STREET VENDORS, AMBULANT (DE) VENDORS

On foot, on horseback, in car and in sailing boat, as Prévert's poem would say, the street vendors of the kingdom roam the streets relentlessly, at the controls of their carts or bicycles on which are piled up quantities of food or goods. .

If certain small services, such as sharpening knives, once constituting a full-fledged profession provided by grandfathers who, equipped with their only sharpening wheel and a small wooden stool, were responsible for giving to tired kitchen utensils a new life, are activities that are disappearing completely, we continue to find on every street corner, who a broom seller, who an ice cream seller, who a bread seller ...

The oxcarts carrying utility pottery -changkrae, charcoal pots, terracotta pans ... which still mingled not so long ago with the roar of motorcycles and Lexus in the capital are still visible in the neighborhoods peripheral, performing their nonchalant round led by peasants from the surrounding countryside ...

Helping to brighten up the soundscape of the neighborhood, the street vendors are often equipped with soundtracks, sometimes musical - in the depths of the countryside, the lambada will announce to the children of the village the imminent arrival of the ice-cream seller, a cyclist accompanied by 'a powerful soundtrack showing the last pieces of Khmer variety will accompany the passage of the seller of pulled sugar, a local sweet with a flavor very similar to nougat.

Repetitive announcements broadcast by bicycle bread sellers "Paing Paing ... Nom Paing Bayon ...", sellers of brooded eggs whose price variations can be learned from a distance "Pong Ti Kon, mouy crob pram buon roy ... mouy crob pram buon roy ... "resonate in the heads of the inhabitants of all city districts, whose daily life is punctuated by the passage of these wandering vendors in the morning. Late in the evening, it is the clicking of claves, which ends the day, announcing the arrival of Kouy Tiev's soup seller.

Street vendors - Sugar cane - Cambodia

Sellers of sugar cane, peeled and cut into pieces, a treat to chew to extract the sweet juice

Street vendors - Drinks - Cambodia

Street vendor of drinks. Sodas, syrup and coffee, the drinks arrive in a small plastic bag with ice, and a straw.

Street vendors - Cambodian sausages - Cambodia

Beef skewer and Cambodian sausage vendors, grilled on the improvised barbecue on the side

Street vendors - Sweet potato and banana cakes - Cambodia

Vendor of grilled bananas and sweet potato cupcakes, grilled on the barbecue incorporated into the cart

Street vendors - Steamed brioches - Cambodia

Nompao seller, small Chinese buns stuffed with meat and steamed