Public domain

A Cambodian couple in Prey Veng province decided to divorce last week. To divide their assets, they sliced their stilted hut cleanly in half. The ex husband took his piece and moved it to his mother’s lawn. This seems (and looks) absurd. Practically, it makes some sense. Most Cambodians’ possessions begin and end with their homes and its contents. Space is communal. Even the space immediately surrounding your body.

I sat at a café today, eating lunch and using the free WiFi, and the waitress stood behind me, both hands planted on the back of my chair, the entire time. Reasons for this are twofold. One, personal space is non-existent here and waiters stand beside the table waiting for you to read the menu, observing you paying the bill. Hovering is standard practice. Secondly, most restaurants and bars employ far more workers than there is work to be done. This leaves hired help standing around idly, waiting for tasks.

Surely, this has to do with the low price of labor and the minuscule wages paid to these eager-but-abundant employees. And those working in the food/entertainment sector are far better off than factory workers. Earning $5 a day working at a restaurant in Phnom Penh sure beats the average annual per capita salary of about $571.