Orange-robed monks are a dime-a-dozen on Phnom Penh's streets. According to Jordyan Edmiston and local monk Nhean Pov, they are always up for a good chat.
Take a stroll around Phnom Penh on any given Sunday, and you are bound to encounter a pack of teenaged monks,hanging in the afternoon sun or cruising the museum scene. More likely than not, they will smile at you, ask you where you are from, and inquire if you like Cambodia. Embrace them in conversation and you'll come to learn that Khmers choose the cloth over the conventional for different reasons than young men and women in the west.
Foreigners crowding into I.C. Chaney's Beautiful Shoes shop on Street 143 revel in the prices of his handmade shoes - who could believe a custom-made leather sandal could cost just $15?
But Chaney's story of survival since he took over the family business in 1981 is even more remarkable
"My family has had a shoe business here for many years - through the Lon Nol period, and Sangkum Reastre Niyum. We had many famous customers like Kong Sam Oeun," Chaney says, referring to the great Khmer actor and male heart throb of the 1960's and 70's.