Topics – Page 4 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Topics: Morning Rituals 2

One street that I travel in the early morning has a series of appliance shops and every morning they set up walls of appliance boxes out on the sidewalk. Click here to see more.

Money changers are a fact of life in Cambodia where the U.S. dollar is legal currency along with the Cambodian riel. Many workers, e.g., the Deaf Development Programme staff, are paid in dollars and then will change some or all of that to riel for small transactions. The rates change daily and one must be observant to choose a money changer that gives a good rate. Click here to look at the process.

Topics: Morning Rituals

Every culture has its traditions and rituals and so does Cambodia. Cambodia’s morning rituals may be a little more obvious, though, because so much of Cambodian life is lived on the streets, not inside houses or behind closed doors. Click here to see some early morning activities as the sun rises.

Topics: Lunch Boxes

Many people take their lunch to work in Cambodia and here they tend to use a traditional metal carrier with several compartments. Click here to see some of the variations.

Topics: Motorcycle Skirts

I want to start posting some articles about changes I’ve noticed in Cambodia since I arrived seventeen years ago. This first one is a change within the last six to eight months when motorcycle skirts became a fad. Click here to read about it.

Topics: Oranges 2

It’s not just the oranges that are in season now. Pomelos are also plentiful and they are one of my favorite fruits.

This woman has two platforms, enough for a good-sized business, but no oranges. She may be waiting for a delivery or she may have used up all she had since she has orange juice for sale.

These women are selling both oranges and pomelos (on the left).

This stand had some oranges (see the juice on top of the cooler) but now all they are selling are a smaller variety of pomelos, a grapefruit-like fruit that is sweeter than a grapefruit and that has sections that can be eaten by hand, without a spoon.

Topics: Oranges

I have mentioned before that one of the ways to tell the seasons here is to note which fruits are being offered on the street. That’s one of the only real indicators since it’s always hot and everything is always blooming. Now it’s the turn of the oranges to appear. Most of them are from Battambang, renowned for oranges, and they are all green in color, not orange. They are good, though, and once in season, many vendors are selling the oranges by the kilo (about $1.75) or as bottles of freshly squeezed orange juice.

This young man is squeezing orange juice right on the street.

Selling oranges is not difficult. All that is needed is the small platform, six or eight inches off the ground, that is widely used. And then if you are selling orange juice, too, you need the squeezer and the cooler to keep the juice cold.

This woman has already been hard at work and has her orange juice out on display.

This man has lots of oranges and lots of empty bottles piled up behind him, and probably the family is inside squeezing the juice.

Topics: Health #1

Medical practices vary tremendously around the world, depending on the education and literacy levels of a society, the resources available, the level of government attention, etc. Click here for a glimpse at one medical practice in Cambodia.

Topics: Wood #13

Cambodia’s luxury woods end up not only in more common (although unwieldy) furniture such as tables and chairs, but even the odd-shaped stumps and remnants of tree trunks have great value as they are fashioned into all sorts of art objects. Click here to see some and then scroll down to #11. (I think this is enough about wood for a while so I’ll move on to other topics.)

Topics: Wood #12

Some of the heavy, culturally-important wooden furniture is sold in shops. A great deal is also sold on the streets of the big cities. Probably produced in rural workshops, it is brought to the city for sale. Click here to see some of the wares on the street, and then scroll down to #9.

Category: Topics