The Best Laid Plans… .

Welcome to my Blog!

This is my first real installment and a landmark moment in my little project. I flew into Phnom Penh from Vancouver/Seoul late Tuesday nite and was met by my formidable friend Billy Irwin. We jammed my bags and boxed-up bike into a Tuk-Tuk and zig-zagged into town with Billy wheelie-ing away to lead us on his dirt bike.
We had a lot of catchin’ up to do; so the sun was coming up as we shambled off to sleep.
A few rainstorms over the last 2 or 3 days seem to’ve ushered in the dry season for good and today broke pure blue and what a Cambodian might even call ‘cool’. Not so much for a great big white guy, but I’ll acclimatize; we always do, don’t we?

I built my beautiful new Kona Ute just off the street in the entryway of Billy’s building: dozens of curious peeps stopping for a moment to look, some offering advice and some even offering to relieve me of sundry objects. The empty box was real popular; I think one guy wanted to make it his house. It’s big enough. The guys at the bike shop call the bike my ‘Cruise Ship’, and it’s all that. Too big by far to make it up the super-steep winding staircase to Billy’s 3rd flr apt – no chance. So I’m keeping it in a secure outdoor parking lot kitty-corner; 50 cents a day.
Today will be the first big exploratory ride and, to be sure, it’s a little daunting. It’s nuts out there; every conceivable kind of vehicle/pedestrian/animal coming at you from all angles, all the time. However, unlike most everywhere else in SE Asia, Cambodian traffic moves (generally) at a slow almost magisterial pace with not too much of the insane gridlock density that you find elsewhere. Cambodians themselves are in general a languid and amicable people and this is a big reason why almost every tourist who’s ever visited has enjoyed both the place and its people.
My first step is to meet with clinics and NGOs (of which there are hundreds in this beleaguered nation). My aim is to align myself with those who treat amputees, those who fit them for prostheses, and all of the de-mining agencies in order to orchestrate Mirror Therapy sessions for both amps and caregivers here in PP and up in the Highland provinces in the North.
I hope to see both Cambodia Trust and MAG International on Monday. I’ve been sweating the small stuff too: I went to a tinsmith yesterday and had them cut for me 2 sample mirrors of reflective tin (next week I will check out the possibility of acrylic ones), and I’m having a local guy design and print some new business cards. This is all, of course, in an effort to keep all my commercial activities as local and sustainable as possible… .
I’m sorta a bona fide citoyen here: you can send me a cheque or a love letter to:

Stephen Sumner, Me and My Mirror
PO Box 1755, Phnom Penh

Or call me or txt me a ‘Dear Yuan’ msg @ +855 95 779924
Peace,s