To be honest, I was nervous about visiting Phnom Penh having heard it may be a difficult place where I would see harsh poverty and tough conditions, which is true to a certain degree. Each evening I appreciated my very comfortable bed inside a sealed, clean building. I am so very glad to have stayed 3 nights so that I could observe and encounter a pinch of the positive, determined people of Phnom Penh.
Some of the things I'll remember:
System-less traffic flows with mayhem and ease like a noisy river. Mopeds, cyclos, cars, tuk tuks, bicycles, pick up trucks, and pedestrians beep and signal in what looks like complete chaos, but all move to and fro in slow and tolerant streams, with or against the current... anything goes. No lanes, no traffic lights. Forward is the only direction.
Market sellers close shop for the night at 9pm and bed down in the same spot. Hammocks are hung in a tree nearby or sometimes, if they are more equipped, a mosquito net is hung above their market stall table which becomes a bed for the family. Pick up trucks become mobile homes, and a mat on the main river promenade becomes a sleeping spot for a woman and six tiny children. Showers happen street side, several throw buckets of water over themselves for an evening scrub up.
Beautiful, cunning kids aged about 5-12 work the corners with DVDs, books, and bracelets and have every trick in the book to try get a dollar. I don't want to think about where they bring their hard earned dollars to at the end of each day. They seem playful on the streets and joke a lot and stick close together in packs.
Market food beyond my courage! Fertilized eggs, beetles on sticks, rats on skewers, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf (yum), sugar cane squashed down into a bamboo shoot, snails, shell fish, the list goes on.
The potent smells send my stomach upside down and make me feel like a weak, disinfected western! I admire their tough guts but I'm content with my non-experimental approach. I write about it, but I won't touch!
Hens stand on a table waiting to get cut and bled. A woman sits lotus style in the middle of a market table surrounded by large chunks of raw meat. She has a gigantic knife and a wooden board in front of her. Two small motors suspended from coat hangers spin plastic bags around in circles in an attempt to keep the flies off her meat. Gorgeous local fruit and veg are colourfully displayed in woven wicker baskets. Organic in-season slow food at its best, with no packaging.
These are some of my first impressions of Phnom Penh which to me as a first timer stood out as different and interesting. It may seem negative but actually the visit was really positive. I want to write about my lasting impressions of Phnom Penh and the few people I met in another post... a project for my next long journey.
amazing images paula.....the woman sitting surrounded by meat ,makes me think of a performance art piece , showers taken in the street , woman and 6 little ones bedding down for the night , yet a flow and serenity to these peoples faces so often(they are on to something arent they?)
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