Scenes: General

 

 

 

Adventure in
Kampong Cham
1 September 2009

 

Scenes: General

A day traveling through the back roads of Cambodia provides glimpses of a lifestyle quite different from that of the modern developed world.  The local people might not advert to all the sights but they can be intriguing to an outsider passerby.

Shortly after we left Kampong Cham town and just as we reached the end of the paved road, we turned across a bridge and found a young woman struggling with a shifting load of hundreds of pounds of some fruit, maybe pomelos which are a lot like grapefruit in shape, size, and taste.  Our crew helped her reposition the heavy load so she could continue her journey. Steadying a shifting load
This scene is worth two photographs.  Here the young woman prepares to start off again after our guys stabilized her load. Note that someone else had to load all the fruits on the bike after she got on. If she went down--very likely given our experience on the roads ahead of her--there's no way she could get back up and reload the motorcycle. Fully loaded
This van is coming from the border area near Vietnam.  Notice the large plastic containers of liquid on top.  That's Vietnamese gasoline being smuggled in to avoid paying taxes.  Such illegal activities are commonly out in the open in Cambodia because the officials get their share of the profits and have little desire to stop the illicit traffic. Smuggling gasoline
You will seldom find a scene so natural: thatched houses, an unpaved muddy road, a wooden dugout canoe for the Mekong River, a naked little boy, the encroaching jungle growth. There's hardly a manmade element in the picture; just the clothing of the people under the shelter. Close to nature
This man is securely stuck in the mud, weighed down by two pigs in the basket on the back of the motorcycle. Pigs on a motorcycle
AGain, not everyone found the rain and mud burdensome. These kids found it a fun diversion for afternoon play. Some enjoy the water and mud
This family knew the rains were coming and stacked firewood under the house for cooking. Stacked firewood
Some of the houses have individual tube wells drilled by the building.  Some people depend on rainwater from the roofs or water from the creeks and Mekong. This cluster of houses had a communal well, very new judging from the date inscribed on the side. The village well
This bicycle is carrying a load of some vegetation but the purpose is unknown to me. Perhaps it's a crop used as food or in cooking.  Perhaps its fodder for some animals. A load of some green crop
Haystacks are quite different around the world.  Cambodian haystacks tend to be mounted on a platform to keep them off the wet rainy season ground. A Cambodian haystack
Outside the Muslim area the Buddhist people have their own pagodas.  This entranceway marks the road leading back to a wat (pagoda) set off the main road. A pagoda gate


Go to Kampong Cham Trip page
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