Banana power

When we came out of the bank this lunchtime, we discovered the car had been boxed into the parking space by a pickup parked in the street. I jokingly said to our driver, Chek, who is quite a stocky guy, that perhaps he could just push it out of the way. He promptly got out and did just that! Either he is very strong or it is standard practice to park without the hand-brake on...

Chek means "banana" in Khmer. Chek told me he was named after a famous film from the 1950s, which was remade in the 1960s and again in the 1990s, called " the boy who wears a banana leaf". Apparently the boy in question, after many adventures, falls in love and marries a beautiful girl from a rich family and they all live happily ever after. Chek's mother saw the film just before he was born and decided to name him after the main character in the hope that he would find similar fortune. He may not have found riches, but he is one of the most positive people I have every met, with the most infectious laugh.