A dumptruck found itself stuck on the edge of a cliff while backfilling our land, and some pretty tense moments followed.
Things Started Out Well 🛻
Our land has a few tiers, but in general it mostly slopes downhill towards the river. Our next-door neighbor has backfilled their land several meters higher than ours, mostly because their property doesn't reach the river, so they chose to elevate their land as much possible for easy highway access.
They did nothing for water drainage, and the slope pushed all the water off of their property and onto the old government road. This road was slightly higher than our property, so the purpose of the backfilling project was to keep the water flowing down the middle of the road so it will no longer erode and destroy our property.
There was one particular place on our land where the government road and cliff's edge are very close, and until the backfill operation began, that space was less than 2 meters wide. This little corner of land is a lower tier and also provides access to the hammock huts. It was important to make this accessible by car again, as we hope to eventually build a bungalow of some kind here.
Fixing The Government's Road 🚜
As much as I pay the government per year already just legally exist in Cambodia, I try not to financially support it directly in any other ways. Well, the road was so bad we had to have the crew level and grade the road again for easier dumptruck access, so add that cost to my visa payments.
Beware Of Soft Land ⚠️
As we watched the trucks go in and out, I noticed a pressure wave forming under each truck, and it made the dirt seem as if it was water. This made me a bit concerned that one of the trucks might sink and need to be towed out. I couldn't have imagined how badly a scenario like this would play out though.
While watching some of the last truckloads, one of the trucks began sinking asymmetrically, and as it was near the cliff edge, I became quickly concerned. By the time the driver had a chance to dump his load, he'd already sunk too much to fully release the load. With the majority of the weight still in the truck, it slowly began tilting towards the river.
If left for 30 minutes, it would have surely rolled into the river, but the tractor was able to chain up and coax the truck forward to level ground, thus allowing the driver to dump his load without the bossman ever knowing this incident happened.
There were definitely moments of terror, and I must admit I imagined a worst possible scenario, but luckily the the rest of the day went without any more major hiccups.
I'm posting this several days later, but just wanted to let you all know that remodeling on the cabin has stopped because my brother-in-law's daughter got in a moto crash and broke her arm badly. We took him back to the provincial capital and just arrived back home yesterday. This explains the late curation posts and voting lapses, sorry folks. In the hospital bed adjacent to his daughter was a man involved in a neighborly machete battle, and the guy looked like ground beef, truly disturbing, but visits to Cambodian public hospitals are always tragic.
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I'm so glad you managed to save the dump truck from falling over (or worse rolling down the hill!). Sure, the weight of the truck has probably done its share in compacting the dirt, but is it going to stay in place during the next rainfall? Let's hope so.
Interesting story about the road. I'm sure you've had those "who's gonna build the roads" discussions with people who can't imagine a world without centralized institutions. Well, you're the living example: Immigrant homesteaders will build the roads, when they need to give access to dump trucks delivering dirt! By now I'm sure you've envisioned some sort of smart contract that you could use (in an ideal world) to prove that not only have you been paying the gov't to be in Cambodia, but you've helped them maintain their own infrastructure!
I'm sorry to hear about the accident of your brother-in-law's daughter. As preventable as it may seem, it pales in comparison to the machete fight which sounds just stupid! So I hope she recovers soon, and that her arm will heal to full functionality. As for the machete fighter... I don't know what to say. Still sorry, though. I hope he gets well too and serves as a deterring example.
I am concerned with the rainfall, compaction, vegetation, etc, but supposedly some less rainy weather is on the way, and with the soil a bit drier I'll be able to work the land with hand tools. The fastest and easiest things we'll be able to get growing on the hillside is cassava and local wild plants, but it will definitely need long roots to stay in place, so we aim to get some trees planted on that slope once some grass and smaller plants are established.
Funny you mention smart contracts in Cambodia, in recent months many famous VIPs have been talking about crypto, making the public aware, and then all of a sudden the Prime Minister's niece introduces Cambodia's native crypto token, Bakong I think it is called. Crypto is technically not a legal form of payment for goods transaction here, but Bakong has been designated as the legal crypto, highly centralized of course.
I still can't the get sights out of my mind from the Cambodian hospital trip. Last time I was in one was 6+ years ago, wandering around in medical waste and floodwater up to my belly to identify the dead body of an Irish co-worker who fell into the river drunk and drowned.
This is the first time I'm hearing about Bakong, but I can almost see it happening: the prime minister's niece - charming, very smart, but most of all young (representing the most recent generation of the electorate) introduces a brand new concept: something kinda like Bitcoin, but in the national colors. Oh, wow! And no, unlike El Salvador or the Central African Republic, this one would be "entirely ours". The few silver-haired skeptics are convinced quickly, and a wave of gratitude and excitement rushes through the country, swelling the national pride, and ensuring an (almost) unanimous adoption of this CBDC.
Sorry, I got carried away a bit. But knowing how easily manipulable the broad masses are, I can imagine how something like this would play out. And that would be okay, until they start limiting access to other cryptos. But by then - I hope - there will be new ways to circumvent this restriction. We'll see.
With the dirt I really hope the native plants will do a good job holding it in place. And as for hospital horror stories... 😳 😖 😟 😭 🤢
Well, the only thing that's radically new is the blockchain part. Otherwise there are lots of fintech apps that let you transfer money, store and keep track of your funds if you don't have a bank account. But yes, CBDCs are coming, we knew it. Interesting how Cambodia is among the first.
Thankfully, there were no big problems that you had to experience on that day, indeed the process of implementing development anywhere does not escape work accidents, so we should avoid it as much as possible. Btw, I hope your daughter-in-law recovers soon from her illness, my friend..
I am so lucky not to have my very own dumptruck in the river, that would've been a bad mess. We are hoping for a full recovery for our niece, and it looks she will be fine after the body swelling goes down.
Luckily for the truck driver, if they overturned, it would be a pity for them to make a living for their family. When I come to the hospital I see things that are lacking It's nice not wanting to go back to the hospital, but we need a hospital, something we don't have a choice.
You're right, and even worse, they told us the bossman is very cruel and stingy, so surely it would've been a massive burden for the driver to repay. The Cambodian medical system is very behind other ASEAN countries, and the provincial hospitals are the worst. Even if you're lucky enough to make to the capital, the medical care even in Phnom Penh is not on par with international standards. This was another reason we bought this land near the Thai border, because if we have any medical emergencies, we will try to reach a Thai hospital.
Gosh, I bet your heart was in your mouth watching that dump truck. That's alot of dirt for your property. I hope it does what it's intending to do, and adds some stability to your land. So sorry to hear about your niece, hope she has a speedy recovery.
I was there with my camera because I kind of thought this scenario might happen. When I mentioned it, they gave me that look of "you silly foreigner, this is what I do for a living," so I didn't bring it up again. The fortunate thing about the moto crash was that it happened right in front of the hospital, ironic but good.
I am sorry to hear that your brother in laws daughter got an accident.
In developing country we can not expect too much from the government. I think the situation is the same as in Indonesia that corruption is the biggest problem.
Very similar situation I think, even though I haven't been to Indonesia, what I've studied shows there are a lot of similar problems. There are countless NGOs here doing good work the government refuses to do, but it also allows the government to keep the country's money and share it among themselves while allowing the NGOs to handle the country's problems.
The description of the machete battle result somehow relate the ground beef with those dump load of dirt.
Glad you have a tractor to drag the truck out of that sink, or you're going to have a lot of explanation to do.
The everyday life of Cambodia is full of real-life drama, tragic and beautiful at the same time. I am so glad the crew didn't lose the truck, would've been hell to pay from the wrath of a VIP boss.
That was quite the 'cliffhanger'
Glad to hear how this story ended.
I wish your brother in law's daughter a speedy recovery.
It was indeed, and I hope I conveyed the suspense in the post well enough. I knew it would cost less to buy a new truck than to recover that broken and busted truck from the riverbed, which would ultimately mean it would've become part of our land, far from ideal in such natural settings. I think my niece-in-law wasn't wearing her helmet, but of course we made sure not to mention that. Either way, she's lucky none of her injuries are debilitating or life-altering, and she'll eventually be 100% again, something that is rare after entering a Cambodian hospital.
Good thing no accident happened. I hope your house construction will be completed soon.
There were some heartstopping moments, especially when I saw a few of the truck's wheels leave the ground. Thanks for stopping by.
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The trucks broke down several times and had to be repaired, and the bossman would always come and shout at them. Well, the bossman should be nicer, because when we needed to buy some diesel for the tuk-tuk, the crew insisted we have some from their excavator supply that belonged to the bossman. We were reluctant to accept it for fear they would get in trouble, but they insisted because we allowed to use our house and sleep at our place for free for a few days.
All repaired and the dirt hauling is done, now we've got a lot of shovel work to do.