Laneway Life

As a tourist instinctively, you avoid laneways and alleys with the western perception that you’ll be in danger or possibly mugged in a dark alleyway.

 

Whenever I came to Phnom Penh from Kep I had the same thought. Until one time when we took a shortcut down an alley, in an attempt to avoid the traffic and chaos of walking on the road. All the actual footpath being assigned to moto parking or street-side stalls, of course means pedestrians mostly walk on the edge of the road and take their chances with the trucks, cars, motos, mobile shops and cyclists.

 

This detour aroused my curiosity and forever changed my perspective about Phnom Penh’s hidden laneways and the bustling communities that live both in them and off them.

 

In fact, I would venture to say that they are the safest places to be. Elderly people gather in the eateries, stand in open doorways or sit on the stoops of their own buildings. Young people nonchalantly straddle their motos wearing the latest fashions and hairstyles, hang about listening to music and checking out the style of others. 

Workers gather for snacks, coffees, beers and card games in the early morning, during the midday siesta and for long periods in the cool of the early evening. 

Children sometimes work hard assisting their parents in small businesses or remain close by absorbed in something on a phone screen and whenever possible run, play, hide and get up to all kinds of mischief as well. 

Small businesses abound and you can easily get a bowl of hot noodles, a haircut, a phone screen replaced, a cold beer or a pedicure in a space the size of your average toilet. One thing is for sure they are communities and they not only look out for each other but also watch out for outsiders, intruders and travellers passing through. And as we recently learned come rushing to your assistance if the need arises.

Far from being attacked or robbed in these tight spaces I am often, though not always, greeted with smiles and gestures of welcome. These people have your back whether you know it or not.

These days I not only peer down the lanes to see if there is access to the parallel street but often duck down them and respectfully observe the activities taking place enjoying the inclusion and safer walking zone as I avail of a shortcut. Laneways are the life and soul of the city and are a microcosm of all it contains.

Of course, we now live upstairs off one such laneway and we are by now very familiar with many of the locals, who also do.

 

The laneway through which we enter the stairwell to our apartment extends in two directions and a small gaggle of children live at the ground level. No doubt their parents and possibly grandparents do too but it is the children we most often see and interact with. There are a few regulars, who act as a welcome team and shout “Hello, hello, hello,” to us. The numbers are actually swelling as we usually respond and they attempt to repeat anything we say in English back to us. We all get a big kick out of it.

 

As I have said the laneways are usually a hive of bustling activity so it’s quite odd at the moment. They are currently eerily empty, as are the streets of Phnom Penh. Yesterday, for the first time ever, we actually saw some of our welcome team playing in the street. That’s how quiet it is out there. PP’s population of over two million must have been reduced by over half gauging from the lack of noise and dynamism.

 

Today is day fifteen of Pchum Ben, and anyone who can has gone home to the provinces laden with offerings for the pagodas and treats and festival food, for a family celebration.

 

Come Tuesday I expect life will return to the alleys and streets of Phnom Penh.