Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Cambodia has a real problem with holidays.  First of all, there are 25 public holidays (the U.S. has 11) so more than a month of work days is lost.  Then whenever a public holiday falls on a Saturday, the following Monday is given off, too.  (That happened October 3rd because the Pchum Ben holiday was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).

Besides all the time off and lost productivity, the trash piles up as seen above.  Households here do not use garbage cans or dumpsters.  Everything is put in plastic bags and left on the street.  When there is a long holiday, the piles get rather large.

The man squatting in the picture is putting air in a motorcycle tire.  His “gas station” consists of the orange air compressor and a bucket of water and a patch kit for repairing flat tires.

This is the last day of the official three-day public holiday for Pchum Ben.  The most important religious holiday in Cambodia, it is the equivalent of All Souls Day in the West.  This woman is selling lotus flowers and coconuts wrapped with incense and lotus blossoms on the sidewalk in front of the royal palace.  They will be offered in Buddhist ceremonies.