Daily Life in Cambodia – Page 35 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

School breakfast

A young boy eating his breakfast outside the school gate in Phnom Penh. Probably the majority of Cambodians in the city eat on the street.

Many cities and towns have strict rules how garbage is to be set out for collection. In some places householders must use special containers or separate different kinds of trash or put the garbage in a special place for pickup. In Phnom Penh there are basically no rules and the garbage truck crews go around with pitchforks to pick up piles of trash on the street corners and throw it in the back of the truck. They are dedicated workers! Garbage crews in other parts of the world would not put up with people just throwing garbage anywhere.

In this area of Phnom Penh, this small street has no sidewalk or area to set garbage on the side of the road so all the residents hang it in plastic bags. It lacks aesthetic beauty but the garbage crews must love it because they don’t have to bend over and shovel but just pick plastic bags from the fence and throw them into the truck.

Not a good future for these birds…

Here is a cage with eight roosters in it. It was just on the sidewalk in front of a typical shophouse. The owner would be keeping them for cock fighting. They got into a few battles while I watched, just because there were too many of them in a cage designed for one rooster. Is it illegal? Cockfighting is, but these cages are out in the open everywhere.

It’s new to me…

A few days ago, I had to go to another part of town and the tuk-tuk driver went along a stretch of Mao Tse Tung Blvd that I never seen at that time of day. The sidewalks, the area adjacent to the street, the street itself were filled with temporary fruit and vegetable sellers.

Changing times

Years ago this little house with a sloping roof might have been quite the thing: on a major street corner and even has concrete lower walls. Now it’s lost any allure it once had and is a sorry remnant of a former era. It’s surrounded by more modern buildings, it has a huge billboard stanchion right in front of it, and it’s rather decrepit. But it has an air conditioner!

Limted Time Only

Tucked in among high-rises and modern buildings is this old traditional wooden house. Its days are probably numbered. Right now mom and dad are still there and make a little money selling a bit of sand and gravel, but when they are gone–whoosh! The kids will sell the land for another apartment block.

Easy Rider

Cambodia children start riding motorcycles–in their mother’s arms–from the week they are born so they are used to it and comfortable with that mode of transportation. This woman certainly seems casual about her ride.

Get something to drink…

Coconuts don’t stack as neatly as a case of soft drinks but they’re a lot better for you!

Don’t talk and drive…

Talking while driving any vehicle can be distracting but trying to use a phone when wearing a helmet adds another layer of complexity–and danger–to the exercise.

A long way but not too far….

This is Sihanouk Blvd., a major east-west thoroughfare in Phnom Penh. When I came to Cambodia in 2000, there was only one store or shop on this street that had a closed front like this shop. All the others had iron gates with folding shuttered covers like the little shop on the right in the picture. Now almost every shop is enclosed with real doors and most even have air conditioning. Above this brightly-lit store front, though, you can still see the history of the street–a wooden-walled second floor with swinging wooden shutters, not glass windows. Sihanouk Blvd. has come a long way but it hasn’t escaped its past.