Tag: workers

Koh Pich, Phnom Penh

I spent a couple of hours walking around my neighborhood last weekend.  What a place of contrasts. You can see this area on the map in the side bar. I live on Koh Pich, Phnom Penh, which translates to Diamond Island.  The school where I teach is on the island and a Canadian-Cambodian woman of Chinese descent owns all the land.  My street is in a community of houses called Elite Town.  There are some  beautiful completed houses, several are still under construction, and there is available land waiting for a house.

Condo Construction

Outside of Elite Town, along the Mekong River, are rows of elegant-looking condos that are in various stages of completion.  You see cranes everywhere along the skyline although much of the work is done manually.  Some condos have shops on the main floor and the living accommodation in the 2 or 3 floors above.

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Many complexes have french names.  The Elysee has a large “Arch de Triumphe” inserted within the building.  The promotional posters show a large sailing ship in the water, although I’m sure a boat that big would not be able to navigate the Mekong.  Our community has a statue that looks like Greek Gods surveying their realm positioned in the middle of a traffic circle and the streets are named after American Universities.

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Home Owners

I don’t know who lives in all of these homes.  There are some enormous houses that I have never seen anyone in, or even any lights on. It makes me think of the early wealthy Americans who had “new money”.  The homes built by the Rockefeller and Vanderbilt families were extravagant to show off their success.  The homes I see in this neighborhood remind me of that.

My building is owned by the school/island owner and is divided into 6 apartments, as is the building next door.  The building in back of me has one family living in a house the same size, but they (or someone) wash their clothes in tubs on the ground every day.  I, at least, have a washing machine in my building.

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Island Facilities

Besides the Canadian International School of Phnom Penh, there is a swimming pool and golf driving range on the island.  There is a theatre for live performances, an amusement park and an outdoor stage for live concerts.  Coffee shops, restaurants and pharmacies are found.  The convention center hosts displays of Thai products or political meetings, or whatever needs a large space.  The Korean Embassy is also on Koh Pich

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Weddings

The outside of the convention center contains smaller rooms used for weddings with flowers and fabric decorating the front. There iwas a framed photograph or 2 of the wedding couple.  I saw many photos of the various couples in traditional dress taken at Angkor Wat.  Several also had a photo of the couple in the white dress and black suit displayed outside the door.

What seemed most unusual to me is that they were celebrating the wedding at 9 am on Sunday morning.  People were all dressed up.  Maybe the party has gone on since the night before, but people milling around outside didn’t look tired enough for that.  I asked some people outside if I could take some pictures.  The police said go ahead, and wanted their picture taken too.  A man and boy wanted my picture taken with them.  I’m not used to being the attraction.

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Contrasts in Koh Pich

The thing that is most difficult to adjust to is the people who are working in Koh Pich.  They work so hard.  I was out on a Sunday morning about 8:30 and there were several women out sweeping the sidewalks, streets and gutters.  Construction workers were laying water lines, moving bricks, moving dirt, and pouring cement.  Guards sit all day on street corners directing traffic around cement trucks, allowing traffic into neighborhoods, or just sitting on the corner keeping watch.  These are people who could never even image living in more than a couple of rooms, let alone a penthouse condo.

They work long hours in often unsafe conditions. Many wear flip-flops but no gloves or hard hats.  Some wore safety vests.  Street cleaning women on our street lay in the hammock tied to the fence, but some lay out cardboard on the sidewalk for a resting place.  I watched a family spreading dirt with hoes in a high rise site.  They were barefoot, as was the man helping pour cement for footings.

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Phnom Penh is a city of extreme contrasts.  The first world and third world are both clearly visible here and it sure makes me think about how much I have.