A diamond in the rough

  –a place to chill.   Not far from the guest house, (where we normally stay while we’re in Phnom Pehn), there's ‘O’ Russei’ Market that sells produce, second hand clothes, costume jewelry, tech supplies, nick naks and anything that you can possibly imagine from the hundreds of stalls that lay inside and outside the market …  You name it and they have it!   

Little girl who greets us each time we come

However, tucked in behind the bustling, huge, labyrinth, noisy market, where you can easily get lost, there is a little dark narrow lane dotted with hair salons and other services.  We (Kevin, Tralore and I) stumbled into this place when we first arrived in Phnom Penh.  Now, we look forward to our visit there whenever we’re in the ‘big’ city! 

As always, the little girl, who normally helps in the shop, and, with the owner’s children, runs to the entrance of the lane to greet us.  She excitedly holds our hands to hurry us to ‘our’ usual salon that has become a place for us to chill from the heat and noisy Phnom Penh.

Working hard at the salon

Whilst Tralore and I have our hair washed, with a good head massage at that!  Kevin sits outside the hair salon with a group of men (one of them the owner of the salon), and passes the time of day drinking beer, sharing stories, and practicing his Khmer with the locals.   The local chief who likes to boast about how many children he has, often has joined in the conversation.   While the men talk and drink, the women work hard in the salon: from washing hair, to styling, to pedicures, to applying make up and more.

Outside the salon, there’s a group of children who run up and down the ‘cool’ lane squealing with laughter.  Out of breath, they periodically take a break to take a quick sip from their fizzy soda of some sort, before they eagerly return to play.

Other locals join in bringing beer and other food from their shop. Everyone knows each other, everyone is related to each other in some way or another and everyone takes care of each other. It's a real community!

Though this place is not a marked up fancy store, with all the bells and whistles, like O’ Russei’ Market, it is in fact a diamond in the rough where a community exist!.    Where life is centred on family.   Where there is trust and a strong bond amongst this ‘large’ family that exists in this little lane.  Where this family will listen to the ‘wisdom’ of elders such as the local chief in this little community that we have come to know so well.   Where this community exists in the 'diamond in the rough' Where a wonderful 'gem'  has been noticed by many.

More later …:)