The kind of ride I want in my 50s

The gold-coloured convertible turns heads on impoverished Cambodia's roads - not least because of creator Nhean Phaloek's outlandish claim that it can be operated telepathically.

A snap with his fingers or just by thinking about opening the door will open the car's door immediately. Apart from the telepathically control, this car is able to reach a top speed of 100Km/h. The homemade car is named the Angkor 333-2010. Onlookers gasp as he demonstrates the trick, and with the fibre-glass vehicle having cost him 5,000 dollars and 19 months of labour he is in no mood to reveal the remote control system behind it.

But as with a handful of other Cambodians who make their own curious cars, he dreams the two-seater will help foster an automobile industry in the country, still poor after decades of conflict.

Kong Pharith, a 48-year-old former maths and physics teacher who has also produced his own car, says an auto industry is about to blossom in Cambodia. Their works will be part of a motivating force for the next generation to access new inventions and show the world that Cambodia has the ability to do what you think they cannot.