Lightning Strike Deaths

I was surprised to read this article in the Phnom Penh Post this week, apparently the number of lightning deaths in Cambodia for the first 6 months of the year is already over 100 (more than the total for the whole of last year). There's no doubt there are some impressive storms here in the rainy season, and the country is very flat with few trees which I guess makes people particularly vulnerable, but I was still horrified that so many people each year are killed by lightning. To put it in perspective, this compares to a rate of 5-10 people killed per year in Australia (with a population of approximately 21 million), and 5 killed per year in the UK (with a population of almost 60 million). With Cambodia's population at only 14 million, this is an incredibly high figure.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009063026802/National-news/lightning-deaths-in-2009-so-far-surpass-total-for-all-of-last-year.html

The Woods Valve

I always thought there were just two types of bike valves - Presta and Schrader. The other day I needed to pump up the tyres on my Cambodian single speed mean machine, and I decided to pick up a pump instead of using the street corner repair guys. Anyway, a quick look at the valves on my bike left me a bit confused. I'd never seen anything like these before. Our guard, Vuthy, saw me looking perplexed and came over to help with his foot pump. Watching him I really couldn't understand how the valve worked. So, a bit of internet research later and i'd established they're called the "Woods" or "Dunlop" valve. Supposedly they were very popular in England back in the day (John Boyd Dunlop invented them and the pneumatic tyre which were fitted to J.K. Starley's chain-driven safety bicycle in 1888 - basically the first modern bicycle). Woods valves are apparently still the dominant valve in Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, and most of the developing world.

So, armed with this information off I went to the stationary shop (which I knew from previous experience sells a lot more than stationary) and I buy a pump which at least has an adapter that looks similar to Vuthy's. They're very simple valves - the whole core can be removed and replaced - and rely on a rubber sleeve over the core to make the seal, and a locking nut to keep it in place. It's hard to get much pressure into them because of this. In theory, you can just attach the pump and inflate (there's a tiny hole in the core which forces air through but the rubber sleeve prevents it escaping). In practise I found it a little easier to release the locking nut a little bit to get the air in.

I think other expats here must get confused by these too because every time I go down to pump up my tyres, Vuthy runs over to give me a hand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_valve#Dunlop_.28or_Woods.29
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_w.html#woods
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_dr-z.html#dunlop

Busting Some Moves

Our friends Chris & Claire have been staying with us for a few days on their way to Vietnam and home to Melbourne in a few weeks. It's been really great having them. Last night we went out to the local park to check out some of the communal dancing that happens every night, I think for both fitness and fun. It's really popular here. The park is full of different sound rigs playing all kinds of music from traditional to dance competing for decibels, it's a real cacophony of noise. Some of the sets only attract a few dancers, or consist of a few friends performing a rehearsed routine, while others attract hundreds of people in line dancing style rows. Here's a couple of video's...in the first you can see Chris, Claire & Em tearing up the dance floor. I think Claire wins the dance off although the dance leader probably wouldn't approve of her individual break out moves. The second one shows the guys with the sound rig and the leader of the whole thing who wears a radio mic and calls the moves. I can't really imagine this taking off in our culture, we're too self conscious and just don't have this kind of group mentality, but the people here love it.

White Cliffs of Dover

A Culinary Adventure

I really got into all things English on this trip home, including food - greasy breakfasts with black pudding, fish and soggy chips with mushy peas, Devonshire cream teas - i've no idea why people think the English can't cook. This particular experience, however, was a real challenge to my nostalgic reverie. We found a seafood shack on Deal beach and I ordered (clockwise from left in the picture below) jellied eels, whelks and cockles. Not brave enough to sample them on the beach where I might spit them out on some poor unsuspecting pensioner, I took them home which was probably a good thing. The cockles were great with salt and vinegar, definitely recommended (even my young niece and nephew liked these). The whelks were, well, meaty and took quite a bit of chewing. I don't think whelks are for me. The jellied eels, an East London speciality, hmmm...I love eels but the jelly didn't go down well with me at all...there's a before and after shot below.

Wheatfield

Sun on Leaves

Ah...Pubs

I love an English pub...and English beer, so I picked up a copy of the "Good Beer Guide 2009" before my trip back this time. Our holiday took us to a fair few English counties - Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Kent, Lancashire & Suffolk - and we found great real ale and cracking pubs in all of them. Here is a small selection of the establishments we visited...a kind of photo homage to pubs I guess. Enoy !

Lunch on the Mekong

Flying back into Phnom Penh this time, I was struck by how much the landscape has transformed - despite relatively low monsoon rainfall in Phom Penh, the rural areas adjacent to the two rivers (Tonle Sap & Mekong) have become a flooded waterworld due to the heavy rain upstream. More interesting still, the Tonle Sap river has reversed it's flow whilst we were away (due to the heavy monsoon rains in the Mekong catchment - you can read more about this phenomenon on wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonle_Sap). Em's work colleagues had hired a boat for a few hours over lunchtime today and I shook off my jetlag to join them. Cruising along the Mekong and checking out the river life over a glass of wine was great fun. Here are a few random shots and a video of some kids doing backflips into the murky water.

Site Update

Well, i'm back in Phnom Penh, and back online so expect quite a few posts over the next few days (they'll mostly be about England and our trip which was brilliant). I've also refreshed the site design, let me know if you have any problems with it.