Daily Life in Cambodia

Morning Rituals: Opening the Shop

12 March 2014

A large part of life in Cambodia is lived on the streets and in the streets. Houses are open to the street so the front room can be a shop, many homes don't have doors in front but only a pull-down shutter, etc.  Shops are not enclosed so a lot of merchandise and equipment is left on the streets overnight and to protect it, barriers are erected around the front of the store or shop to keep thieves away.  In addition one of the family's children or a guard might sleep outside in front of the store, behind the barrier.   Here are some pictures of barriers being removed in the morning from a variety of locations.

Here two young men move a security barrier panel from the front of a beer garden. They probably slept there all night.

This barrier in front of one of Phnom Penh's better known car washes is unusual in that it is painted in bright colors. Most are never painted, or if they were ever touched by paint, it has long since become invisible.

These young men greet the new day still dressed in their sleep ware, the large khramas they wrap around themselves as sarongs. This is the beginning of the day at an auto repair garage.

These security barrier sections at a used car lot are a bit different in that, unlike most, they are made of chainlink fencing on a metal frame. They're probably a little easier to put up and take down each day.

These panels are more solid, probably a piece of thin metal nailed to a wooden frame. They're protecting a wooden furniture store.

This shop near the Maryknoll office sells ceramic pots and clay vessels of different kinds. They are stacked high in front of the shop and would be a dickens to move. The owner opts, though, to just wrap them in a cloth protective sheet rather than erect more substantive barriers. It makes life easier.

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