Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

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.

Nap Time


Many, many people in Phnom Penh make their living from trash and recyclables. Using push carts, they start early, at dawn, and walk miles checking for plastics, metals, electronics, or other things they can sell to the recycling wholesalers. This woman decided it was time for a nap after selling her load to the wholesaler and climbed into her push cart.

Still here in Cambodia…

Styrofoam is not much used for packaging food in North America and Europe but it’s alive and well here in Cambodia. There is a beginning awareness of the need to phase out practices harmful to the environment, but getting rid of styrofoam is difficult in a culture where so many people eat on the street going to and from work and school.