It will soon be Car-Hiding time!

National elections take place every five years here and 2009 is an election year. Guess what? The government can take your car for election duty! Your own private car! A policeman or party official can stop you on the street, take down your car information and then give you a paper telling you when and where to bring your car. And you have to do it! It is kinda like jury duty. You have to show up, but if you present a compelling reason why your car cannot be used, then you are excused (doctors usually don't have to give up their cars). And once you give your car, you are exempt from car duty for a while.

You get reimbursed for the use of your car, but I have heard that the cars usually come back trashed. And friends tell me that people will hide their cars for a while until after the election period. So, I started getting really worried until I found out that they typically target big cars and we have one of the smallest ones around!

This pic of our car was taken during one of the lighter monsoon floods last year

But still!!! Anyway, here is an article entitled "Car-pull on ballot eve - Wary owners shield private vehicles from police on the prowl" from a few years back about the whole thing.

New Blog Profile Pic

Well, instead of a picture 14 months old, I have now put up a picture only 11 months old. But, it's from the only time I have worn a sari and this blog IS about S Asia.

This picture is from a wedding we attended in a village about 3 hours away. One of these days I will blog about it (how many times have I said THAT?) with pictures.

I borrowed this sari from a friend and she helped me put it on; otherwise, I am SURE it would have fallen off and resulted in a very embarrassing moment. Make that many moments.

Cambodia, Here We Come!

Our flights and hotels for Cambodia are booked! Which is a major achievement here - especially the plane tickets. I could go into the craziness involved, but I am in a good mood and I don't feel like re-living that experience through writing about it. However, I will share the silver lining - we encountered a nice lady at Thai Airways and a lovely man who works for a local travel agency, both of whom were very helpful and everything they said was TRUE!

We will be going to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (to see Angkor Wat). This is what I read about Phnom Penh...
For western visitors, Phnom Penh can be a rough change. It can be very hot and (in the dry season) dusty, its infrastructure is largely lacking, and it is very poor - much poorer than, for example, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Visitors who can't handle rubbish and dust in the streets, risky traffic, blocked sidewalks, prowling tuk tuk and moto-drivers, touts and beggars may not enjoy the city.
But this place was our paradise on our vacation there last year and we cannot wait to go back! (We really need a vacation from K and we've been back for only two months.) All we really did in Phnom Penh last time was sleep, eat and stroll around the city - it was great! The food is fantastic. There are lots of NGOs there and many of the restaurants cater to expat palates. We leave late next Thursday night and already have plans to dine at a Spanish tapas place for their Sunday special unlimited paella and sangria - all for $10!

My husband is AMAZING!

One thing I enjoyed doing in the US was getting the Sunday car section before Jerry did and asking him the questions from the car advice column to see if his answers matched the "Car Guy" since he knows so much about cars. And he was almost always aligned with the printed advice given.

And since moving to K, Jerry has started reading about the cars here. Did you know that a S Asian company now owns Jaguar?

Anyway, here is the amazing thing - he is now so familiar with the cars in S Asia that when I ask him the car questions from the newspapers here, he typically gives the same advice as the Car Guy AND for the same reasons! Pretty incredible, eh? Maybe he could get a job here as the car section editor for a local paper. I would hire him. He is very knowledgeable and has excellent written and verbal English communication skills. Hormazd better watch out!

Dog Service and Tiger Security

First, thanks for praying for my friend, Jodie. A bone marrow donor has been found!! Can you believe it? A one in a million chance and a match was found. She is still waiting for final approval and a transplant date. Yea!

And now... for a tidbit about S Asia. Whenever I call for someone to work on the A/C or electrical stuff or whatever is broken in my flat, several men show up to assess the problem. They are always accompanied by this uniformed man who has a police badge looking patch on his shirt that says, "DOG SERVICE & TIGER SECURITY" Now, there are tons of stray dogs here (and lots on my street because of some crazy lady who keeps feeding them) and we are a few hours from a national tiger preserve, but really, I have no idea what this patch means. I really wish I had the nerve to ask the man if I could take a picture of his patch so I could post it here. He is a pretty friendly chap, but I would still feel weird about it. And I really really wish I knew enough Bangla to ask him what the patch means. The only thing I can think of is that he comes to make sure I am safe, since I am typically home by myself when these service people come. But why dogs and tigers???

Ya know, I think posting this blog has given me the guts to ask the next time he comes. But wouldn't it be amazing if I never had to call a service person to my flat again?!