Cambodia is, in some ways, an odd country. By the end of the Pol Pot reign, the population had been decimated. The figure that is generally given is that the population was about 4.5 million in 1979. Current population is variously given between 14 & 17 million. That is massive growth and means that 3/4 of the population is under 30 years old.
When you look around it is not immediately obvious, but when you really look it becomes more apparent. There are old people. However there seems to be a lack of middle age people. There are lots of young people. You see families with young children, the parents all look to be barely older than children themselves. Staff at hotels restarants, cafe's etcetera are almost all in their 20's.
For the males out there, the girls are very attractive, but oh so young. I am not qualified to comment on the looks of the men.
It is my habit to awaken early and go for a walk before the heat of the day kicks in. The Cambodians, at least the ones in the cities, also seem to rise early and take some form of exercise. In the green spaces in the cities, often along the river banks, people congregate to exercise and socialise. This morning I walked around the Independence monument and then down to Sisowath quay along the banks of the Tonle Sap River. There are many people out walking, some jogging, they swing their arms or perform upper body stretches as they walk. I see groups of elderly people taking sedate walks, or sitting chatting. A teenage girl walks beside an older lady, their pace is slow, but progress is made. A child walks beside her mother dressed in a pink fairy costume. Males pass me dressed in shorts and their football team colours. Someone called Rhinaldho is popular here. The name is lost on me. Small groups gather to perform calisthenics to music, their ages vary.
Groups of males stand in a circle and play a variant of hacky sac. Not with a bag of beans but some plastic device that seems to have feathers like a shuttlecock and some spring arrangement in the body that produces some bounce when kicked. People work in pairs with badminton rackets and shuttlecocks.
As I walk I pass ladies selling peanuts in the shell. They use an old tin can as a measure, giving a generous serve from a large woven basket. I have tried these in the markets where they cost 2000 Riel, about 50 cents. The peanuts are soft having been boiled.
At the far end of the square vendors sell bananas, nuts, fruits similar to Lychee and others that I cannot recognise.
I continue on. It is now about 6:30am and the sun is up, the day warming, sweat forming on the body. I have made it to Sisowath Quay. The sunlight reflects of the water. Small fishing boats toward the centre of the river are highlighted in silhouette. As I progress the suns rays pass through the scaffolding of a new building. In the future this will be a large blight on the skyline, but for now it is merely a skeletal structure eerily beautiful in silhoutte in the sun rays.
Along the river here there are more people. Large groups gather and perform aerobics in time to loud music. The songs are not familiar, but the beat is clear and the same exercises could be seen in many gyms in the world. Male, female, young and old alike make up these classes. I see 2 boys playing badminton under the watchful gaze of a golden winged serpent. They seem oblivious to its protective gaze. There is a group of ladies, dressed in white. They carry ceremonial swords each with a red tassle on a cord and practice slow movements to a music background. I watch briefly a Karate class practicing their moves.
By 7am the heat has increased and the groups are now breaking up. Exercise is over.
I walk back via a local market. I stick to the outside and watch the food being prepared. Meat is proferred for sale, and I watch fascinated as a piece of lean beef is sliced into one continuous wafer thin piece. Later this will become Lok Lak a local speciality. Chicken, Quail and sparrow sized birds are already plucked and waiting to be sold. One lady is dismembering a chicken, the entrails and visceria are removed, the bird dissected and the next one commenced with no fuss or drama, this is her job. Frogs are also on offer, these are already skinned, some are still moving. I am not sure if this is muscular twitching or if the skinning process is so delicate that the animal is still alive. There are also fish and eel and shellfish including crab, oyster, pipis and scallops. Mostly these are stored on ice, safe to buy and eat.
Fruit and veg are plentiful. Melons, cucumber, mint, lettuce, Morning Glory, Apples, Pears, Limes, Citrus, Pomello and many that I do not recognise. A lady sits in a large wicker basket full of oranges or similar. She removes the stalk, polishes the skin and then hands the fruit to her assistant who adds it to a growing pyramid. Presentation of all food is meticulous, Coles and Woolworth's take note.
In another part of the market a lady is preparing Lotus flowers. She folds back the green outer leaf folds it in a quick practiced movement and tucks it back into place. Then to the next leaf and shortly the whole flower is open for display.
As I walk a lady passes me, I step aside to let her pass. She looks at me and smiles, she holds her gaze and I smile back. Something passes between us, I am not sure what, possibly an acknowledgement of politeness crossing cultural boundaries and those of language. Possibly she is merely curious that a foreigner is in the market. She is soon gone, lost among the crowds.
As a generalisation the Cambodians are short. The women barely come up to my shoulder, many men are not much taller. They are slim. It is rare to see an overweight person, especially in the country. I suspect that this is due to calorie restricted diets and as in many Asian countries their size will increase with improvements in health and taking up western diets.
The Bludger was served dinner by three Cambodian ladies, none of whom came up to his armpit.
Nick Smith
Nick@nicksmith.info
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