Life in Phnom Penh
As stated before, Phnom Penh is a fairly large city. The average monthly salary in Cambodia is around $50 a month and a third of the population lives on less than $1.00 a day. The sights here are similar to those found in Siem Reap. There are the multiple local markets, restaurants and business that support and educate the locals. There are many articles in the paper discussing the problem of sex selling/sex workers in Cambodia. Additionally there are many advertisments everywhere telling tourists that they will go to jail if they have sex with a child. Prostitution is unfortunately a very big problem here and in Siem Reap. Many massage business, karaoke bars, and beer gardens double as brothels. There are places ran by the governement that offer "rehabilitation" for sex workers. Unfortunately, many of the local sex workers are abused by the staff at these rehabilitation centers. The centers that are ran by NGOs (non-governmental oragnizations) offer women counseling and vocational training, however most people do not want to stay at these places.
Monks
Monks are a pretty common site, not only in Phnom Penh but throughout Cambodia. Men must train to become a monk for a small amount of time in their life. They can choose whether or not they wish to remain as a monk. The following link is an interesting site on Buddhism in Cambodia and can do a much job at explaing than I can:
http://www.keap-net.org/buddhism_cambodia.htm
Local Kids
There are many children here, like in Siem Reap that sell books, postcards, etc. The two kids below are sister and brother. Mom is 8 and her brother, Chettra is 10. Many children are exploited by their parents. Very few of the children on the streets go to school. If they do go, it is only for a few hours. Many of the children go to Khmer school and English school. English school costs extra money though. The local business pictured to the left is one of many business that helps the local community. This particular restaurant supports a local orphanage. There is another restaurant that I ate at quite bit, Friends, which is part of Street Friends. Street Friends is a Cambodian NGO that works with street children. They work on reintegrating the children back into society and back into their families by teaching them the necessary skills. Please visit the website to learn more about this NGO: http://www.streetfriends.org/index.html
More Locals
I don't know if it is because the city is so big or because it is more expensive or I am more aware of it, but I definitely noticed more people asking more money here than any other town or city in Cambodia. Many people with disabilities are used to get money for themselves and for their families. There are several people in wheelchairs along the Riverside selling books. There is one young man who looks like he has cerebral palsy who is wheeled on a stretcher by another young man asking for money. There also several people who crawl on the streets asking for money. It is also very common to see a young child, maybe 7 years old carrying a baby and asking for food or money.