Electricity

Electricity in Cambodia, where it is available is expensive and un reliable. I live in a town where many of the houses have an electricity supply but we have lots of power cuts. It is expensive and there fore beyond the pocket of most Cambodian people who really do live by the hours of daylight, getting up when it gets light and going to bed as soon as it is dark. I am told that the reason it is so expensive is because it is supplied by Thailand. However almost anything which affects my Cambodian friends and colleagues adversly is blamed on the Thai nation including variations in the weather,the price of food,gas and petrol and more serious issues like who fired the first shot in the frequent outbreaks of violence along the Thai/Cambodia border. This photo shows the wiring on which we are dependent for our electricity supply!!This was taken in Siem Reap which has a "modern" electricity supply.On many of the poles are lots of what look like to me , electricity meters. I have no idea how these work but people are always fiddling with them using screw drivers and attaching extra wires. It all looks very dangerous What is amazing is that we have electricity at all!