I was just sent an email from the guesthouse owner where I will be staying next week informing me that Khmer people will be celebrating Bon Pchum Ben Day from the 11th to the 13th and people return to their home provinces and won’t go back to work until the 19th.
He said Phnom Penh will be very quiet during this period. That’s not so bad but is it so quiet in Phnom Penh with closed businesses that it becomes difficult to buy anything or go anywhere such as restaurants?

obelisks wrote:I was just sent an email from the guesthouse owner where I will be staying next week informing me that Khmer people will be celebrating Bon Pchum Ben Day from the 11th to the 13th and people won’t go back to work until the 19th.
He said Phnom Penh will be very quiet during this period. That’s not so bad but is it so quiet in Phnom Penh with closed businesses that it becomes difficult to buy anything all go anywhere?

I think only employees will go home as most of them are originally from the province. They have to go visit their families. It will not be really quiet as Chinese News Years or Khmer New Years, but yes less people remains in Phnom Penh. I think not all businesses will close.

The local markets, stalls and shops will almost certainly be closed. Mini-marts and supermarkets that cater to westerners will remain open, but will quickly run out of perishable items including fruit, veg, fresh meat and (especially) dairy products including milk and drinking yoghurt. Be particularly careful of your personal safety during the week, especially at night.

Oh, incidentally a warning to those in the NGO caper - if you have Khmer staff working on any gazetted public holiday, you're up for plurry big tea-money, fullah. Per employee.

NH6 outbound is almost standstill, inbound lanes empty.

StroppyChops wrote:The local markets, stalls and shops will almost certainly be closed. Mini-marts and supermarkets that cater to westerners will remain open, but will quickly run out of perishable items including fruit, veg, fresh meat and (especially) dairy products including milk and drinking yoghurt. Be particularly careful of your personal safety during the week, especially at night.

" Be particularly careful of your personal safety during the week, especially at night."

could you please just expand on that a little? what kind of criminal activity should one be careful of?Why during this holiday when fewer people are around?
I won't be carrying anything like a bag or anything and definitely not a camera and I will have a cheap mobile phone.

Because people nick stuff more readily around the holiday times. That enables them to afford to go home. This may (or may not) include muggings late at night or in relatively deserted streets.

TheGrinchSR wrote:Because people nick stuff more readily around the holiday times. That enables them to afford to go home. This may (or may not) include muggings late at night or in relatively deserted streets.

Oh thanks for that response. Actually I had only just asked a specific question about the frequency of straightout muggings in the thread about the foreigner having her handbag snatched. PSD-Kiwi replied to my question that muggings are extremely rare. I’m deliberately not going to carry around very much and I guess catching a tuk tuk everywhere will reduce any risk?
If you’re not carrying anything and very little cash and they even ask you to empty your pockets are they content to let it go at that?
I remember in Phnom Penh about 10 years ago you could walk around almost everywhere really late at night and when the streets were barely lit up and you didn’t feel at all threatened.

https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/newswor ... t6533.html