Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

In the US supermarkets put impulse purchases on display near the lines where people wait to check out. Because they see the items and they’re convenient, a purchase is more likely. Here in Cambodia there are all sorts of products available on the streets in the hope that people passing by will see the product–the vegetables in this photo–and decide to take some home for dinner. This little “market” is even more strategically placed because the gate on the right is for a garment factory and lots of young women workers will pour in and out of the gate during the day and will be reminded they need to get something for the evening meal.

Today I went to the Russian Market to get a replacement suitcase for one of mine that has lost its wheels. Actually it’s the Tuol Tum Poung Market, but it acquired the Russian Market name during the period when the Soviet bloc was keeping Cambodia afloat. You can get just about anything there, from hot food to a motorcycle carburetor, although you can no longer find the AK-47s and box of grenades that the older residents here remember.

These pictures make the stifling hot market look almost spacious, but maybe that’s because there were fewer people because of the downpour outside. That’s rainwater, coming through the roof, on the floor in the first picture. The aisles, as in the bottom photo, are just wide enough for two people to carefully squeeze past each other.

This post is also a trial of a new gallery function in WordPress that allows several photos to be automatically arranged by the software. I don’t find it all that impressive.

Here is a snapshot of life and work in Phnom Penh in 2019. The established shops in the background, left to right, are one shop selling LED signs; a small restaurant in the middle; and on the right a shop making and selling stainless steel things. And then in the middle, someone attempting to make an extra buck, has set up a little coffee stand. That may be part of the restaurant operation, bring their services right out to the curb. Note the two offering burners on the motorcycle. Usually those are just steel buckets or a cheap burner set on the curb for burning offerings on the Chinese holidays, but these are a different style and I’ve never seen them made out of polished metals like this. They must be for some special family or some special occasion.

This is a real mom-and-pop shop, with mom assembling a little girl’s bike. The shop down the street, with the Giant sign, is where I bought my bicycle several years ago.