Vlady Fresh

Once a month the four of us spend the weekend in Phnom Penh. We leave the house by 6:00 am sharp which allows us to get to the office by 9:00 for our team meeting and team lunch. Then, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning, it’s our opportunity to stay in an air conditioned room, catch up with friends, get Cassia’s vaccinations, bring Silas to the play ground, stock up on cereal, and feast on Nepalese food. As you can imagine, these weekends are usually booked solid but, for some reason, we had tons of free time this past weekend. At one point we were so bored that we walked up and down every aisle in a supermarket simply because it was spacious and air conditioned.

Anyhow, this abundance of down time allowed me to indulge in some reflection regarding life in Cambodia, our lives here, and the rapid changes currently overwhelming Phnom Penh. Here are some of them in no particular order:

We’re not related … really, we aren’t
We were just about to leave Kompong Cham when Anita asked Silas to go pee one more time. While packing the trunk I heard their conversation and suggested, “You can use my office since it’s on the first floor.” When I closed the trunk and looked up I saw Silas peeing on a tree. I said, “What in the world? Why didn’t you bring him to a bathroom?” Matter of factly, Anita replied, “I went to your office but I couldn’t find the light switch so I told Silas he could use the tree.” I know for a fact that Anita would have found the light switch if we were still living in Boston, but when in Rome …

A what?
Early Saturday morning, soon after Silas woke up and pulled opened the curtains, I heard Anita yell out, “Look Silas! There’s an elephant outside the window!” Silas and I immediately pressed our faces to the glass and saw a huge elephant walking on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. I shook my head and thought, “What in the world am I doing here?”

Business acumen
In places like Cambodia most people don’t have the luxury of choosing a profession the way that most Westerners do. Generally, you inherit the family trade or business, or simply take the first job where they’ll actually hire you. Obviously, there are some serious drawbacks to this system, the chief one being that there are many people working way, way out of their talents and skills. This weekend Anita went to the market to buy a shirt for Cassia. In an effort to get her to buy two, the salesman said, “It’s $3.50 for one but, if you buy two, I’ll give it to you for $7!” Many other times I’ve seen two items packaged together for three times the price of one item alone.

Concrete jungle
Phnom Penh is developing at a phenomenal rate. When we lived there, it was harder to see because the changes occurred gradually, every day. Now, since we drive down once a month, the apparent rate of change is astonishing. Everywhere roads are being paved. High rises are being built throughout the city. And newer and better infrastructure is being developed. When we first visited the city in 2001 Anita and I laughed that it should even be called a city since it felt to us like series of interconnected villages. Even last year I was able to see the riverfront fireworks from my second story deck miles away from the celebrations. I’m sure that within two years those views will only be possible from the 8th floor or higher.

Rise of the middle class
It used to be that the Cambodian middle class was primarily composed of foreign NGO workers and missionaries. We were the ones supporting the handful of supermarkets, western restaurants and internet service providers. We used to shake our heads wondering how these restaurants stayed in business when 90% of the seats were perpetually vacant. That’s why it was so bizarre when last month we had to wait for a table at a pizza restaurant for the first time. The reason? It was packed with Cambodian families and young professionals.

In the short while since we’ve moved to Kompong Cham, multiple electronics showrooms have appeared throughout the city. This past weekend I walked passed one of these showrooms which was overflowing with young Khmer. What was more shocking to me was that they were actually buying plasma TVs and HD-DVD players, not just browsing out of curiosity. I then entered Lucky Supermarket, a former expat haven, to purchase some snacks. Everywhere I looked, there were throngs of Khmer families doing their weekly shopping. At the registers it was obvious that foreigners now made up less than 5% of their customers. In 2003, it had less than 5% Khmer customers and most of those were domestic helpers for foreigners.

American invasion
Two days ago I read an interesting article in the English language magazine. (That such a thing even existed blew me away when I saw it.) The word on the street is that KFC is planning to open it’s first franchise here later this year. If successful, they then plan to open multiple others. Then, when driving out of the city to return to Cambodia I saw billboard advertising “sven sens” ice cream. San Francisco based Swensen’s had just opened a franchise in Phnom Penh! This is mind blowing because one of Cambodia’s claims to fame was that there were no foreign chain restaurants or fast food outlets. It was BIG NEWS a few years ago when Dairy Queen opened shop at the airport. Now I see that it was just establishing the beachhead for a full on invasion of Americana.

Life outside the city
Like most rapidly developing countries, the development here has been uneven. It often appears that more than 90% of the benefits are received by the residents of the capital capital and other select areas favored by the ruling elite. For those scattered throughout the provinces, development has been limited to two forms of basic infrastructure, electricity and paved 2 lane roads generously called “highways”. I’ve seen the extension of electricity first hand. When we first moved to Kompong Cham, I would bike through the adjoining villages for exercise. Every Saturday morning I had to bike a few extra kilometers to go beyond the reach of electrical lines. In addition, Sunrise is next door to a factory that makes cement electrical poles. Since first moving here the factory has extended it’s hours and is now cranking out poles 7 days a week.

Final thoughts
Putting this all together, the dominant thought that I have is “I really like this place!” Though Cambodia can be unbearably boring in the everyday, when I take a step back to see all that’s going on, it’s exhilarating. Living here is worth the aggravation of flickering electricity, cold showers, and corrupt police. Thinking that we may leave Cambodia this summer saddens me, in part because I feel that I may not recognize it when I return.