Shoe repair shop Cambodian style

When I departed Switzerland for Cambodia, I knew it would be warm here and my footwear should be sandals. I brought two pair and a pair of running shoes. The running shoes have not had as much use as I would like but the heat makes it hard for me to run, my sandals on the other hand have carried the load. Of the two pair, I have one pair that I have used most of the time, last week I noticed they were getting a little more than worn, time for a fix up.

I remembered passing a shoe repair shop on my to the Orussey market, why not give it a try. I put on my second pair of sandal, packed the worn pair in my backpack and headed to see what I could work out. The shop was open, and as expected the man did not speak any English. He did understand that I wanted new leather on the inside.

I thought he may have some leather available, he did, he pulled out the leather from another large leather flip flop type of sandal. How could I tell, it was the shape of a sandal, it had stitching round the edge and there was a hole where the leather top went into the base between the large toe and the others.

He placed it on my sandal and it looked like it would work. I asked when it would be done, expecting tomorrow some time, and he said 5:00, that was about 45 minutes. Great.

I walked around the market, purchased fish for dinner and bananas and rice cooked in the banana leaf. I arrived back the shoe repair at about 4:45. When I returned the man was still working on one shoe. He was cutting and putting a small piece of leather over the hole in the new leather where the flip flop part had been.

The repair was a little expensive, I am sure it was tourist price, $3.00. I will tell you how well it works down the road.