Category: Culture

This is a common site on the streets of Phnom Penh—one woman picking lice out of the hair of another woman or girl. Women here wear their hair long and it provides a natural environment for the lice which are extremely difficult to get rid of. For guys, they just shave their head to solve the problem which is perfectly acceptable and not so uncommon, but for women the search-and-kill approach usually gets tried first. The lice make one quite cautious in borrowing another’s motorcycle helmet.

In Moving Up earlier, I opined that the advent of a market for new and used water coolers, washing machines, and other appliances is an indicator of Cambodia’s gradual rising to a lower middle income country. Another such indicator is the increasing number of electrical shops that used to sell 50-watt bulbs and are now selling high-end chandeliers. They know some people have money and are will to part with it to show their new-found status.

Here’s a picture of a schoolboy riding in the fast lane of one of the busiest major streets in Phnom Penh. But it’s the Kingdom of Wonder, so don’t wonder too much about the insanity. My theory on such counter-intuitive behavior is that 90% of the urban population grew up in the rural area where there were no cars, no paved roads, etc., and daily life was lived in the dirt roads of the village. They were the only clear places to gather and there was no traffic to disrupt a gathering. Those people later moved to the city and brought their ways of doing things with them and passed them on to their children. That’s why we average six traffic deaths a day.

This is a scene unimaginable just a few years ago when I first arrived in Cambodia—an appliance store, first of all, and then a row of water coolers and washing machines being offered for sale. When I came, an organization might have a plastic water cooler with a spigot and one plastic cup for everyone to use. Now the appliances above offer both hot and cold water. And as for the washing machines–there basically were none. Maybe some of the high executive families brought something in from abroad but they weren’t for sale here.

Corn, or maize as some cultures know it, is an interesting part of the food chain. In some places in Africa, it is the main food of the culture. In other places, especially in Asia, it is seen as mainly fodder for cattle. Cambodia, though, has a really delicious sweet yellow corn like this vendor is selling from her bicycle. When it is in season, big pots of corn are boiling all day long on the highway for motorists ready to take a tasty break. Within the city, vendors like this woman boil the ears and then stack them neatly in large plastic bags and peddle them from their bicycles. It tastes just as good on the city street as it does on the highway in the countryside.

This is a ting mong or scarecrow-like figure erected by Cambodian villagers to scare away disease and evil. Read the article in the Phnom Penh Post to get an idea of some of the beliefs of less educated people in rural areas where proper medical services have been lacking.