Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Yesterday I rode nineteen miles–just within the city of Phnom Penh—on the back of a motorcycle taxi going to meetings, visiting a hospital, etc.  That is not fun.  As an extra exciting element, we had a tremendous rainstorm while I was out.  My motorcycle taxi driver (above) and I could see it coming so I stopped and bought a cheap plastic rain poncho like he is putting on, and then when the first drops started we pulled off and covered up before resuming the ride.  If you’re on the back of a motorcycle, the poncho can’t cover your legs so I was soaked from the waist down.

This is a typical small “wet” market, in the Sen Sok area of Phnom Penh.

How much gasoline can you carry in the back of an SUV?  Quite a bit, quite a bit.

This is an early-morning breakfast drive-thru in Phnom Penh: a wood-burning fire (behind the table), a bucket of batter, and a young woman on the phone putting out deep-fried puffs.

Various groups of impoverished people locate themselves in places where large numbers of people with money are, i.e., at the entrance of the western-style supermarkets, at tourist attractions, etc.  Other groups frequent places where the normal traffic of every day life has to slow down or stop, i.e., at intersections or at the increasing number of traffic lights in Phnom Penh.  When the light turns red, small children or slow, tottering elderly come to the cars and peer in the tinted windows, hoping to sell limes (as in these photos) or flowers or other trinkets.

This auto parts shop has a certain character about it–plus a mongrel dog.

Another fruit is in season.  This time it’s the oranges.  In Cambodia the oranges from Battambang Province are considered the best.

Every Sunday morning this woman sits in the same place selling the same little trinkets made of bronze and ivory and luxury woods.  They are statues of elephants and Buddha, rings, and just an assortment of things.  There are no tourists here but there is always a Khmer person perusing the objects.  Maybe it’s just a nondescript glancing over them while chatting or maybe the person is really interested.  I don’t know.

It’s still pineapple season, and these, already peeled, are definitely tempting.  It looks like the pineapple seller may have stopped to negotiate a trade with the seller of the other fruit.  I don’t know what the smaller round golden fruits are nor do I know what the stack of green stuff is behind them.  This is where it really helps to have someone along who can explain in English what I’m seeing.