Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Refreshing but not so profitable.

These are the people who really get hurt by shutting down the local economy to fight Covid-19. These people, all part of the informal economy, only make money when they are on the street and when other people are on the street to buy. How much could this woman make even pre-Covid-19? She has to buy the fruit, buy the block of ice, and rent the cart. And then the price for sliced fresh fruit can’t be too high. The profit margin has to be rather low for a morning or afternoon walking the streets.

What happens to the children?

For this mother, every day is “Take your children to work day.”

This is not an uncommon sight in Phnom Penh, a mother–or father–taking the children to work with them. It is more common now because the schools have been closed and the parents have no alternative except to take the children with them.

Here a father takes his son along for the ride as he picks up people in his tuk-tuk all day long. This son and father really seemed to enjoy being together from the conversations they were having.

Better than walking?

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular around the world but I don’t know if this one is going to attract much attention. It is one of the smallest electric bikes I have seen in Phnom Penh and doesn’t look really comfortable. This is the only one of this model I have seen so may others share my lack of enthusiasm for it.

Returning to “Normal”

When Phnom Penh was locked down and no one could leave his/her house, the monks couldn’t leave their pagodas to make their daily rounds begging food and money for the poor and themselves. One sign of a return to something like a previous normal is that now the monks are back on the street every morning.