You want tuk tuk tomorrow?
The tuk tuk driver is an optimistic creature, you’ve got to give him that. Walk out of any bar or cafe, or down the street, or out of your house, even just stand up or look like you’re going anywhere in the next ten minutes, and he is there, asking if you’d like a tuk tuk. If not today, maybe you’d like a tuk tuk tomorrow? The day after? The tuk tuk driver is omnipresent, on every street corner. On long nights with no business he’ll lie in the back of his own tuk tuk with a couple of mates, playing Khmer pop music on his mobile, but always ready to pounce on any passing business.
Contrast this with a taxi driver in London. Assuming they even stop, you tell them where you want to go, and they may mull on it for a moment before saying ‘nah’ and driving off, leaving you on the pavement throwing profanities at the back of their head.
Tuk tuk drivers may get annoying… no, scrub that, they do get annoying, but at least they don’t get sniffy about going South of the river.
In other news…
Bella’s puppies have opened their eyes, and have started exploring their surroundings. Like true Khmer dogs, it seems several of them have already learnt essential skills. Flinching for one. I can see a bright future for them, eating leftover food and getting run over by motorbikes.
As Hannah and I now have things to do, which are in separate places, I have had to spend a lot more time telling people that we are not together when asked by various people “where is your wife?”. Hannah and I have done our bit to contribute to this misunderstanding by bickering like an old married couple. No we haven’t. Yes we have. Oh you would say that.
I now have a voluntary job as a tutor at the Sangkheum Centre, an education and childcare centre outside Siem Reap providing support to children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. I’m responsible for a group of young adults, aged 16–18, who need career guidance, conversational English teaching and vocational skills training to prepare them for work placements, study, and integration into society as independent, resourceful people. It’s a new project, with a lot of potential, in need of timetables, an administration and assessment structure, further development, and not least funding. I’m very excited.
Quite Random is the blog of Nathan Nelson, a human male who lives in the UK and is not entirely sure what he's going to do when he grows up but is interested in international development, photography, secularism, technology, music and movies and other things anyone of his age would be.
