Preparing for New Year

April, 2011

The pace of life really slows down during the three days of the Khmer New Year, mostly because the majority of the people have left the city.  There are still some shops open, though, especially the shophouses where the front room of the family home is the shop.  These families are going to be home anyway so they might as well sell things if anyone wants something.

 

April 13   |   April 14  |   April 15  |   April 16  |   April 17  |   April 18
Last truck to the provinces

 This is one of the last families to leave Phnom Penh for the holidays, with all their stuff and all their chickens piled into a pickup truck.  The family will return; the chickens won't.
Selling bananas

 Bananas are one of the "must-have" foods for the holidays and this woman makes a last-minute purchase from a mobile vendor.
Walking home

 This woman walks home from a neighborhood market with her bananas and some snack crackers.
Selling mangoes

 This family has an abundance of nice-looking mangoes and tries to entice passersby to add some mangoes to the bananas they have at home.
Closed shops

 For the most part, though, the majority of large and small businesses are shuttered and closed for these three days.

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