Expresso Kamuchea

[tan]

..that's what is thought too, get drinking water... but nooo..
In the rainy season- when there is enough water to be had those things go up. well: at night they put a light on top, and all the crickets go for the light (a lot of other insects too i would imagine.) .. But the crickets can jump very high- but they can not fly, so when they aim for the light and land on the plastic, they can nor hang on, (something i can prove in my bathtub on a daily base)- they fall to the bottom where the plastic is rounded, like it would be for water.... then the crickets, floundering about, get picked up and deep fried and are sold on street corners in cute little cone bags made out of the rather graphic khmer news papers. Those- the crickets that is- are actually quite good to eat, a little bit like still warm potato chips- although, with legs. takes a bit of getting used to, but it is fun sitting in a pick up in the mountains perusing the newspaper khmer newspaper pictures and munching crickets. anyways they are cheaper than the fried spiders, the goey center of which i did never quite get used to. anyways..

fun on the
french rubber-front_ the michelins'' came into town today: subdued, they do think it was a 'very bad article'they said to bill who said: yeah, but the only thing bad about it is that it is true. the Conradian barrons were not happy, all the less so, when bill hit them up for 5 grant for the phnong boarding school that he is in charge of. - the boarding school is the only possibility for any phnong kid to get a higher education, as most of the village are too remote to send kids to high school on a daily base: villages some times are more than 2 weeks away by boat, foot and elephant....
and the kids need to eat, the parents are destitute- now more so than ever, and the boarding school is always running out of cash, so as bill figures let the guilty pay...

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

A cricket collector! I never would have guessed it for a snack food harvester! Who knew?!

[jamiebk]

A cricket collector! I never would have guessed it for a snack food harvester! Who knew?!

Amazing....and ingenius. I suppose we'll see it show up on "Survivorman, or "Man -vs- Wild" next season. HA

[tan]

..here this week end’s police blotter: from the pp post: (wellcome to our banana republic….)!

FREED CONVICT SENT BACK TO PRISON
A Battambang man who had just been released from prison on drug charges was arrested again on Friday after he destroyed his household possessions and hit his mother and younger sister. Heang Chanthy, 30, had been in jail for six months for destroying household property and using illegal substances. He was reported to police by his mother and sister.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

Worker forced to confess to crime
Rith Sovannara, 18, has been accused of stealing US$470 and 1,000 Thai baht from a man in Pteah Prey commune, Pursat, after he was taken to the police station by his boss and forced to confess. Police said the suspect, who is from Koas Krala district, Battambang, had already spent most of the money on a cellphone and prostitutes. The incident happened while the suspect was attending an event in Pursat.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

Fake jewellery sellers caught
Two men were arrested by police when they attempted to sell fake platinum rings to jewellery sellers at Teuk Thla market, Phnom Penh, on Friday morning. The suspects, Chhun Vy, 33, and Chey Samrach, 29, both live in Dangkor district, Phnom Penh. Police said they found the men in possession of six rings the pair claimed to be made of platinum, but were actually made of a cheaper metal.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

TEACHER KILLED IN MOTORBIKE ACCIDENT
A 34-year-old teacher died instantly when his motorbike collided with another on the way home from a wedding. Saroeun Saykhamthorn of Sokha Phally High School was on National Road 4 in Kampong Speu province when he hit the oncoming vehicle on Friday night. Two people who were on the other motorbike, Horm Sokim, 22, and Chuon Rithy, 23, were both severely injured and were taken to hospital.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

Nice that the Phnom PENH POSt KEPT THE POLICE BLOTTER….under the new management.
Rain, rain and more rain here, it is quiet and only a few tourists about.. life is boring and everybody seems to start this year’s cabin fewer early, I for one do,
But as this’ is not snooky, there is nobody to fight around- at least no worthy enemies. Pity, so we read, watch dvd’s and the rain… blessed be the internet, just wish it wasn’t so very expensive here…. If and when it works, that is….

[tan]

it is raining and raining and raining, the river is full and the dogs and me are very wet having been caught- quite awares ,but too far from home to avoid it...today is the 2nd of the month: that is when i have to pay the electricity bill. No bill. It should have been there about a week ago- no bill. ( so, no bill- no pay, right? wrong, if the money- what money? how much? is not there they will shut you off no matter. Mony calls the electric company: answer, ooh but you have many dogs we afraid- so maybe not deliver. and:
you bring money now. that's when i lost the plot: why not leave the bill with my neighbors, or at least let me know. So i started screeching into the phone: and you bring the ....whatever....bill- and i pay when i am good and ready and if you try to shut me off, you WILL meet my dogs. the bill got delivered to my neighbors, who, not afraid of the dogs duly delivered it to me.... aww!
here todays police blotter, enjoy!!
Police Blotter: 02 Jun 2009
Written by Lim Phalla
TUESDAY, 02 JUNE 2009


TRAFFIC POLICE NAB ‘RUDE' SOLDIER
A conflict between traffic police and a soldier broke out in Dangkzor district, Phnom Penh on Saturday. After an armed struggle, Sreang Theara, 31, a first lieutenant from the personnel department of the Ministry of Defence, was arrested and taken to a local police station. According to the police, the altercation was caused by Sreang Theara who did not respect the traffic law and acted in a rude manner towards the traffic police.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

Robbers pistol whip 25-year-old
Five armed robbers seized three damlung of gold, $US300 and 7 million riels from jewelry sellers in Kantuot market, Kandal province on Sunday night. The robbers shot four times before they escaped.One victim, Lim Chhaypang, 25, suffered a blow to the head from a gun that fractured his skull.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

Phone card thief caught red handed
One of two suspected thieves was arrested by the police for stealing phone cards on Friday afternoon. The thieves posed as customers before stealing a bucket of phone cards worth $1,000 and fleeing. After the store owner shouted for help, the police chased the thieves and arrested one of them about 20km away from the scene. The phone cards were found and were returned to the victim. The arrested thief was a 26-year-old-male, Pov Chumnith.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

LONG-HAIRED PUPILS SHORN BY POLICE
On Tuesday morning the police in Battambang province called two seventh-grade students aged 15 and 16 at Netr Yang High School who were standing in front the police station to come in and cut their hair, which police said was too long. The police said they could not stand seeing students looking so bad. Teachers said they did not dare say anything to the students even though they also disapproved of their hair length because they were afraid they would be attacked by the students and that they might be forced to jump out of the classroom through the window.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

[tan]

Hi, eerybody.. it has been a while, the thing being, i went to a real- blog..- whatever that maybe... and fought with it and fought and then some more... Now it seems to shape up, well kinda.... so here da link:
http://camodia.blogspot.com/
oeps that does not look right..????
does this work???, that stuff drives me crazy, half- or actually most of the time i do not know or get what these machines are talking about, and then- go to help?? gibberish, aww i am j ust getting old i think....

[Shapley]

Thanks, Tanja.

I printed it out for later reading. It's always a pleasure to read about the happenings there.

V/R
Shapley

[tan]

ooh yeah, Schmeelkie, an eclipse, and a big one too, we heard... after the fact, phones and internet had been down. And it is rainy season too: did we have an eclipse?, i asked Bill. oh yes', he said, kinda forgot to tell you.. remember the other day, when it was so cloudy and then it got so dark and we said, wow, that's gonna be one big rain.. '??". "yeah i do remember". well," Bill said, "that was an eclipse." Oh. wow.
http://camodia.blogspot.com/

[Shapley]

'Pied Piper of Pedophiles' Arrested In Cambodia

The man should never have been let back on the streets, let alone be freed to travel to other countries to molest their children. Let us hope justice is a bit more thorough this time around.

[Shapley]

A follow-up on the "Jungle Woman" story

[Shapley]

I check in on Tanja's Blog now and again. She had been pretty quiet, but she's posted a bit more lately. You can read it here:

Life In The WIld East Of Cambodia

[Schmeelkie]

Thanks Shap - good to catch up with Tanja!

[Shapley]

Looks like she's having troubles with missionaries and the thieves. She plans to sell the business and move again.

[Shapley]

I see Tanja has a new post. Internet problems keep them to a minimum in Mondulkiri.

There's a snake in the Kitchen...

[jamiebk]

I see Tanja has a new post. Internet problems keep them to a minimum in Mondulkiri.

There's a snake in the Kitchen...

At least they keep the rats and lesser creatures out of the kitchen. I can't imagine anything much more frightening than a fully erect cobra staring right at you...especially when you had no idea it was there.

[Shapley]

The idea that people had been sitting at the bar with their feet dangling only a few inches from a 15+ foot long Cobra is kind of sobering...

[Haggis@wk]

Tarantula cocktail – the worst cocktail ever

Warning: Selma don't even think of looking at the link!!!

[Shapley]

I seem to recall Tanja telling us about the Cambodian liking for fried spiders.

[tan]

Felix chaus oeps!!
a month or two ago I went to the computer place (yes this miserable outpost has something akin to that these days).
On a table sat a beautiful little kitten playing with a not so empty ink cartridge with predictable results. You can have that one growled the shop owner and trust the inky fur ball at me. never one to say no to a cat, especially as our last one got eaten by a snake i took the little fellow home: he who turned out to be a she- is still very young I realized soon, about 8 weeks not more, although a bit big for her age. Pretty she is,slightly cross eyed as some of my guests pointed out, not quite as bad as Clarence of daktari fame but enough to make her miss a jump or two of the more ambitious kind. Eusje as I called her -then vanished. Gone, I thought and missed the most affectionate though extremely vocal little fellow somehow terribly After about a week when I had just about given up hope there she was again: dusty hungry but with an air of; so here I am home, and does a cat get fed hereabouts or what?. She ate two cans of mackerel., slept for about three days, ate more mackerel, hissed murderously at the dogs who were not impressed at all, fell through a weak part in the restaurant's roof onto and into the dinner of several mortified guests, pissed on my bed, when admonished took to pissing under it, sent all the rats and other vermin packing in a panicked frenzy that has not been seen since the last cobra hit my kitchen,- In short , she did all the kitten things to be expected...only more so, just a bit well .. more savagely so, it seemed... then she vanished again....for about four days: just to arrive back 'guiding' some new guests down the garden path...and seemed to have grown to about twice as big. Could she be older than I had thought, I wondered, but no, she still has her milk teeth she is just. Very very big for her age, taller than even a dutch 'model tea cozy' cat.
Then she bloodied Elvis's nose- unprovoked I might add.
When I found her cavorting in the river, with the bulldogs, who hate water in any form looking on in wonder, I had to admit to myself, that this is ,not, well, quite a household variety of cat.
Then I remembered vaguely there is such a thing, referred to by a friend from wwf as bad ass cat:the off spring of a wild jungle cat and a domestic one....a quick look in my wildlife guide of Cambodia sent me running to the internet: sure enough, a half/ chaus Felix, or chaussie as they are known, I have here....a curious how this will work out, to say the least!

[tan]

ooh Shap if you ever read this you gonna love it:
..about 2 years ago Cambo got kentucky fried chicken as the first 'real' fast food chain. it is too expensive for anybody here (kinda defies the general idea of fast food, of course, but so it be) sooo, only the children of the rich are the only ones who go there: unpredictable and worse at the best of times, they are-all the way to downright dangerous as they get seldom held responsible for their actions due to their well, 'status'.
now on many a street corner in Phnom penh, there are little wagons, and stalls that sell"CP" (can't call it cpp as that is the reigning party in cambo and would cause confusion and probably worse than that....)-so chicken phnom, it is... a perfect and better version of the fried Kentucky one...cheaper too... ( i even saw one shop in the Chinese section of Monivong boulevard where : buy one kg get one free was advertised...