A few photos of Phnom Penh street-life taken within the space of just a 10 minutes, 500 m or so stroll from 178 St to Psa Kandal, (Kandal Market). Starting at Wat Sarawan on the corner of 19th and 178 streets we came across this nicely restored French period colonial villa – now tapas bar of all things!
Some vital deliveries on the corner of 172 – the Angkor Beer ‘Party Truck’! That section of 172 street being a bit of a would be ‘Pub Street’ and the rate it’s growing we’ll give it a couple of years before it looks like the ‘real one’ in Siem Reap!
Wat Sarawan, also on the corner of 19 and 178 isn’t one of Phnom Penh’s most picturesque temples but there’s always something going on or something to photograph even if it’s only the monks’ colourful laundry.
Even in the inner city area a lot of cooking is still done on charcoal or even wood stoves. Electricity prices in Cambodia are very high and a lot of street vendors don’t have access to it anyway.
This mess of cables is a common site at Cambodian street corners, as it still is in most Southeast Asian destinations for that matter. When an old line is upgraded or replaced it isn’t removed so in fact 75% of those lines probably aren’t live but even so – it’d take a brave man to be a Cambodian electrician.
Break time for a charcoal vendor – some of the travelling vendors have motorized carts some still have to push them around town
Pavement barbers along 13th Street – haircut, shave, head and shoulder massage for a dollar or two and if a foreigner does it then the locals get free street entertainment too!
Sort of converted motorbikes and sidecars these mobile drinks sellers are also a common, and often welcome site in the city streets and it’s where you can buy the famous Cokes in plastic bags!
This guy has pushed his cart in from the suburbs to sell a few fresh coconuts. They’ll either supply cafes and restaurants or you can buy direct from the cart. A few hacks with machete and in goes the straw. (Don’t try it at home.)
And finally a cyclo or rickshaw – pedal powered taxi which again are a common sight in the kingdom’s capital city. When we first started running Cambodia tours it was practically all cyclos and moto-dops – the now ubiquitous tuk-tuks being a relatively recent phenomenon in Cambodia.
Aside from the famous sites and the bar and cafe culture one of our favourite occupations in Phnom Penh is just wandering around the streets. But don’t go out in the Cambodian capital without your camera!
Cheers!
from All Points East.