By:
• James Fountain

• November 6, 2024 , 11:55 AM

PHNOM PENH – A rich array of street vendors adds color to the streets of Phnom Penh.  For some, it provides enough to live on but for many others there is little reward for their long hours in the heat and humidity.

Mia, 57, operates on Street 118, near Riverside. She sells cans of energy drink for 3000 riel and Hanuman beer for the same price. She also sells fried rice, chicken and fish. 

She moved to the city in 2003 from Prey Veng. 

Vorn is happy with his nightly takings

‘I used to make good money as a seller. Back then, my cart was attached to a motorbike and I would go all over the city selling cooked snails,’ she says.

But now she has chronic knee problems after being run over by a car when she was 26. 

She has seven children and one of her daughters helps out on the stall when she’s struggling with the rent. 

“Now I make only a little money, some days nothing. Very occasionally, I’ll make $5 in one day,” she says.

“I earn an average of $100-200 per month. I will keep working until I lose strength completely, then I’m hopeful my local pagoda will take care of me. 

Vanny hopes her daughers won't have to work at a stall

“For now, I make just enough to eat and pay the $60 a month for my small flat near the Chroy Changvar bridge.” 

Rae, 33, is a fried potato seller on Street 118. He says he usually makes $7-10 a day. 

‘It’s an easy job, I enjoy it. I started seven years ago and have a wife and two sons, aged three and seven. I earn enough to pay for my family to eat and the rent, which is all that matters.” 

He lives near Choeng Ek. Originally from Takao province, Rae came to Phnom Penh because he could make more money. 

Vorn, 25, has been selling for two years. His cart, loaded with brightly colored plastic tubs, is parked outside a hostess bar. 

Sam Sorn has had two major operations and is often in poor health

“I’m a freelance photographer, but whenever I go through a lean patch, I bring out my drinks stall,” he said.  

He likes the job as he can chat with the girls who buy his unique, home-made sugary drinks, some mixed with noodles, some with rice. He is more than happy with the $12-20 he makes per night, starting late in the afternoon and working until the early hours.

A little further down the street, Kearn, 50, sells snacks of pork, fish and chilli wrapped in banana leaves. Kearn is from near Tok Tamai, Phnom Penh, and started selling on the street in 2008.

“I’ve been a seller since I was 20.” he says. “I’d normally expect to make between $10 and $15 a day, but I have to work very hard for that, driving around all over the city. Some days, I make nothing at all.” 

Kearn also works in two local schools in Tok Tamai. Divorced with a son aged 28, he starts work at 8.30am and finishes around 5pm. If he fails to sell anything by then, he drives around for an hour or so in his local area in a desperate attempt to sell something.

Chub Savy has a punishing schedule driving around the city.

Vanny, 44, originally from Kampot, came to work in Phnom Penh in 1999 because it was easier to make money. She sells “nom prachop” Khmer fish soup and chicken curry, made with fresh ingredients. She makes $12-15 a day, mostly serving bar hostesses, who gather around her cart daily at 5pm sharp. 

“My husband is a motorbike mechanic and I have two daughters, aged 6 and 10, in good schools. Who knows what they will do in the future but I really hope they won’t need to work on a stall like I do. 

“It’s hard work in the heat and pollution. I keep telling them to stick at their studies.” 

Sam Sorn, 49, originally from Prey Veng, sells a variety of brushes. He makes $5 a day. 

“I have no choice as I have no qualifications. From an early age I was sent out to sell by my parents,” he said. 

He works from 8.30am to 7pm and sleeps on the floor of one of the shops where he sells, by night working there as a security guard in return for his lodging. 

His wife and children stay in a village in Kandal. His son is 25, a delivery boy and his daughter 24, a university student. Sorn says he has had two major operations and is often in poor health. 

Chub Savy, 42, originates from Prey Veng and sells coconuts. 

“Some days I make no money, but on average I make $10-15 profit a day,” he says.

He might make enough money but has a punishing schedule driving all over the city from 6am to 9pm. He is married and has two daughters.  One of them, aged 17, already has a job lined up working for the government. The other is 14 and has won a school scholarship. 

“My job pays the bills, and I am blessed with good health, but I rarely get to spend time with his family.”