Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Watch what they’re doing…

Everybody in the city has to have a little business. If you have a regular, formal office job, you still have a little business enterprise on the side. Every little bit helps the family survive. These two men, one maybe retired from another job, have little carts for working on watches–changing batteries, replacing watchbands, maybe even a simple repair. An important part of this endeavor is finding where you can keep your cart overnight and finding a good place to set up on the street.

It’s a new era…

When I first came to Cambodia more than twenty years ago, there were no used washing machines or used refrigerators. There WERE NO washing machines and very few refrigerators. People didn’t have the money to buy them, they weren’t sold here, and electricity was very expensive (it still is!). But today it’s common to see used appliances for sale in front of appliance shops.

Used refrigerators
Used washers. Dryers are still not commonly sold here.

Processed meats

In some ways Cambodian eating is quite healthy: people going to the market each day to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, not eating a lot western-style junk food. But there are also less healthy parts of the local cuisine, such as this processed meat cart which has hot dogs, sausages, blocks of probably every sort of meat available. They’re warmed by the sun while sitting on blocks of ice covered with cloth.

Breakfast to go

The lines are long for Phnom Penh-ers queuing up to buy breakfast at one of the thousands of food carts all over the city. Most homes still cook with charcoal so you can see why eating on the street is so popular. Can you imagine lighting your charcoal grill every time you wanted to eat hot food?
This other cart has customers, too, but the seated woman selling cold drinks isn’t doing much business. Maybe it’s too early.

1st Day of New Year

Today was the first day of the lunar new year, and this was a scene repeated all across Phnom Penh where traditional new year flower arrangements decorated the entranceways of businesses closed for the holiday–even though it’s NOT a holiday in Cambodia!
And across the street from the Home Access business in the first picture, the manager of a nursery ponders what to do with the unsold chrysanthemums in her establishment.