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(originally published elsewhere January 05, 2008)

Only two days after having burned to the ground, the stallholders at Phsar Leu are back in business! The first to come back were the meat and fish vendors: their stalls at the back of the markets had not been totally destroyed by the fire.

Then the produce vendors arrived: they have to replenish their stock every day anyway, so their loss was not as great as others. A couple of drygoods dealers have swept up their stall areas and set up shop on the floor, four sticks and a plastic tarpauline ceiling or an umbrella provide shade and mark their space. Elsewhere in Phsar Leu stallholders are busily sweeping their spaces clean. Wooden posts with spray-painted numbers are being erected everywhere and their message is clear: “this is our stall and we intend to come back.”

The mood is nothing short of ebullient, in stark contrast to the despair that mingled with the black smoke only two days ago.

Outside, a big crowd is gathered around a speaker. While Sopheak joins the crowd to listen to what he has to say I enjoy a cold sugar cane drink at the same spot, from the same vendor we have always gone to just outside the motorbike parking garage, which has already been rebuilt. Sopheak comes back and tells me what is being announced: Yesterday a delegation of 250 stallholders went to Phnom Penh to discuss their plight with the government. As a result, Hun Sen (Cambodia’s Prime Minister) has pledged $230,000 in relief money and promised that the market will not be closed for another year and a half.

It’s a great day!

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