Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Today we drove to Kampot Province with our donors from Korea and when we stopped at a gas station on the way down, this elaborate offering to the spirits of the deceased was placed in front of the station.  Today is the Spirit Festival in Chinese culture and the gas station owners–and many, many other people in Cambodia—took it very seriously.

This woman has everything covered: she’s arranging lotus pods which can be given at the wat on the Buddhist holiday that day (and the seeds can then be eaten); in the middle she’s selling gasoline from the blue handcrank pump; and if you want to fill yourself rather than your motorcycle tank, you can buy a pomelo fruit stacked on the right.

The alien invaders have now established a new front on the east side of town.   Soon we’ll be surrounded….  (Click here to see the action on the southern front.)

In a culture where many, many people are selling food on the street, anything that makes your product stand out is an advantage.  One of the newest marketing gimmicks to hit the Phnom Penh streets is this chicken carousel.  Powered by an electrical cable snaking across the pavement, the machine has a rotating display and warming lamps for pre-roasted chickens and geese.

The rotating displays are an eye-catching novelty now but they must be a real headache to clean.

“I wonder if I forgot anything….”

This week in Phnom Penh I passed a man selling this fruit from his bicycle.  I really don’t know what fruit it is.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen it served so I don’t know how it’s eaten, whether in the hand or with a fork or spoon or what.

 

 

“It’s OK….  I don’t need to look down–and they don’t smell!”

In an earlier post, I noted the advent of graffiti in Phnom Penh, but on a small scale and in isolated places.  Now it is becoming mainstream and a real eyesore.  It’s not on the scale of large American cities, but we’re catching up.

 

Notice on this sign for a shop selling motor-scooters the words “Free Wi-fi.” Do you think they are selling a scooter that has wi-fi?  I rather doubt it!