Why Visit Phnom Penh?

1. We have a sweet guest room

2. There's lots of fun things to do! Check out this recent article from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/travel/21hours.html?bl&ex=1222056000&en=e988142cbc6e5775&ei=5087%0A

Once Bitten Twice Shy

So this past Monday (25 August) I had one of my scarier experiences in Cambodia. So much so, that I have actually postponed blogging about it until now, when I am fairly certain I’ll make a 100% recovery. I actually didn’t even tell my family until yesterday, just to save them from unnecessary panic… 

The story starts last Monday, as Naomi and I rode the Super Cub home from the Chinese Noodle Restaurant on Monivong. As had become my tradition with every return home, I stayed downstairs to play with my landlord’s dogs while Naomi went upstairs.

My landlord has two dogs, Bel and Jo-Jo. They are both un-neutered males, both about 4 years old, and both a little… well unpredictable. Bel is the “house dog”, who gets to sleep inside at night and generally seems cleaner and better loved. He’s also more of a punk – some days he’ll run right up and play with me for as long as I’d like, while other days he’ll just stay in the house (where I can’t chase him). 

Jo-Jo is about 45 lbs, and roughly the size of a Australian Shepherd. Jo-Jo on the other hand is always more eager to receive love, as he gets very little.  Jo-Jo, while affectionate, is also rather unaccustomed to human interaction, and rather wary of people. He’s growled and even snapped at me in the past when I’ve accidentally rubbed him the wrong way.

On Monday, as typical, Bel wouldn’t come near me, but Jo-Jo came right up and I started petting him. Bel, jealous at the attention being given his rival decided to start provoking Jo-Jo with some somewhat innocent pawing and yapping. However, Jo-Jo and Bel are at that touchy stage when there’s no clear “alpha”, and the dogs regularly get into scraps with each other.

 In response to Bel’s provocation, Jo-Jo started growling, and I attempted to prevent a fight by turning his head, a tactic successfully employed on several previous occasions. However, this action backfired, and Jo-Jo viciously snarled at me and bit my right wrist. 

When he bit me, I tried to subdue him by grabbing his collar, but this just further pissed him off, and he turned and REALLY bit my wrist. 

I remember looking down and seeing him with my wrist in his mouth, shaking it like a chew toy, and I immediately grabbed him by the neck. I started choking him, and he was getting more and more enraged. At this point I had the tiger by the tail, and I was afraid to let him loose, because he was more likely than not to lay into my leg or something.  My landlord, who was standing by for most of this incident, had no idea what to do to stop the attack, and was holding a pinky-thick bamboo stick (to fight him off?).

I tightened my grip and picked the dog off the ground, and he’s now choking and spasming. I see a pool of blood on the ground and my first thought is that he’s coughing up blood. Then I realize it’s not his blood but mine. At this point, I realize I got to get my arm cleaned up as soon as possible, and start looking for a way to neutralize the dog’s threat. I consider choking him out, but then realize it will be much quicker to just throw him out the gate and close it behind him, which I promptly did.

 At this point I run upstairs, and call out to Naomi “he bit me”. Her face turns white as she sees the blood pouring down my arm and off my elbow. I go straight to the bathroom and started washing out the wounds. My landlord and Naomi come to help and pretty soon we had my wrist cleaned and bandaged. I’m still panting and sweating like I just came through a fight for my life, and I tell Naomi it’s time to go to SOS, our local medical clinic.

 My wrist is throbbing, but not bleeding, and I tell Naomi to grab some money, as I remembered from another late night visit to SOS that it’s at least $100 to play ball after hours. I turned down an offer from my landlord for a ride, as I still wanted some time to cool down, and we walked 5 minutes down the street to the clinic.

 The staff at SOS was fairly competent and they had me on a bed and were getting me cleaned up again within 10 minutes. As I type this I can count about 17 major puncture wounds on my right wrist. The gnarliest was on the underside where a small piece of fat was hanging out – it was pretty gross. The doctor snipped it off, cleaned everything twice with Iodine, and wrapped me up with some gauze.

 Then we started looking around for other wounds, which I had on both feet (must have kicked something) and my left knee. Doc cleaned and bandaged these, and then started looking into vaccinations.

 Now like you, I had heard the rumors and seen the episode of Beavis & Butthead where they got 20 shots to the stomach for rabies then find out on TV at the end of the episode that you only need 5 shots in the arm now. Thankfully, B&B were right, and it’s only 5 shots to the arm now. I’ve got 3 down and 2 more to go in the coming weeks. Jo-Jo had been vaccinated previously (according to my landlord), and was not displaying any signs of rabies, but they recommend vaccination in case of any bites. Had he been suspected to be rabid, I would have required a $940 shot of rabies immune globulin.

It had been a while since my last tetanus vaccination, so he decided it was time for another.  Also, as with any wound in Cambodia, the risk of infection is very high, so the doc prescribed a 5-day course of amoxicillin.  He also gave me some Tylenol (I won’t need those, though I…) and told me to observe the dog for 10 days to ensure he’s behaving normally and remaining healthy. 

Thus began the road to recovery. Tuesday and Wednesday were some of the worst on record, as I moped through work, barely able to move my hand (but somehow able to drive my motorbike?), and very down. I changed the bandages twice per day, took the antibiotics, kept the wounds dry, and prayed for a speedy recovery.

Thankfully, God was gracious, and everything has been healing faster than ever. I will probably be bandage-free tomorrow, and my arm feels fine, save a little numbness on the side of my thumb remaining from a damaged nerve.

I’m still pretty angry at the dog, and my landlord has been careful to keep him away from me. I’d love to be friends with him again, but I’m sorry to say that I think the next time he comes within arm’s reach of me will be the last time he does anything.

UPDATE - Auto-Run and Virus Protection

So, just about every Windows computer in Cambodia is infected with viruses, most (if not all) of them transmitted by memory sticks.

After some research, I've learned preventing memory sticks from auto-loading viruses onto your PC is REALLY SIMPLE!

YOU NEED TO DISABLE AUTO-RUN! To do it, simply download this file and double click it.

If you get a virus warning, you can download this file, change the file extension from .txt to .reg (you may need to change your Windows settings to view file extensions) and double-click.

This will make a change to your registry which will disable the auto-run feature for all removable media.

Next, if you're already being hit by viruses, I would recommend Avira Anti-Vir and Spybot Search and Destroy. Both of these are excellent freeware programs, and I personally believe putting up wit Avira's annoying daily pop-up ad is well worth the protection it's providing me. Finally, let me just put in a plug for the best freeware website ever. I've never felt tricked or misled by a single word on this site. 100% recommend!

And finally, let me just let out a rant: Please stop incessantly refreshing your desktops, Cambodian tech guys.

Some Photos of My Work

My boss asked me to take photos of all the Korean staff at my office for an upcoming dinner with their families in Seoul (the husbands won't be attending). I think it's kind of like those hostage movies where you take a photo with the newspaper from that day... proof of life.

Anyways, I think some of you may find it interesting to check out my Korean coworkers (roughly half of the saff are Khmer) in the album here

And, there's some photos around the site and the office here

And, as always, you can check all my photo albums at this link.

My First Super Magic Ultimate Toilet

The Day Has Finally Come...

As I stepped into our company restroom today, a newcomer greeted me within my stall:

[Dun…Dun…Dun… …. DUNT DUH!!!]

For years I’ve heard about them, and today was my day to get to experience it “firsthand”.

I remember my friend Ben Keane telling a joke in 5th or 6th grade about a guy who snuck into the girls room in Japan and the toilet seat with 3 buttons and it automatically washed and dried your backside.

Well this one’s got 15 buttons!!! Check this bad boy out:

1. STOP. Very important
2. WASH. Key feature. Going nowhere without this one.
3. BIDET. The only button I didn’t have the courage to try.
4. DRY. Delivers as promised.
5. NOZZLE CLEAN. I guess the nozzle gets dirty from time to time. This extends the nozzle without turning any water on.
6. ECONOMY. I think this turns off all heating functions. Only for cheapskates. If you can’t afford to have your magic toilet use warm air and water, what’s the point?
7. WATER TEMP. Lets you adjust the temperature of the water.
8. AIR. Lets you adjust the air temperature. I recommend “M”
9. SEAT. This lets you pre-warm the toilet seat itself. These things are popular in Japan, and I’ve heard they have several cold-toilet-seat related deaths each year.
10. MASSAGE ON/OFF. I’ll admit this was the first button I pressed. Maybe it shakes the seat to keep you comfortable while you sit? No such luck. It pulsates the water if you prefer. Just a gimmick if you ask me.
11. MOVE ON/OFF. Didn’t figure this one out yet. Does it move the nozzle head to improve your massage? This may require further investigation.
12. PRESSURE – HI. Adjusts water and air pressure. Honestly, highest water pressure was a little disappointing.
13. PRESSURE – LOW. See above
14. NOZZLE – FORWARD. Moves nozzle forward to help get that perfect trajectory.
15. NOZZLE – BACKWARD. In case you overshot the perfect trajectory while pressing #14 lets you re-adjust backwards.

Nozzle extended in "Nozzle Clean" mode.

In all, I think we’re going to have a wonderful relationship, Mr. Super Toilet! But, please don’t electrocute me…

I don't think I've seen a single grounded plug in Cambodia.

The Best Smoothie In the World

The Pineapple Passion Smoothie from The Shop
(note: The glass has an orange colored band. The Smoothie itself does not have an orange layer)

This is a picture of what is without question, absolutely the best smoothie money can buy. The $2 Pineapple passion fruit smoothie from The Shop on Street 240, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

It’s made from fresh pineapples, fresh passion fruit, bananas, and voodoo! Your first sip will be forever remembered much like a first kiss or the first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. An unforgettable awakening of your senses and your spirit.

Naomi and I shared the smoothie above over 3 hours ago and thinking about it still quickens my pulse and makes my mouth water. The tart pineapple and passion fruit flavors wonderfully mix to make your breath stop short, and the fresh Cambodian bananas provide a wonderful sweetness and creaminess. Finally the crunchy passion seeds provide a wonderful texture and improve the presentation. SO GOOD!

Click image to enlarge

Phone Numbers in Cambodia

The Cambodian phone system can be a little confusing, so here's a quick lesson. For the following, P will represent the prefix, and N the 6 or 7 digit phone number:

1. The country code for Cambodia is 855.
2. Phone numbers take the following form from INSIDE Cambodia: 0 PP NNN NNN(N). Ex: 012 999 999.
3. Phone numbers take the form of +855 PP NNN NNN(N) when you dial from OUTSIDE of Cambodia. Ex: +855 12 999 999. Note that you REMOVE the "0" before the prefix.
4. Now, regarding prefixes, there are a many of them. I have put together the following list for your information. This is helpful, because there are a lot of prefixes and sometimes you don't know where you are calling. The nice thing is, you always know if you are calling a landline or a mobile phone, depending on the prefix.

Mobile Phones
Camshin (CAMBODIA SHINAWATRA)	011
Mobitel (Cellcard)	012
qB (CADCOMMS)	013
Hello (Telekom Malaysia)	015
Hello (Telekom Malaysia)	016
Mobitel (Cellcard)	017
Mobitel (Cellcard)	083
Mobitel (Cellcard)	089
Mobitel (Cellcard)	092
Viettel	097
Star Cell	098
Camshin (CAMBODIA SHINAWATRA)	099
Landlines
Phnom Penh	023
Takhmau	023
Kandal	024
Kampong Speu	025
Kampong Chhnang	026
Takeo	032
Kampot	033
Sihanoukville	034
Koh Kong	035
Kep	036
Kampong Cham	042
Prey Veng	043
Svay Rieng	044
Pursat	052
Battambang	053
Banteay Meanchey	054
Pailin	055
Kampong Thom	062
Siem Reap	063
Preah Vihear	064
Udar Meanchey	065
Kratie	072
Mondul Kiri	073
Stung Treng	074
Ratanakiri	075