Cooling Things Off -- Part 2 Ice is a common commodity in Phnom Penh and the urban areas, but it is still relataively rare in the rural areas. It might seem there would be more ice in the towns because they have most of the electricity, but actually most people in the urban centers do not have refrigerators (and the capability to make ice) because electricity is too expensive. Instead it is probably the developing urban lifestyle which is more responsible for the availability of ice in the cities. People there have become accustomed to it as one of the benefits of urban life. This is the second part of the series on ice. For the first part, click here.

The bigger restaurants and stores have ice delivered in large, long blocks Smaller ice retailers meet the big delivery trucks and load up on the street Delivering ice may have some benefits on a really hot day but it's heavy work This man is cutting a smaller block for a neighborhood customer There is not much thought for hygiene for ice that can end up in someone's glass This delivery truck has an ice crushing machine on the rear A customer waits for a small block to be cut at a neighborhood shop And at the end of the ice trail, someone carries the ice to a family's house

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