wages are the middle class salaries) giving even just a dollar to someone who is doing nothing at all is a bit of a punch in the face to anyone who is doing a job. By all means give a nice big tip to your tourist tuk tuk or waitress or the maid who made your hotel room bed instead.



Secondly, from a different perspective, people are put on the streets to beg by people engaged in human trafficking. Yes - really.


There is a baby who is passed from woman to woman on the riverside so that each woman can do their "shift" with the miserable looking baby to get more money from the gullible tourists. The baby is a hired helper! If you are going to give money to a woman because she has the miserable baby then that baby will become more desired by other women and so will suffer a childhood being carted around the riverside by various women to generate more funds. If the baby doesn't generate money (because you ignore it) the baby will be "out of a job" and this is no bad thing. Having a job when you can't yet walk or speak is a GOOD thing! Now there will be some of you still wondering - that if they do not give some cash the woman with the miserable baby - how will the baby ever get un-miserable and how will it eat? go to school? get a better life? etc. The answer is above, the baby is not getting the money. None of it. The money is going to the baby's mother/owner (do you think she ("Pimp") will be giving the baby a cut of the profits....nah) and the woman who hired the baby (she paid to use the baby so why is she going to care - The more awful it looks to her the better - The more terrible, the more $$$).



This is just an example because once the baby can walk it will be put out on the streets to do the begging by itself - Returning its profits to the person it belongs to, not keeping the money for itself. This person may be its mother or it may be someone who has purchased it to beg for it. A kind of slave trade. If you don't give cash then the mother won't have a need to put the child on the street (what would be the point?) and the "slave trade" will die out. It gets worse, some of the begging "slaves" are drugged by their Pimp to make them look even more pitiful. One particular drug makes people loose all sensations in their legs and so it looks as though they have a disability and can't walk at all....


Ahhh so a child with those big brown eyes you fell for finally gets a few riel from you. It is his or hers to keep because unusually they are not a slave beggar and they have run away from "home"... Yeah! What will they spend it on? You hope they will run off to go to school, buy a pen or two and eat a nice wholesome meal. Wrong! More than likely that money will go on glue. Street children in Cambodia have a huge problem with glue sniffing. Its such a big problem that adults have set up places where children can go and buy a small plastic bag with a bit of glue in it to get their fix. These adults have realised that the children are desperate and can't get enough money together to but a whole tube of glue so they "so kindly" have set up convenience stands with just enough glue to get a fix. Just like you were kind enough to give that riel.



Ok! Ok, the above is the worst case scenario - Some adults and children do need your help genuinely..... but a far better way to help is to: a) visit NGO craft shops (more expensive but better quality and you are helping those people, often disadvantaged in some way, who make the products earn a wage) b) visit Friends for a meal (just by the national museum - the food is fantastic tapas) The staff are all ex street kids who have been given a break c) use child safe tuk tuks and moto drivers (look for the child safe logo) d) visit the child safe drop in centre opposite Friends.




This is just a starter setting out why it is never the season of goodwill to give a dollar here and there. Its a controversial subject.... Having said all of the above you have to use common sense. I used to give a few riel every now and then or some food to an old, old woman who would sit on our road by my house. But I did not live in a tourist area, she was not trying to make a fast buck, she never asked anyone for money, she was always happy to get food instead, the moto men and other Cambodian neighbours gave her small amounts too....

Christmas!

In the run up to Christmas its nice to get Christmas cards Cambodian style!

Post Office Phnom Penh vs Royal Mail

I've had lots of people sharing their experience of the Phnom Penh Post Office since my first blog about it. My experience of the "service" is not unusual.

Recently a Cambodian student, who stayed with us in the UK in the summer, asked us to bring back some books from Cambodia after our holiday and post them from the UK to Italy where he has started studying. Of course - happy to pop them in the post via Royal Mail for a whopping sum of money.... The idea being that it was far "safer" to post them from the UK.

Those books were posted several months ago now... still no sight of them at the Italian end. Its rather ironic that my $13 from the PP post office resulted in delivery (and probably fed a family for a couple of days due to the overcharge) and made it across the world whereas here, well, Royal Mail resulted in complete postal failure. Try explaining that to the poor guy waiting for his books!!!!

CCH Roadshow

These are two of the many pictures I took at one of the CCH roadshows - A educational show where children teach others about social issues such as HIV, drug abuse and human trafficking. One of the students from the children's centre has documented the roadshow in pictures and written the accompanying text:
http://www.realebooks.com/index.php/realebooks/results/630a4cd9319c29ee71dee5c06d414598/
(Click on the virtual book to scroll through.)

Cambodian Crocs

When I first arrived in Phnom Penh and was looking for a "different" day out I went to Phnom Tamao wildlife sanctuary. You can read about the original trip here: http://michelles-in-cambodia.blogspot.com/2008/03/friday-and-saturday.html I thought the place was well run given its limited funds.

That zoo made the news this week as DNA tests done by conservationists have discovered that one of the world's most endangered crocodile species, the Siamese crocodile lives in the moats at Phnom Tamao! The Siamese crocodile is pretty much extinct (and in fact was declared extinct in 1992). It is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. There are only about 250 left in the wild and most of those are in Cambodia in the Cardamom Mountains.

The crocs in zoo are now going to be bred to increase the population to 450. Once there are 500 they will be moved off the critically endangered list. It won't be easy for any released crocs as although poaching is now rare planned hydroelectric dams could interfere with the crocodiles' habitat.


... Given that even the experts needed a DNA test to tell unsurprisingly I'm not sure if this photo I took is of the Siamese crocodile

International relations

Relations between Cambodia and Thailand have been strained for some time....not just recently but since Cambodia's independence in the 1950s and even before that. To put it mildly Cambodian people generally are very unsympathetic to Thais (or Vietnamese for that matter but that is a different story) so they love a story to stir up the tension.

Recently it was the dispute concerning 900 year old Preah Vihear temple on the border. The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded the temple to Cambodia. The Thais didn't like that too much but what really twisted the knife was the fact that in July 2008 Unesco listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site. So they decided to send troops into the area....

With the Cambodians thinking was that the Thai's are after their temple/land and the Thais already fighting with their pride over the whole affair it isn't really surprising that the Cambodian army is also dispatched and the Cambodian PM calls the 4km square area a "life and death battle zone" - two Cambodians soldiers sadly died during a gun-battle.

Now there is a new tension - The Cambodian government has appointed former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economy adviser and this has made the Thai government hopping mad as they think he is a criminal and a powerful political opponent. Thaksin has been living in exile since 2006 when he was ousted in a military coup. A two-year jail sentence awaits him in Thailand. He arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday.

Cambodians it seems think the appointment is a good idea and the government is refusing to extradite him back to Thailand. This probably because a) the Thais are annoyed thereby increasing the delight of the population and b) most people do not publicly disagree with the ruling party for some reason.... Its reported that Thaskin has been playing golf with Cambodian PM Hun Sen.

Things have escalated though and now Cambodia has ordered the first secretary of the Thai Embassy to leave Phnom Penh, and Thailand have done the same to the Cambodian representative in Thailand (small world but I am fairly confident that I used to teach his grandson...!).

Latest news is that a man has been arrested in Cambodia for allegedly spying for Thailand. Apparently he works for Cambodian Air Traffic Service and has been seeking out the flight details of Thaksin.... Thailand says arresting this guy is intimidation with the intention to defame Thailand. The Thai authorities then stated that they would not allow Thaksin's private jet to fly over Thailand's sky on his way out of Cambodia as he is supposed to be returning to Dubai.

In any event, I'm not sure what the government of one of the most corrupt countries can learn from a criminal on the run(!) Who knows what will happen next. If your booking a flight to Cambodia perhaps avoid Bangkok airport or get some good travel insurance!