Cambodia is known for its rich culture and history, natural beauty, exquisite temples like the Angkor Wat, the Vietnam war, the Khmer Rouge, land mines, and more. But not many people are aware of the nation’s quirks and eccentricities – like this one particular obsession that locals have with needles. While most people in other parts of the world would do anything to avoid getting injected, things are quite the opposite in Cambodia, where citizens have a fascination for injections and intravenous drips. The reason for this fascination is unclear, but it seems that a strong belief in needles has become ingrained in the nation’s psyche. So much so that people want IV drips or injections even in situations where they’re not needed at all.

“It’s not just in the village,” a Western doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the BBC. “Everybody who goes to hospital gets an IV because they think it’s important and the doctors and nurses think it’s important. If you walk into a hospital, pretty close to every patient will have an IV. They’ll just get them, you know, ad infinitum, until they leave the hospital.”

BBC journalist John Murphy, who covered the story in detail, reportedly witnessed bizarre IV-related events during his visit to Cambodia . “I regularly saw people on IV drips – and not just on IV drips but also on motorbikes,” he wrote. “These were mobile IV drips.” Curious to know more, Murphy stopped a motorbike with three people on it. “The passenger at the back was holding up a stick, at the end of which, covered in a plastic bag, was a bottle of IV fluid.”

“The plastic tube leading from the bottle was injected into the right arm of the man sitting in the middle. He said he’d been diagnosed with malaria by a private doctor and that he had liver disease and intestinal problems. He also felt weak. The IV drip, he said, was “cooling” his body down and giving him more energy.” “There are a lot of people who have IV drips on motorbikes,” the man told Murphy. “I’m poor, I’m not rich, I don’t have a car to drive, so I have a drip on a motorbike.”